To continue where I left off yesterday, the good ship Eurodam sailed south through the Windward Passage in the early morning hours. Then we made a sharp turn to starboard and sailed around the South East point of Cuba heading into the Caribbean. As you can see from the Radar/Electronic chart image we stay as close as possible to the coast to find the most optimum – shortest – course & distance legally possible. When you do not call at a country then you should stay at least 3 Nautical Miles off  the coast when safely feasible. (In areas such as Dover strait and Singapore Strait that does not work of course)

Sailing around the East Point of Cuba. As it was clear weather due to the cold front, Cuba could be seen very well.

For that reason the Vessel Traffic Separation Scheme (VTSS) off Cabo Maisi stays four miles off shore. We always try to do the same 3 miles + 1 to have room to change course to have no confusion. The 4 mile boundary is the green line on the screen. The arrow down on the top right hand side indicates the direction of sailing in the VTSS and right at the arrow is the echo of another ship which is doing what we just have finished doing, staying nicely on the ships highway.  It is not compulsory to use a VTSS, you can sail around it if you want, but if you are in it, then you have to abide by the rules which govern these VTSS’s. Our ship is on the picture still in the process of going around the corner and will end up on the Red dotted line again, as soon as the turn has been completed. In a turn it is nearly impossible to stay exactly on it, because the moment you change course the wind starts blowing under another angle and it will push you a little but off the planned route. On the bottom of the screen you can see a ship going the other way and that ship will follow the blue arrow UP, to sail north through the Windward Passage.

For most of the day, yesterday, we could see the coast of Cuba on our starboard side as we only slowly angled away from it. Slowly as Grand Cayman is not that far to the south of Cuba. The course led the ship to the S.E corner of Grand Cayman and then this morning we sailed south of the island to make our approach to the anchorage. Yesterday we were a bit concerned about the strong winds forecasted to be blowing, courtesy of yet another frontal system, and yes it did blow considerably yesterday and this morning. But when we arrived, the Norwegian Epic and the Carnival Paradise were already in position, so we knew we could make the call. As those two ships use shore tenders, they went to a pier to the west of downtown and our guests had the downtown pier to themselves.

Anchorage nbr 4. Laying with the bow behind the anchor on the reef and the stern in deep water. The yellow strip near the top is the Carnival Paradise which is at anchorage nbr 3. The little yellow blobs between the ship and the shore on the white heading line are the ships tenders.

There are four anchorages south of the port and today there were three in use, 2,3 and 4 while nbr. 1 furthest to the west remained empty. There is talk about building a cruise ship pier with two berths, but it has been in the political planning stage for about 15 years. There are different factions on the island who all have their own views and as these factions seem to be of the same size not much is happening. The area is quite limited where a dock could be built and thus everything has it pro’s and con’s and there is not much more space for more than two berths as otherwise the coral reef gets damaged. And if you put two berths in, then there will still be 3 or 4 ships that will have to anchor or float and those guests would be complaining…………. So maybe this political status quo is not such a bad thing.

We sail from here to Cozumel, where we will arrive tomorrow morning around 11 am. As we have 2 other ships in port tomorrow the total count will be six ships which mean that all the docks will be full. Carnival with the Glory, Miracle and the Paradise, RCI with the Brilliance and the Freedom and Holland America with the Eurodam. Long time ago, when I was a very junior officer on the Nieuw Amsterdam (III) our crew was asked to help open the new location of Carlos & Charlies in Cozumel. According to the captain at the time, we also closed C&C that night or better said early in the morning. We had an overnight stay as we had some sort of Tax Incentive Charter with Doctors.  The first part I remember, the 2nd part, closing the pub, I don’t, so it cannot be true. But with six big ships in port, I am not going ashore to see if C&C is still there.

If I am not mistaken the Lagosta pier is the downtown one and if we get that one, then that would be nice for the guests. Short walk and no doubt in the late afternoon we will be able to hear C&C’s.  It is also going to be a very warm day, 29oC / 84oF, with a gentle to moderate breeze from the South East. ………… and if so then that will make docking a lot easier.