Well the traffic was less than expected; the Carnival Ecstasy had an overnight stay and left in the morning and that meant that today we had about 2500 less people ashore. We arrived at 07.00 hrs. with the Carnival Valor behind us at the horizon. We swung the ship on arrival and thus the Valor had to slow down a little bit until the turning basin was empty, but that is the danger if you set your arrival time too close to another ship. The Valor docked in the end sb. side nose in next to us to reduce the docking time as she had a short stay, supposedly sailing by 14.30 this afternoon.
As you can see by the black line, ships progress went east of the track line and then drifted nicely back in again once coming into the harbor.
Nassau is not a difficult port as such. The wind is normally steady, the turning basin is large enough to even accommodate the Oasis of the Seas and since the Piers have been extended it is good docking here as well. The biggest challenge is to get through the entrance with the wind full on the port beam. We had this morning a sort of Trade Wind blowing (Although the Bahamas are a little north of the official Trade Wind area) with a wind force 4 which pushed the ship, drifted it to the West. To compensate for this the ship is steered more to the East and if you do not understand what is going on, you think it is heading straight for the rocks. But when coming closer and closer the wind is doing it’s bit and you are back in the middle and on the track line again when entering the port.
When swinging the Radar show a little blue ship which we call the predictor. It indicates where the ship will go (eventually) if the maneuver is not continued in the right direction.
Inside the harbor there is always less wind. The Hotels on Paradise Island behind the port break the wind, the ships already docked in the port do so to and any other obstructions such as vegetation, it all helps. We did have wind force 4 while outside but when in the turning basin it had reduced itself to a small wind force 3. So the ship could be happily swung around and backed into the berth.
But if you do, then the predictor will show the exact movement to the dock, and then all it takes is breaking on time.
Most captains prefer to swing on arrival. As a rule of thumb there is normally less wind in the port in the morning and if you have the time, lying in port with the nose out makes it a lot easier for a quick departure if necessary. The docks are almost straight in line with the harbor entrance and leaving means a kick ahead and a minor course change to starboard and the ship is back into open waters.
Now to my remark of yesterday about the pigs. For some time some of the snorkel tours and now also some dedicated tours go past an un-inhabited island called Big Major Cay. In the mists of time a number of pigs ended up on the island and as there was enough vegetation and fresh water they managed to survive and even thrive there. Slowly but steadily the pigs got an understanding with the people passing by and came swimming out for food. I never knew that pigs could swim but they are intelligent animals so why not? Dogs can swim, most cattle can swim and so can elephants. Thus swimming with pigs became an official tourist attraction. Once I found out about this, I thought maybe it would be something for us as well at Half Moon Cay. We already have swimming with stingray’s, so why not some porkers as well???
A long time ago my parents had friends who owned a sort of farm, or better said a regular house with a lot of land that was farmed on the side. As it was almost in the woods, there was the occasional issue of animal intruders coming out of the woods and human intruders going into the woods. My parent’s friends had found a very effective security system to deal with this menace. A pig and a gaggle of geese. Both can by very territorial if you let them and the effects are often more spectacular than what a watch dog can achieve. Once the pig (and this was a big boar) cornered two thieves who had planned a raid on the chicken coop and their pleas for mercy could be heard half a mile down the road. Foxes attacking the chicken coop were dealt with by the Geese, also very effectively. Whenever I now see or hear about pigs I have to think about this guard-pig. I wonder if these pigs on their own island are also so effective in keeping intruders out. I know they do welcome tourists as they bring food; which is a major point of focus in the lives of pigs. (http://www.bahamas.com/swimmingpigs)
The Zuiderdam will sail tonight around 6 pm. heading for our final destination Ft. Lauderdale and dock at Pier 26 in Port Everglades. The ship will be docked by tomorrow morning 04.30 and we are hoping to have the CBP inspectors on board by 05.00 so we can get all the crew through the immigration inspection before the USCG comes on board for their inspection. As it is a Monday it is not as busy as during the weekend and thus we are scheduled to be in port only with the Celebrity Equinox.
Weather for Fort Lauderdale: Mostly sunny with temperatures around 86oF /30oC.
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