14 May, Ibiza, Balearic Islands Spain.

During the night the wind died down completely and apart from a low running swell, the sea was smooth. However in the tail of the weather front that generated all this wind was a certain amount of moisture, also called rain, which decided to deposit itself on Ibiza as soon as the Prinsendam was safely docked. You really do not relate Ibiza with rain, more with a sun soaked baking in the sun island, but today was not such a day. Thus: The rain in Spain did not stay on the plain as in the musical My Fair Lady but it did come down on Ibiza.

Normally the cruise ships dock in the downtown area, at least ships with the size of the Prinsendam. However as this was for us a one off call, the local supply boat took preference and the ship was assigned the inside of the breakwater. The supply boat was not a small boat but a Ro-Ro container ship of about the same size as our Prinsendam. Of course you cannot delay the arrival of fresh eggs and other produce and thus this ship took priority. Ibiza is a major European Tourist Resort and most of the supplies for the hundreds of hotels have to come from the main land. Thus the arrival of the Ro-Ro boat is of major importance.

For me the assigned dock was not so bad from a safety point of view. Nice fenders to rest the ship against and a clean flat dock surface with a minimal chance of guests falling over any un-even pavement. Buses were available for the guests to get around the harbour, but as most guests were on tour anyway, the extra drive around the harbour just added something extra to the tour.

I wish that all the dockings that I do would be so simple. With the pilot keeping an eye on the proceedings, it was basically one order, hard starboard on the rudders and the Prinsendam turned nicely around the breakwater towards the dock. The only excitement was the departure of a small Spanish navy vessel from the same dock. For some unknown-navy-reason the commander decided to do that by going astern all the way. In principle easily possible, however he forgot that when steaming astern the smoke of his engine exhaust flows forward over the deck and thus his wheelhouse was nicely fumigated with a dense grey brownish plume of fumes from his engines. No doubt a leadership decision that the deck and wheelhouse crew were not agreeing with.

The Breakwater is at the bottom of the photo. Thank you google

It remained a wind still day in the port although the pilot was anxious for us to get out on time as there was a lot of wind expected from the North later in the evening. Had we stayed until the evening it might not have been possible to have left at all until the next morning. But we sailed nicely on time and made the same turn out of the harbour and around the breakwater but now in the opposite way. As soon as the pilot was off, I ordered full ahead as it is a high speed run to our next port of call Naxos on Sicily. Not to confuse with the island Naxos which is part of Greece. To get there we are going north of Sicily as going around via the South is 60 miles longer. However it creates the strange situation that we have to go through the Straits of Messina twice. Once to get to Naxos and once to get back again.