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Ocean Liner History and Stories from the Sea, Past and Present. With an In Depth focus on Holland America Line

12 May 2012; At Sea.

Today we were under the influence of various weather and swell patterns. As a result the sea was a confused mixture of various waves and swells that made it even mind boggling for a computer. The last few days we had observed a long low running swell coming all the way from the Gulf of Alaska but now a wave pattern reached us from the south West. When two patterns come together they merge and sometimes that means they enhance each other and you get higher waves and sometimes they smooth each other out and the sea is almost flat. On top of that a wind that varied in strength blowing over it and you have a nice mixture that conformed to what we call “confused”. I am already keeping a close eye on the weather north of San Diego and the Catalina islands to see what we can expect during the two days that we sail along the American Coast going north. At the moment it looks very good. There was some nastiness coming out of the Gulf of Alaska but that has gone by now and it looks pretty stable. I am currently expecting winds not stronger than 20 knots off the coast and quiet waters as soon as we are inside Strait Juan de Fuca. 

web san diego shoot

The purple blocks in the chart are the navy’s exercise area’s. If they are playing, we have to stay out.

Another issue that I had to deal with today is whether the US navy was going to shoot or not. Just west of the port of San Diego is a large navy exercise area, which is off limits if exercises are going on. Understandably, they like to hit something with their target practice but preferably not a cruise ship. If the area is off limits then I have to sail around it. The easiest way is to go around via the south side but it adds an 100 miles to it and then it will not be easy to make the next port on time. The shorter option is to sail along the coast past Long Beach and San Pedro and then North of the Catalina’s. Doing that is a real nightmare for the navigators as it means sailing through the Vessel Traffic Separation Scheme (VTSS) towards Long Beach, then crossing the Southbound lane coming out of Long Beach and then doing the same thing at the entrance to San Pedro harbor. It is one thing to go into port following the regular routes but it is another thing to cross through these area’s while not going there. You basically go against the whole philosophy of a VTSS, namely making navigation safer and avoiding ships meeting each other when not needed. Going that way, we would have to cross a VTSS twice and thus the chance to encounter more ships on collision courses. Not an idea I like very much.

Luckily the Navy decided to have a day off and we can just follow our regular route; south of the Catalina’s and straight through the firing range. To find out if the Navy is shooting or not, there is a telephone number you can call and a very nice Lady checks the agenda for the plans of the navy in the coming days. It is a great system as you do not have to rely on timely announcements of 3rd parties by VHF or Navtex. Now we can just call ourselves and make sure that we know exactly what is going on. With those issues solved, the major navigation concerns were out of the way, at least for the sailing towards Victoria. Then our challenges will really start. Alaska.

Since a number of years the regulatory requirements have grown ten fold for sailing in Alaska. So we have to refresh our memory and at the same time, as they keep adjusting the compliance requirements, we have to review everything. Mile by mile, hour by hour. With officers unknown to this area it is important that we start our training early and thus the chief officer is now taking in the coming days the whole team through the routes, literally step by step, mile by mile. Based on that everybody should be well versed by May 20 to start a safe season. However tomorrow we are in San Diego where approx. 455 guests will be disembarking and same coming on so we will sail with a full house to Victoria. 758 will have a sightseeing day in San Diego as they are in the majority Canadians. And if you do not have to fly nowadays, you don’t. The weather for tomorrow looks good.  A little wind inside the harbor and a sunny day with mid 70’s temperatures.

We will be docking at the new cruise terminal at Broadway dock, where I have not been yet and I am already curious, as the ships agent has provided a docking plan which entails my stern sticking out by 15 feet. No doubt all will be revealed after arrival.

4 Comments

  1. Hi Captain, I thought you might find this site interesting. It’s a time lapse view of the worlds Ocean currents as charted by NASA

    http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2012/04/perpetual-ocean-nasa-time-lapse-of-sea-currents/

  2. Hi Mr. Jack Scott,

    I’m not Capt Albert (we wear our hair the same way except, I’m younger and female 🙂 but I viewed the link you posted. I found it to be a spectacular view of the world’s oceans and I’m guessing the little circular curly shapes could possibly be the ‘sea swells’ that Capt. Albert talks about. While viewing the movements of the oceans, the term ‘poetry in motion’ came to mind…very nice!

    NASA has the greatest toys! I was recently fortunate enough to have the Space Shuttle Columbia fly over my home in Virginia while on it’s way to Dulles airport. For me, that was a truly special sight!

    Thanks for sharing the link.

    Oh and, Hi Capt Albert…!

    jacquelyn

  3. Edit to my prior response:

    I meant no disrespect to Capt. Albert. I often forget, everyone does not see my style of humor as innocent. (just a rainy day here on the east coast and I got a little silly–sorry if I offended anyone)

    Thanks.

  4. Correction to an earlier post: the Space Shuttle was Discovery–not the ill-fated Columbia…sorry for the error.

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