20 Feb. 2019; At Sea.

Well things did not go according to the plan we had hoped for. We knew there was a cold front approaching but it moved a lot faster than anticipated. As a result the road became quite bumpy last night and the ship shook and shuddered on occasion. This week my cabin is all the way in the bow of the ship, so I am sitting and sleeping on the first row for all the entertainment that the waves are bringing our way. Still with me in a cabin near the bow it means that a guest was moved and or upgraded to somewhere better. And that is the way it should be.

We were all also getting very excited about the Super moon which we were supposed to see last night. The Caribbean is a most perfect place as most of the time the skies are clear. Looking at it from a cruise ship is even better as in the middle of the sea, there is no light pollution which you often have on land. But our hopes were dashed as with the frontal system a cover of clouds came in and we only saw a little bit just after moon rise.

A diagram which shows what the difference is between a normal moon and a super moon. (Diagram courtesy The Daily Express / English newspaper)

It was to be the brightest super moon until 2026 so we have to wait 6 years to see the same thing again. Small disappointment no doubt but with the moon rising at 19.05 last night, it was during Happy Hour and thus  consolation could be sought from the Bartender with a good discount.

A Super moon occurs when the moon is very close to us. It travels around the earth in an elliptical circle and once in a while that elliptical curve brings it closer to us than normal. This time it will 14% bigger and 30% brighter compared to when it is on the far end of the ellipsoid. This time they call it a Snow Moon because it appears during the snowy period of North America but it has nothing to do with snow.

The current diagram of the Caribbean today. The darker the colors the stronger the current. Normally it is one continuous  stream which runs from the lower right to the upper left. Now you can see a gap in the middle , which is unusual, but of course we try to take advantage of it. The blue line was the planned course, the whitish line is what the ship did. A few miles longer but we saved time and fuel by not having to push against the strong current.

Also the Captain is disappointed as the currents in the Caribbean are a little bit away from normal and are also stronger than normal. And for this part of the voyage those currents are against us.  Part of the reason is that we have an El Nino spring. The El Nino is a current phenomenon which occurs every few years in quite an irregular way and is caused by a drop in temperature in the seawater off the coast of Peru and Chili.  The weather gurus have not yet figured out when and why it occurs but it has been happening for a long long time. Because the El Nino current (= little boy) there is also weaker version of a similar event called La Nina (= little girl) has been going for over six months it has been affecting the current patterns all over the world. And again it is irregular and hard to predict. While we normally see a complete wave/current field with a steady velocity in the Caribbean Sea running from East to West it is now much more fragmented and stronger in some areas and weaker in other areas.

Thus with the adverse wind and current conditions the Zuiderdam had a hard time keeping up with the schedule and thus we might not completely make it on time. The eager shoppers might have to bide their time a little bit. But at least they will not get sunburned as it will be overcast but still warm and very windy.

Tomorrow in Willemstad it should be similar, also overcast, although the wind is supposed to ease off to a normal Trade Wind Breeze.

The weather for today and also tomorrow. The Satellite gives light grey clouds here but they are quite thick if you are under them. (Photo courtesy, The Weather Channel)