30 August 2010; St. Peter Port, Guernsey.

This was the first port of our cruise and it started in the best way possible. Glorious sunshine; just a gentle breeze at the anchorage and we were the only cruise ship in port. That meant I could drop the hook as close as possible to the port entrance; about 5 cables away (3000 feet). Closer is not possible as there is regular ferry traffic going in and out of the port to the various islands and also to the UK mainland. Port Control gets very upset if you block the way. The port itself is too small for a cruise ship to dock, even the small ones such as Seabourn cannot dock here, unless they take the ferry dock but that only works for half day calls, if allowed. Thus all the cruise ships anchor outside and as Guernsey is a popular island to call at; there can be more than one ship at anchor. Yesterday there were three, including two 2500 guests ones and then the tender landing is getting very crowded. Also the tender distances increase as not every ship can be close to the port. Thus being alone is really the best and we were.

The planned cruise for the coming fourteen days. Called the Celtic Kingdoms, we retrace ancient history from the before the days of France and England.

With the pilot onboard at 0600 I was at the anchorage at 0700 and then had about an hour to start up the tender service and send Shore excursion ashore to check if everything was ready. I never like to arrive “at the minute” as it gives Murphy a good chance to push a spanner in the wheel of the operation. Most of the time he is successful and then something happens that delays the whole operation. Thus I arrive a little bit earlier, allow for a slower pace and Murphy can stay in bed. The anchorage of St. Peter Port is a peculiar one, as it is exposed to a strong current and sometimes wind. As long as the wind is from the West or not too strong from the North, the island will shelter the ship and reduce even a strong wind to a gentle breeze. The current pushes through with up to four knots of velocity in the ebb or the flood direction regardless of the island. Thus we try to anchor the bow just outside the current. The main body of the ship stays in the current and finds a balance there on the current and the wind. Normally this results in an angle that provides a good lee side for the tenders on one side of the ship to lie alongside the break door without too much swell. If you do not have this best anchorage or if you are ship 2 or 3, then you might have a very wobbly day for the tender service.

But we had a nice, sunny and quiet day. Today was a Bank Holiday in the UK, and so also in the Channel Islands of which Guernsey is one. A Bank Holiday is a very English thing. It was introduced longtime ago (1871) to give bank employee’s (hence the name BANK holiday) an extra day off and gradually it was taken over by the whole country. There are four of them and they coincided in the past with some of the high days of the cricket season. In the summer time this gives a lot of people the chance for a few days away and thus St. Peter Port was buzzing. That pleased the French who visit the island in considerable numbers, so a French market had been set up near the dockside and it formed an extra attraction for our guests.

Luckily I was not in a hurry to get underway, as our next port Brest only requires a regular speed average. Lucky; because we had to stop our tender operation with the two final tenders for about 20 minutes. Two ferries arrived, one after the other and thus the harbour traffic light went red and our boats had to wait. So it was not until 1630 that we were finally on our way. Not much of a delay and that is a good thing to for me. If we are really delayed I have to report this to my head office and I wonder if those who receive the report would be able to comprehend that the departure of the Prinsendam was delayed because of a traffic light that stood on red for 20 minutes……………….., but no report this time.

Tomorrow we are in Brest, Brittany, France and we should have a glorious day again with sunshine and a gentle breeze. As that breeze is from the East it should get a bit warmer around noon time than today, as even with the sun it was quite nippy.