14 April 2011; Venice, Italy.

After leaving the bad weather behind, the Adriatic Sea slowly returned to a flat surface and by late evening we slid with slow speed through a mirror like sea again. Near Venice all traffic heading that way, from the West side of the Adriatic and the Eastside of the Adriatic, end up there in a sort of round-a-bout. Venice has two port entrances, the one that leads into Venice itself with the option to continue on to Marghera and a 2nd entrance to the south for tankers and cargo ships to go to the Marghera area as well and the town of Mestre just to the west of Venice. As a result it can be quite hectic there, Italian hectic. However this time it was quiet and our approach was only marred by the presence of fishing boats. As is an established fact worldwide, the fish likes to sit where the deep sea traffic goes and as a result the fishermen sit on top of them. Still, when we came closer they all had the good grace to move out of our way. I remember vaguely that the Italian Coastguard had a go at them a few years ago when some of them complained of being run over by merchant navy ships. Since then things have improved considerably. They were simply told to stay or move out of the Traffic Lanes when there was big ship traffic and not to come complaining to the coastguard about hairy situations that they created by themselves. Whatever was discussed, it seems to work. It is a lot less problematic now then 10 years ago. 

Sailing into Venice. From right to left on the chart, you have to pass through the whole city in order to get to the cruise terminal on the western edge. (Note: these screen shots are taken from our Electronic chart system on board which is called Transas)

Whatever the case, we could approach un-impeded to the pilot station which I had scheduled for 06.00 Sunrise was at 06.27 so it was dawning when the pilot climbed on the ladder. With the sun just rising above the horizon, we entered Venice proper, by sailing past the Lido. The first half hour we passed the new flood barriers that they are constructing here. They started this project a number of years ago and need about two more to complete the whole plan. The idea is to protect the Venice Laguna from high water periods, when strong easterly winds push a lot of water into the Venice area. Although there is very little tide in the Mediterranean, in the Venice area there is a lot of water flow and at the entrance to the Laguna the current strength can reach up to 3.5 knots. This time there was only a knot of current. Going with us, and it helped to move us into the Laguna at a nice pace. Venice was its regular spectacle again with the city waking up all around us while we were sailing through. It was a cold morning, courtesy of those northerly winds from yesterday but it made for clear skies and thus good sightseeing. Due to the fact that the fairway is quite tight and the houses close to the waters edge, it is compulsory to have a tugboat hooked up to the stern. If needed, the tug can assist in making faster course changes or acting as a brake to stop on time. By 07.30 we were safely docked at one of the new passenger terminals (still under construction). We will be the only cruise ship in port during the coming two days. At the corner next to us there is another one docked; the Delphin from Hansa Kreuzfarthen. That company went bankrupt last October and that ship has been sitting there ever since. Whenever she gets released, there will be a nice docking bill to be paid.

Old and new transport in Venice at night. The Gondola station at the Rialto bridge and behind, passing by, the Vaporetto “Bus service”. Photo by roving reporter Lesley Schoonderbeek.

From the ship it is a 50 minute walk to the Rialto bridge. That can be reduced to 30 minutes if you take the new sky train outside the cruise terminal. For one euro it takes you to Piazza Roma, where all vehicular traffic comes to a grinding halt. From there it is walking only, unless you take the Vaporetto which is a bus service at sea. There are numerous lines that give the option to get around all of Venice. I think the best option is to take a day card, so you can hop on and off everywhere. Tomorrow will be another windless day, but with a bit of sunshine the temperatures should go a bit higher than today. We are scheduled to sail at 23.00 tomorrow for a scenic sail away at night.