03 December 2010; Castries St. Lucia.

I had decided to arrive bright and early to see if I could get in ahead of the other cruise ships. If you are first, then you cannot be held up by somebody ahead of you. As I could not find out from the agent what the exact pilot time was of the other ships, I just went for 0600, hoping that my colleagues would not be early risers. For the ships operation it does not make that much of a difference, to arrive early, as the sailors start with deck washing at 0500 anyway and the bridge watches are on double, with the officers for the rest of the day on flexible hours. Also in this case I could save more fuel by being docked early than by going slower at sea. So all around a sound plan and the only one who had to get up earlier was me and as I am supposed to serve the greater good that is not really a consideration. By 04:30 we were called by the pilot that the sequence of arrival would be Prinsendam at 06:00, the Braemar at 06:30 and the Emerald Princess at 07:00. The plan had worked as hoped for and the Navigation Officer happily confirmed that we would be there at 06:00.

An additional reason for being early was the fact that by 06:15 it was sunrise. The sun rises in the East, we approach from the West, and around 06:30 or so it also rises above the mountain rim and then shines straight into your eyes. Also it makes it impossible to see the leading lights that indicate the middle of the harbour entrance which is a very helpful tool for getting in. In front of Castries harbour there is normally a current of about 05. to 1 knot running to the North and that can set you directly onto the Rocks if not paying close attention. The leading lights have a course of 121o and sometimes you have to steer 124 or 125 as a drift angle to “drift in” on the line. Today it was the other way around. Due to the North Atlantic storms, water was being pushed more to the south and that disturbed the regular current around the Island. Thus we when approached there was almost 2 knots of current going South instead of North. Also having the wind pushing us to the South West, our total drift was nearly 3 knots. Thus I had to steer 108o while we were approaching the pilot station. Totally out of the normal. The pilot requires a slow speed for his little boat to come alongside and therefore I stayed to the North of the Leading lights. Then, while we slowed down the ship drifted into the line while making a lee for the pilot transfer. The closer to the entrance, the less wind and current influence there is and the more you can come to the Leading Light course. By the time we sailed through the rocky entrance I was back on 121o.

Layout of Castries Harbour with the cruise terminal to the north and the city berth to the South. It also shows the leading lights, which is the red line.

We were assigned a downtown berth, which is normally the cargo berth, as Castries now has a small but dedicated cruise terminal with two berths. That terminal has a shopping village in the style of St. Thomas but you need the harbour ferry or a cab to get around the port. Now we docked at the right side, but the shoppers had to find the shops all over the town and not in one convenient space of a cruise terminal. Still we were much better off, as the Emerald Princess and the Braemar let together about 4000 people loose on that terminal, so it must have been busy. I swung around in the harbour and by 07:00 we were happily and safely docked.

The port is very sheltered and an ideal place to do drills. Today there was a SOPEP drill on the program. (The Shipboard Oil Pollution Emergency Plan)
With this drill we test our response readiness if there is an oil spillage either caused by ourselves or somebody else. More about that tomorrow.

We left Castries at 15:00 hrs. At least that was the plan but we had to wait for 10 minutes before we got the all clear. A plane was landing and as the runway is perpendicular on the harbour exit it is a bit too shocking for a pilot to suddenly find his take off or landing approach blocked by a white wall of steel. Thus we waited while the pilot phoned the control tower to ask if the coast is clear. That gave the chief officer a bit of extra time to play with the ship and learn how to hover on wind and current as it was his turn to sail the ship out.

An hour later we sailed by Les Pietons that unusual Rock formation on the South West side of the island for some scenic cruising and shortly after we dipped our nose back in the North Atlantic Ocean on our way to South America. Weather should be good tomorrow, although there will be a chance of a heavy shower and we will still feel the North Atlantic swell.