16 May 2012; Victoria, Canada.

By 06.00 hrs we were well and truly inside Strait Juan de Fuca. Carefully being watched over by various VTS stations. When you approach Cape flattery there is a Canadian station near the entrance called Tofino Traffic that ensures that all the ships going in and out of the strait are behaving themselves and then when inside, Seattle Traffic takes over. To keep them apprised of what is going on, there are various reporting points along the route so that the operators know at all times where the ships are. When I started sailing, Seattle Traffic was fully manual. At the control station they had a model of the whole of Puget Sound and its ways in and out, and there were people moving ships around the model so that the controllers had an overview at one glance. Now there are Radar stations, the ships have AIS and everything can be done from a computer monitor. When you call in, you receive advice about what the other ships are doing and if any ships will be leaving a port. For us approaching, traffic from Victoria and Port Angeles are of the most interest, as they are approaching the VTS system and are not yet in the regular flow of traffic and thus can have unpredictable courses.

Overview of Calling in points near Victoria. This is a Canadian Coastguard chart. Thus the Canadian calling points are numbered, the American ones in Strait Juan de Fuca are blank but entered for reference.

We had such one ship this morning, a large Evergreen container ship coming from Port Angeles. Coming out of the port, she had to sail north first, cross our traffic lane and then turn to the west to join the outgoing lane, as she was bound for Taipeh. Of course, the two of us were heading for a perfect collision. Seattle Traffic picked up on this as well and told the container ship to contact us and make passing arrangements. Knowing that Evergreen employs all Far Eastern Officers and most of them have a very peculiar grasp of the English language, I told my navigator on duty to jump in and take the initiative. Let the Evergreen ship keep her course and speed (or go faster) and we will pass behind her. That worked out just fine and with a wide turn we went behind her stern and at the same time turned to the north, approaching the pilot station by 11.00 I was slightly early but could not take advantage of it as the pilot boat was also bringing out the pilot for the Amsterdam.
So we nicely sailed in tandem to the dock and were happily docked by noon time, our official arrival time. It was a glorious sunny day but with a nippy wind blowing from the West. As both ships were staying until midnight, it was for a lot of crew an excellent opportunity to meet and especially the entertainment department took full advantage of it. They were the first ones off and the last ones back. During the afternoon we said goodbye to the Canadians leaving here, mainly those who were living on the island. Some of them as close as only 10 minutes away. Easy way to end a cruise; the ship drops you off at your doorstep.
The next stretch will be from Victoria to Vancouver and that will be under full pilotage. The whole run is through inland waters and there pilotage is required. By leaving at midnight, one pilot can do the whole 79 miles and that will make us be docked by 07.00 hrs at Canada Place. The Amsterdam is going to Vancouver as well, so we will be sailing in tandem again. For the first visit of the season we will be docking at Canada Place East and the Amsterdam at the West side. She is going to work with shore power and only the hook up at the West side is operational. The Statendam does not have the capability yet for tapping into shore power so we will have one engine running in port as we do everywhere else.
The weather looks great for tomorrow with temperatures in the high sixties. Not as high as was predicted a few days ago, but that is only good as it will keep the “low hanging” clouds away.