03 March 2017; Cartagena, Colombia.

And thus we arrived in the early morning hours at the pilot station. I have at the moment the privilege of having a cabin right above the pilot boarding area and thus I was woken up by the pilot boat coming alongside at 05.26. That pilot boat definitely needed some engine work done to it. It made enough noise for a Boeing 747 and only enough speed to challenge a canoe. Still it managed to get the pilot on board and thus the ship could sail in without any delay. And we were alongside well before 07.00 hrs.  This call is meant for tours and they all left at once after arrival. Guests had an early morning and for that the Culinary Department went to battle stations. The Lido Breakfast opened half an hour earlier than usual during a port day (06.00 hrs. instead of 06.30 hrs.), so did the Dining room, and all guests were advised that room service might have challenges sticking to the requested time. Nearly everybody wanted breakfast at 06.30 hrs.

All the cooks were lined up and even the Executive Chef was cooking to keep the momentum going. Dining room stewards were racing with their trolleys through the hall ways and every elevator was full with them as well. But they managed and everybody who wanted to stay and eat in the cabin got their breakfast delivered.  I had to rescue a poor steward from a sleepy husband who told a dining room steward rather unfriendly that he had not ordered any breakfast. But the card was correct so I asked if he could double check with his wife.  I was ready to take the flack for this instead of the steward but then it turned out that indeed his wife had ordered and then said to her husband “and I told you so, but you never listen”. (Where have it heard that myself before ???) So the steward was let in, had the lady check the order – all correct-, and then came out again and closed the door.  Then we both walked away, while sounds were starting to come out of the cabin indicating a domestic dispute about Room Service.

Dutch owned tugboat look at the octagonal layout of the wheel house

While in port I observed something of interest. Tugboats. Owned by three different company’s and they all looked the same. What has happened in the tugboat – building – industry in the last 10 to 15 years is quite revolutionary. In the past every tugboat company had a local builder who built a tugboat to the owner’s specification and then the owner had to wait for it to be completed. Then a ship yard owned by Damen of the Netherlands calculated how many tugboats there are in the world and started to build them in advance in several classes (boat and engine size) and then laid them up half finished. Then if somebody wanted to buy a new tugboat, he could choose a standard model that in a very short time would be finished to the required personal specifications.  Advantage is that serial building gives lower costs and the delivery time is very short as only electronics and bespoke interior do not take much time to install.  As a result we see these standard tugs appearing everywhere in the world. (We will see them tomorrow as well in the Panama Canal). Only in the USA they are not frequent as domestic service requires legally American keel built ships.

A tugboat from the port company. Look at the octagonal layout of the wheel house.

So today, the port tugs boats were Damen built, the private harbor tugboats were Damen built and the dredger service tugboats (from a Dutch company called BosKalis) were also Damen built. The latter company is busy with helping to create a new port area.

The Statue of the Virgin Carmen when all was well.

Final observation of the day, very dramatic. I blogged some time ago that in the middle of the inner harbor there was a statue of the Virgin Carmen, patron of the sailors. Not any longer, the statue got damaged severely by a lighting hit. Whether Carmen was naughty or Zeus got jealous but one flash and everything was broken. At the moment only the pedestal survives. We have to keep an eye out to see if and when the statue will return.

Not a trace left from our Patron Saint.

By 14.00 hrs. we were back in the open ocean and going pedal to the metal to the Panama Canal, where we do a dip in / dip out of the first locks, send ashore the tour while in the Gatun Lake and then later dock in Colon (really Cristobal) for an evening stay and to collect the tour again.

This is our tentative Panama Canal schedule:………………. But as usual: subject to extremely much change.

Pilot on board                    05:30hrs

Gatun Locks (East Lane) SB Passage

Arriving                              07:15hrs

Departing                           09:30hrs

Anchoring                          09:55hrs

Reassuming NB Passage11:00hrs

Gatun Locks (West Lane) NB Passage

Arriving                               11:15hrs

Departing                            13:40hrs

Docking                             15:30hrs

Weather: supposed to be windy and overcast with rain showers. I hope the weather gurus will be wrong.