Pireaus is the gate-away to the capital of Greece, Athens. City of antiquity with the Acropolis as the worldwide known landmark. For us on the bridge Pireaus is not a port as such, it is a happening, especially the approach. The port entrance is very narrow and there is a constant coming and going of all sorts of ferries heading for the islands of the Greek Archipelago. To control the chaos to a certain extent there is Pireaus Traffic who monitors the shipping to and from the port and calls order when things are getting too hectic, too confused or a dangerous situation seems to develop. A vessel traffic separation system has been established that separates the inbound and outbound traffic preventing ships to get in each others way.

The fun really starts when the ship approaches the harbor entrance. Piraeus traffic is called when 3 miles from the harbor entrance and then the orders follow what to do. In our case we had to park ourselves 2 miles south of the sea buoy to wait for in and outgoing traffic. The ferries take precedent over any other traffic and our arrival coincided with a major influx of overnight ferries coming from the islands. I parked the ship at the appointed spot awaiting the pilot’s arrival.

A little cruise ship ahead of us had been talking to Port control and the pilot at the same time and received conflicting information. The pilot’s information was considered the most advantageous and the captain decided to act upon that. The following exchange on the VHF ensued:

Port control: XXXX what are you doing. I told you to wait 0.5 mile south of the sea buoy.
XXXX: the pilot told me to approach.
Port control: We are in charge tell the pilot to call me when on the bridge.
XXXX: ok ok we stop again.
Pilot: XXXX please move ahead I am approaching.
XXXX: I have been told to wait by port control.
Pilot: Ok Ok you come ahead, I talk to port control.
XXXX: I come ahead.
Port Control: XXXX you have to wait for our orders. Do not move until the pilot is on the bridge,
XXXX: ok ok, I wait but pilot told me to come ahead:
Port Control to Pilot: @#$^**()), (in Greek) to the pilot …………..and then to XXXX: you wait.

More Greek noise came over the VHF when that particular pilot came to the bridge of the XXXX, and although we could not understand what was said, it sounded quite argumentive.

In the meantime, there were ferries going in out and out, who somehow must have had a secret connection to port control as we never heard them on the VHF. Finally XXXX went in and then it was our turn. Pilot came on board, and we moved forward. As the main cruise berth was occupied by a war ship, we had to dock at the alternative berth that had been designed for the QM2 and used by her during the Olympic Games. So the whole maneuver was to line the ship up in the harbor entrance, and then brake on time to swing alongside the berth. In the meantime the pilot kept Port Control entertained in the Greek language. As we were a bit out of the town, a free shuttle was used to bring the guests that were not on tour to the main passenger terminal, thus our location did not matter that much. We had a glorious day again with the weather and a good time was had by all.