The distance from Grand Cayman to Cozumel is too long to make it for a 08.00 arrival but if you can still give the guests a full day in port by staying later than it does not matter that much if you arrive late morning. And that is what our schedule called for; docking by 11 am. and sailing by 11 pm. Tomorrow is a day at sea and that gives us enough time to make it to Key West our last port of call. Everybody talks about Cozumel and that is the name of the island. We are really calling at the port of San Miguel as that is where the cruise ship berths are located. It is also the main hot spot of the island.

The one strange thing with Cozumel is, at least when coming from the East from Grand Cayman, that you are already almost there and then you still have two hours to go. Courtesy of the fact that Cozumel town is located on the west side of the island and we were approaching from the East side. Because the island is almost flat, the authorities in downtown can see the ships coming from a long distance away and start calling as soon as the sun is above the horizon. Also in our case, shortly after 07.00 hrs. shortly after sunrise, Cozumel port control came on the VHF asking for our best ETA to the pilot station and we were still 3.5. hrs. away. Not as the crow flies but including sailing around Punta Molas, the north point of Cozumel Island.

Air photo Cozumel. I googled this one from the internet, and courtesy and apologies to those who created it as I could not trace the owner.

Thus we also got confirmation that the original schedule, as published on the Cozumel website was not what the authorities had in mind. The downtown Lagosta Pier was taken up by the two RCI ships and Carnival and Holland America were on the twin piers of Puerta Maya further south. My logic is that they put the two ships which brought in the most guests together, and they were given the benefit of having the shortest distance to town. And thus we docked at the outer dock of the twin Puerta Maya Pier, which is next door to the TMM or International Pier which was the first pier constructed in Cozumel. It was originally a cargo pier with a Ro Ro ramp for ships owned or operated by the Mexican Company T.M.M (Transport Maritime Mexico) There is another ferry pier, very close to the Lagosta Pier in downtown but that is mainly in use by ferries sailing to Playa del Carmen on the main land. Very much in use as people can take a tour to the Ruins at Tulum by going across to the main land and even onwards to Chichen Itza but apart from the ferry that tour includes sitting in the bus for more than an hour from Playa del Carmen.

The beginning of the Gulf Stream. Once the current starts to pass the island, it follows the coast line. But how it does that varies from day to day, depending on the amount of water that is being pushed through and the wind at the time.

The challenge with docking at any of the piers in Cozumel is the current. The beginning of the Gulf Stream comes charging through the opening between the island and the main land with a velocity of up to four knots. The axis of the current can be in the middle, or a bit to the west or a bit to the east all depending on how it bends around the islands coast line. And only when the ship is in line with the pier, the current is not an influence anymore. Thus the pilot boat keeps an eye all day on where the current is and how much velocity it has and then the pilot can advise the Captain about the best approach.

This is the track line of the ship during the final approach. You can see that at the last moment it went a bit to the port, to compensate for the push back of the current while slowly drifting towards the dock. There is no room to overshoot so it has to work out just right.

If the current is very close to the dock it can be an eerie experience as you are set very fast towards the island, sometimes the current runs faster than your own approach speed and the moment you really start to get nervous about becoming a hotel on Cozumel beach, the current suddenly falls away. For this reason the ships are normally docked nose in so you can steer against the current. Ships do also dock nose out but mostly when the current is weak or a bit away from the docking area and the ship can be kept easily under control while swinging. The current curved a bit today so the ships at the Lagosta Pier could dock nose out and those at the International Pier and the Puerta Maya pier docked nose in.

If you can dock nose out, that is always an advantage, because whatever happens to wind and current during the day, the escape plan is simple: full ahead and get out of there.

We will be getting “out of there” sometime after 22.30 hrs. tonight, as soon as all our guests are back. We have quite a lively bunch on board this cruise so we might have to wait for some stragglers. But the authorities are used to that and they have quite a good system going of getting everybody back on time, and what is more, to the right ship.

For the next 24 hrs. we will sail through the Yucatan Channel, located between the Mexican/Yucatan Peninsula and the West point of Cuba and then into the Straits of Florida heading for Key West. We will have the Gulf Stream all the way with us, giving us a nice push in the back. That saves fuel and thus we will have a happy Chief Engineer.