22 December 2008, Key West.

It was a breezy arrival this time but with the wind blowing in line with the dock it was not difficult to dock. Wind on the nose only pushes the ship astern and that is easily corrected by the main engines. It is always the sideways drift of the ship that makes life difficult. We docked at Pier B with the Costa Fortuna at the Navy pier. That ship has just come over from Europe and after calling at Ft. Lauderdale it is now employed on the Caribbean circuit.

The current cold front started blowing last night just when we disembarked the pilot in Tampa. Today while we were in Key West, the cold front had just passed over so we were in the clear sector and had therefore a nice and sunny day. I still have not figured out exactly how it works with the docking assignments and knowing Key West it is probably quite complicated. Mallory is owned by the city. Pier B is privately owned and the Navy pier belongs to the Navy. All three make money from the cruise ship calls and thus I assume there is some sort of an alternating arrangement established. However when you dock at Mallory; you are not allowed to use a bollard from the B pier and when at the B pier you cannot use the Mallory bollards. Thus the contracts must be quite clear cut. I have to instruct my deck officers about this every time so that they do not get into arguments with the linesmen. Some of the bollards that belong to “the other” would be very convenient for a perfect mooring setup and they cannot be used. Key West has always been peculiar and no doubt it will always remain to be so.

With Mallory open, the holiday makers could observer a perfect sunset as the cold front had pushed away all the clouds and thus the horizon was completely clear. A few of the evening sailing ships, schooners and mini windjammers, were cruising in the turning basin in front of the sun and that created a picture postcard sunset for the hundreds of people who had gathered on the square to see the daily event.

Cruise ship wise, there was a lot of excitement in the air. The Navigator of the Seas was diverting close to Key West for a medivac. An USCG helicopter was being dispatched to air lift a patient from the ship to the hospital. The Costa Fortuna had divers down to check whether they had a net in the propellers. By the time we passed by the ship, the divers were out of the water and all was reported to be well. Having divers in the water is always a reason for concern. A ship that is moving by too fast might create suction and pull them away from their work. So when the A flag is up (I have a diver under water) other ships have to pass by slowly to avoid any turbulence. In Key West the trick is to keep the speed up, due to current and wind, and thus the need to slow down is un-welcome. However they were out of the water and I could make my regular approach to the dock.

Recently there was a comment/query about a Disney ship in Costa Maya, crew members were seen hacking away with axes at the mooring ropes. That is definitely not a normal procedure. Normally when you let go the lines, the linesmen lift the ropes of the bollard and then the mooring lines are heaved back onboard. The only thing I can think of is that the loop/eye of the mooring lines got fouled on the bollard. The Costa Maya bollards are not that well designed. They only have a holding lip to one side. If there is a lot of swell and the ship is riding up and down along the dock, the mooring rope could slip off. To prevent that, we double loop the eye of the mooring rope around the bollard. If you have two mooring ropes on the same bollard than they could, because of the moving ship, get pulled so tight around each other that you cannot get them loose anymore. When that happens, an axe is really handy……………………..

We sailed right on time for what is going to be a rocky night and rainy day tomorrow. The 2nd part of the frontal system will be laying over the Yucatan tomorrow and will bring gale force winds and heavy showers. Thus the Veendam will rock and roll a little bit.