20 March 2018; Amber Cove, Dominican Republic.

Amber Cove from the Bridge.

With beautiful weather and hardly any wind or swell we arrived at Amber Cove, located on the north side of the Dominican Republic. Yours truly was on the forward mooring deck mentoring a young 3^rd officer and from the diving board we had a very nice view coming into the port. (The diving board is that little walk way that opens up from the bow so the officer and Bo ‘sun can stand outside the ship to direct the ropes and or observe the anchor)

Amber Cove is a man-made harbor, constructed with the help of Carnival Corporation. So it is similar to Grand Turk Island, Roatan in Honduras and Costa Maya in Mexico. A nice long pier with sufficient bollards for the mooring lines. At the end of the Pier a nice Resort for those guests to spend the day ashore who are not going on tour. Next to it is a small resort with some hotels which also takes advantage of the bay and the surrounding area. For the rest there is only jungle and forest.

The Radar/chart picture. Open sea is to the North. The ship sails in, turns in the turning basin and then goes astern to an L shaped pier. We docked portside alongside on the inside of the pier.

Amber Cove had a natural bay and thus it needed only a bit of dredging to make an approach channel and a turning basin and then a new dock, large enough for two mega liners. Thus the resort should be able to accommodate approx. 7000 guests. We were only there with 2000 and a large number on various tours, so nice and quiet, but the shopping square can take a lot of people if needed. There is a very nice pool area and sufficient things to do to keep children and young adults active and away from boredom.

For us as sailors there is only one but, (And being a sailor, you are always cynical and look at the negative side, as that saves lives) and the but is, that it is fully exposed to the ocean. Wind and Swell from the NNW, the North and the NNE can freely blow and roll in. The Eurodam had this problem 14 days ago when there was this nasty storm blowing off the US Eastern Seaboard and a high and very long swell was rolling down all the way to the Dominican Republic. There it hit land; it built up and then crashed ashore. As a result the Eurodam could not get in and dock because the swells running in were too high. Breaking ropes and maybe even touching bottom were the obvious dangers. Then the next port of the ship was San Juan and there was 30 feet of swell in the harbor entrance and thus the Harbor Master had wisely closed the port. That left them only with St.Maarten and although the port there is on the south side, the high swell came around the rocks at the South East side and the Captain had to keep the engines going to press the ship against the dock to minimize the swell. It is not fun for the guests to navigate a gangway which moves one to two feet every 30 seconds. If it is not the wind, then swell can still make your life miserable if it comes in under the wrong angle.

Today was a glorious although very hot day and there were no issues what so ever. The Eurodam sailed in, spinned around in position and then backed up to the dock. As wise captains do when possible, always dock with the nose to open water. In case something happens then it is a matter of letting go the ropes and charge to open sea. Having a plan B always make you feel a lot better than only having a plan A.

For those who are concerned to walk the long distance from gangway to the Resort, Holland America has a very nice and environmentally friendly solution: The Bike Taxi

From here we continue tonight to San Juan which is located more to the east on the next island. The Dominican Republic is located on the east part of the island of Hispaniola and the west side is taken up by the country we know as Haiti. San Juan is located on Puerto Rico which is a much smaller island but not split up. To get there we have sail to the east and cross the Mona Passage. This passage is not as well-known with cruise guests as the Windward Passage, as not many cruise ships sail through it. But it is the gateway for all ships leaving the Panama Canal and going to Europe. So it can be quite busy there. The passage is named after the Island of Mona which is located right in the middle of it.

We are scheduled to be docked in San Juan at 10.00 hrs. and to stay there until 20.00 hrs. Our place at Amber Cove will be taken by the ms Koningsdam which is coming from Grand Turk Island just to the north. We will be together with the Carnival Glory in San Juan which will arrive ahead of us but also leave earlier.

Weather for tomorrow: sunny with 87oF / 31 oC. and very little wind in the port. It is going to be a very warm day again.