11 August 2009, Tallin, Estonia.

This is the peak time of the Baltic season and it sees each port full of cruise ships. Tallin was no exception with four cruise ships calling at the same time. Zenith, Costa Atlantica, Prinsendam and the Silver Shadow. The two big ones on the cruise pier outside the main port and the two smaller ones docked inside the commercial port where also the ferries dock.

As is usual, all the cruise ships were planning to arrive at the same time, so I brought my eta forward to be ahead of the throng and get alongside before the rest were starting to congregate at the pilot station. Tomorrow for St. Petersburg it is going to be an even bigger headache. My clever plan, to beat the rest, almost fell through when the Zenith was suddenly observed racing to the pilot station. They had a medivac and needed the pilot boat ASAP to get the patient ashore. Luckily as there were two pilot boats on duty, it did not affect my approach. If it had been only one, the Prinsendam would have had to wait for the pilot boarding, as the pilot boat would have been deviated. Saving lives goes before everything else.

A busy day in Tallin. Stock photo courtesy of our ships agent. We were docked along the pier in the centre of the photo.

So we sailed nicely on time into port, swung around inside the harbour and were all fast by 07.30, much to the delight of the shore excursion manager who now had ample time to count her buses. I just had the gangway ashore when the Silver Shadow approached so they had an un-hindered docking as well. It turned out to be a beautiful day, which was great as we have a futsie football tournament going. This tournament is part of the fun and games which announce the arrival of the Indonesian Independence day. So for the two weeks, my ETA’s to the various agents of the upcoming ports have contained a request to play futsie ball near the ship. Futsie ball is an Indonesian variation of soccer with 5 players and goals the size seen in Ice hockey games. Some ports it is an absolute no, no, as port officials envision a direct terrorist attack if they would allow this, in other ports they are most happy to help out.

Tallinn, is a very friendly port and we get all help that we need to accomplish everything we want, including unusual requests. Today was especially important as the organizers wanted to play the finals as we are expecting rain in the coming days. Thus most of the afternoon, 20 minute games were played culminating in the overall winner being the engine room team. One, other quarter final team, was disqualified because of no show but in the end 6 teams had played, which for a ship with only 445 crew onboard is not bad at all. Other competitions, ping pong, arm wrestling, karaoke are still going on. Indonesian Independence day celebration will take place on 17 August (the official day) in Stockholm. Also here the authorities cooperate and I can use the whole dock for the festivities. Apart from the flag raising and the reading of the proclamation of Independence, there are tug of war games and sack races. Etc.

As I had swung on arrival and there was no ferry boat delaying my departure I could depart very quickly and head towards our next Port of call, St. Petersburg. We will be arriving with 4 cruise ships and a number of unknown cargo ships at the pilot station within a one hour window. To avoid any navigational issues, I am keeping the speed up, so that we can do the last hour on slow speed and nicely line up in the convoy without any last minute crash stops. Early arrival as well, being at the pilot at 4 am. for a 7.30am docking.