21 October 2012; Hualtalco de Santa Cruz, Mexico

Tehantepec lived up to expectations. I was expecting 45 to 50 knots based on the weather forecast of Salina Cruz a town right in the pathway of this wind and I was not mistaken. We measured a top velocity of 48.2 knots. The only thing that was different than predicted was the expected time of the occurrence. Based on the forecast, we had been expecting the strong winds between 2 am and 5 am. But it was in the end between 5 and 8 am. During the night the axis of the wind must have shifted more to the west. Worked out fine for me, it meant I did not have to get up that early. We were all prepared for the rest, having advised the guests, closed all the outside doors, and added about 1500 tons of sea water ballast to the Starboard side, step by step, when the ship started to list on the increasing wind. Most guests followed the sound advice of the announcements but there is always one who has to be different. I heard that one guest insisted on opening the balcony door to see the wind and was then busy for the next 10 minutes cleaning up the cabin. When 40 to 50 knots of wind blow into your cabin, your clothing is not staying put in the place where you dropped it.

 The gap in the mountains that is causing it.

Ballasting to starboard kept the ship nicely upright, but you have to be very alert when doing this. Alert because the moment the wind starts to abate, the ship will start to list towards the windy area on the accumulated weight in the ballast tanks and no counteracting wind to push against it. Thus we kept a close eye on the wind meter and the moment the winds stared to come down, we started pumping the other way again, or emptying the sea water back into the ocean.

Especially the last moments of the storm are very profound. It is as if somebody is just switching the wind off. It goes from 35 knots to 0 within 5 minutes. The moment the ship gets out of the path, the wind is gone.

The resulting outflow through the mountain gap.

And so it was this morning. At 08.42 we still had 27 knots blowing and at 08.47 it was wind still and that was the way it remained for the rest of the day. Hualtalco is only about 40 miles from this windy area but it is not affected by it at all. Apart from that the little town sits in a natural harbor which is surrounded on 3 sides by a mountain range. They only get strong winds, when it blows from the South East into the bay. Then we cannot dock there but it is very seldom.

Our pilot was a very happy man to see us, as this year the resort only gets 37 cruise ship calls. Mainly Holland America and NCL. The only newcomer will be a visit by the Carnival Splendor in the spring of next year. For the port I hope that Carnival will like it, for the rest I have mixed feelings, because if it is too successful, then suddenly Carlos n’Charlies and Senor Frogs will pop up as well, and that would spoil the whole lovely place. The only setback today was that it was quite warm. With a perfect sunny day and no wind, the temperature went up to 93oF and I think only the people from Nevada and Texas thought that it was not too warm. Luckily there are a lot of small cafés and restaurants in the shade to enjoy.

The pier can take two ships but we were the only one in; and accordingly to the pilot, it will be so for the remainder of the season, which makes it very nice. The little resort can handle about 2000 guests at a maximum so 1200 is just perfect. The place is buzzing then but not over crowded.

Being by ourselves gives the option to dock anyway we want, with four variations. Nose in on the east side, nose out on the east side, nose out on the west side, or nose in on the west side. Normally that decision is made by the staff captain and it depends on maintenance. I prefer nose in, as it reduces the walking distance for the guests by almost a ships length but things have to be maintained, or drills done and then I have to park one way or the other. We are preparing for dry dock at the moment and that means that all the lifeboats have to be lowered for the lower hook inspection. That can only be done when the boat floats in the water. The staff captain wanted the sb. Boats to be done, I wanted nose in docking and thus we went on the East side of the pier, portside alongside. Everybody happy.

This was only an afternoon call and by 17.00 we pulled away from the dock, swung around in the bay and were on our merry way to Puerto Vallarta. Tomorrow we will be at sea and will pass Acapulco, Zihuatenego and another number of resorts that we can currently not call at as it is not safe due to drug-cartel wars going on.