27 Feb. 2017; At Sea.

As was expected we got more wind and thus more swell today; from the moment onwards that  we cleared the Windward Passage and entered the Caribbean Sea. As a result the ship is showing a little movement. No real rolling, the stabilizers will prevent that, but a general jitter as if the ship wants to go one way and it is not allowed to.

Last night we sailed from the Bahamas southward and then this morning we had Cuba on our port side. Clearly visible as we were no more than 4 miles away. The whole Windward Passage is 45 miles wide, but the regular steamer tracks are all close to Cuba.  In the old days when things were not regulated it could be mayhem in this area and a lot of collisions took place here. Ships coming from the Panama Canal and going North would cut as close as possible under the coast to save miles. Ships coming from the north and while going south would hug the Cuban coast as well and on a regular basis, ships were not adhering to the wise rule of port to port and not to cut in front of each other.

This did not only happen near Cuba but in many places in the world which were much busier, such as Dover Strait and Singapore Strait. Eventually the IMO (The International Maritime Organisation) brought regulations into force by creating highways at sea. Simple setups with two lanes, just like a regular road. The rules are simple, if you do not want to be in the Vessel Traffic Separation or VTS, then you have to stay away from it completely but if you want to sail through it, then you have to follow the rules.  Stay in the right lane, stay out of the middle zone and do not cut over at the end of the VTS. Worldwide there was a great reduction in ships playing bumper cars as a result of this, and I have not heard of a single collision around Cabo Maisi since the implementation of the VTS systems since 1974.

Cabo Maisi during day light (Courtesy University of Carolina who had this link.. for some reason)

Cabo Maisi is of course the most eastern point of Cuba and I have to say it looks much more impressive at night than during the day time. There is whopping bright light on top of a high lighthouse which shows the Cape and during the night it is visible from a long distance. You can almost feel and touch the sweep when you are standing on the bridge wing. During the day time, with clear weather, you see a beach with a mountain range rising up behind it but that is about it. If we would go much closer than we might see a few more things but the rules are that you stay out of the 3 mile territorial waters unless you have a good reason to be there, like sailing to and from a port.

The Saga Sapphire ex ms Europa.

We have left the Eurodam long time behind us as they had only a speed of 13 knots to make, while we need 19 knots to be on time. But this morning at Cabo Maisi we overtook the Saga Sapphire of the British company Saga. To a certain extent comparable to Holland America on the longer cruises as far as the age group is concerned, but they sail nearly exclusively for the English Market.   What gives this ship a bit of a history is the fact that she used to be the ms Europa of Hapag Lloyd and was once considered the most luxurious cruise ship in the world. Built in 1980 she was of the then standard size of 30,000+ tons and carried between 600 and 758 guests. She was then hailed to be the most luxurious ship afloat. That lasted until 1986 when the Royal Viking Sun came on the scene. She is of course now our ms Prinsendam. But both ships are a credit to their designers, that even after so many years, and with an absolute boom in new cruise ships, these ships still can sail full and keep a faithful audience who returns to them time and time again.

ms Prinsendam as she was in 2002 when she came into the fleet.

During the night we will continue crossing the Caribbean Sea and then we should be docked in Oranjestad Aruba by lunch time.

Not much to say about the weather. It is regular Caribbean weather at the moment. Partly Cloudy, a bit breezy and warm.