A nice but windy day, while we sailed down the East side of Italy. Our guests did not notice the wind very much as it was going with us. The wind was blowing at 20 knots, the ship was doing 20 knots and as a result the relative wind on deck was zero. With the wind in the stern the Veendam is going close to a knot faster (cruise ships with their high superstructure are a bit like sailing ships) and that is good for the fuel consumption.

The ships fuel consumption is a major focus for a ships captain nowadays. In the last two years the oil price for heavy fuel oil has risen from 125 to over 300 dollars a ton, while the prices for a cruise have virtually remained the same. Holland America has decided that they will not add a fuel surcharge to the ticket price and thus the extra cost is absorbed in the company revenue. Apart from the fact that saving fuel is good for the bottom line it also helps the environment. Thus wind in the back helps. Trying to find a favorable current helps as well. If loading water ashore is cheaper than making it on board (burning fuel in the boilers) then we do that as well. Adapting the planned route where safely possible by shaving of some miles is another option.

With the wind in the back we followed the outline of the East coast of Italy. Distance to the shore between 6 and 20 miles, depending on the fact if the coast was straight or we were crossing a bay or a gulf, such as the Gulf of Taranto. By 9 pm. we were abeam of the most eastern point of Italy, Capo di Santa Maria de Luca. From there we headed southwest until by midnight we were south of Italy. This area is called Reggio di Calabria and occupies the whole southern part of Italy. Thus by the time we will have Sicily with Messina on our portside we will still have Reggio on our starboard side.

This area is very mountainous, with the mountain ranges coming straight down to the sea and therefore there are no ports on the south side. All reasonable sized ports in Italy are located on the West or on the East coast. The lack of proper ports is maybe one of the reasons that the Reggio is one of the poorer parts of Italy. On the side opposite of Messina is the town of Reggio itself. Here we find a small port but it is mainly used by the very extensive ferry traffic to and from Sicily.

For most of the day, we had been dodging fishing boats who, as usual, found the area on and around our course line to be the best fishing grounds. When we came closer to the Reggio the fishing boats disappeared. I do not know whether this is because of lack of fish or lack of ports. For us it was a nice thing as finally we could steer a straight course without having to swerve around the small boats every 5 minutes.