19 October 2012; Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica.

After yet another rainy night we approached Puerto Caldera while the skies were getting slowly lighter. Sunrise was around 06.00 and that was also the time that we had to be docked as the tours were leaving around 06.30. Thus we approached the pilot station at 05.30 to find the pilot happily waiting for us. He brought some good tidings; during the time that we were in Alaska they had dredged the whole port basin to 13 meters, giving the larger ships (and the Statendam is a large ship for this port) more room to maneuver. Some old wrecks were cleared and the approach to the basin had been made wider. The area is prone to shoaling but for the coming two or three years we will be in good shape. The dredger was still there, working at the edge of the port basin but that was slow going as it had to work around the arriving and departing tug boats and the patrol boats of the Customs. Costa Rica is not much of a drug user country as far as I know, but Puerto Caldera is a container port and thus there is a fair chance of the stuff coming into the country that way. Once somebody gets it out of the container it only takes a fast boat to get it away and thus the Local Customs Officers have fast boats as well.

By 06.10 we were fully docked, towering with our bow over a small bulk carrier the Rachel, which was unloading, what looked like cattle feed. Luckily it was a wind still day, otherwise we might have had the fumes coming our way. With the wind still day, came less swell. And although Caldera has a nice breakwater, there is always the chance that the swell runs in, hits the beach and then bounces back again into the port. Then the ship starts to ride along the dock and that makes the gangway move and that can be dangerous for those getting on and off.

For the ship there is the danger of the mooring ropes breaking and the best trick to prevent that is to give out long lines. The longer a line is, the more horizontal it runs from the ship to the bollard. The smaller the angle with the horizontal, the more tension a rope can absorb. Running long ropes does not always work, as sometimes there are not enough bollards, or sometimes the linesmen who are handling the ropes on the shore side, simply refuse to pull beyond the first bollard that they see. A lot of shouting and cursing between ship and shore is then the result but as linesmen are for some reason immune from penalties and complaints, their customer service skills are very low and they do not care.

North American ports are the worst for some reason while Mexican ports are extremely good. Costa Rica is somewhere in between. They are very organized and plan everything. Here the problem is that if they have planned that a rope is going on a certain bollard, it is very hard to change their mind. In Puerto Caldera there is not much of an issue. The ropes go where the officers fore and aft want them to go and a peaceful atmosphere reigns.

It stayed overcast for the day which was good as it kept the temperatures down and made the humidity more bearable. This is a port where we mainly call for the Eco – tours and most guests are away on tour for the duration of the call. That always make me anxious as the local traffic can be very creative in producing traffic jams, and I need to leave on time, as our next run to Huatalco de Santa Cruz is a tight one.

This time the traffic was not too bad. The last tour came in only 15 minutes behind schedule and just after 2 pm. I could pull the Statendam off the dock and swing her around to open water. For the next 44 hours we will be sailing along the coasts of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador before we cross the Gulfo de Tehantepec and arrive at Huatalco mid morning.