Panic in Juneau today. They were running out of water and the ships all got a limited hose pipe ban. Yesterday the agent informed us that there would be a restriction on the loading of potable water in Juneau as the reservoirs were going down. We found that hard to believe of course. In an area where it rains most of the time, how can you run out of water? Well first of all, it had hardly rained in Juneau for the past three weeks and with that I do not mean drizzle but regular rain. It had been fairly dry. Secondly the very good weather has speeded up the melting of the snow and the run off caused a high turbidity of the water reservoirs for Juneau. As a result the water company is operating at about a 3rd of their capacity.

Although there is still enough water to supply the city, there is not enough for giving unlimited quantities of water to the ships, hence the limitation. We call that a hose-pipe-ban in England. When we arrived, we were given a loading window from 1 pm to 6 pm. with only a one hose capacity. The chief engineer had hoped to load all day and to be able to fill all the tanks up. The water quality in Juneau is very good and it is a lot cheaper to buy water, than it is to make it onboard where we have to burn expensive fuel to do it. Tomorrow we are in Sitka at anchor so we cannot load water there, then it is scenic cruising in Yakutat bay, so no loading there, thus the next chance will be Seward on Friday. Thus no local water for the guests the coming days but Veendam’s own.

We docked in Juneau very early and for them it must have been a good day as it was raining. For most of the day it drizzled, sometimes it really rained but there was the occasional dry spell. Not that great for us but at least it helped with not depleting the water reservoirs any further. The Veendam led the parade into Juneau again and by 8 am. 4 cruise ships had parked themselves in the harbor and were unleashing their hordes of eager shoppers on downtown. I do not think that the rain held anybody back as the tours were busy and all the shops looked full. Only those who had been to Juneau before, had seen the sights and had bought the t-shirt, choose to remain onboard.

This was my day to keep a close eye on the weather forecast. The weather in the mid pacific has been very unsettled in the last few days and there was a chance that a weather front would intensify just when we are supposed to come in the open sea on the way to Sitka. The wind is increasing indeed in velocity but the lay of the system is such that the waves should not be that high when we get to open waters. Looking at the forecast I estimated that we are going to get about 8 feet. That means that the Veendam will gently pitch on the waves but that it will not be an uncomfortable ride.

The system is generating a mostly South Easterly wind and that means that the anchorage will be fairly well protected by the mountains. Only if the wind shifts West or North West we will have a windy day in the port. From now on it is a wait and see what the system is going to do next. It might split or go North, it might go South East or it might disappear completely. Weather forecasts in Alaska are extremely short term, with anything over 24 hours to be taken with a pinch of salt. The bulletins get updated about every 6 hours and it is only in high summer that a 3 or 4 day prediction remains unchanged.

We left Juneau on time and although it was rainy and overcast, it showed the green colors of the mountain sides in Gastineau channel very favorably and so we had a very scenic sail away. By 11 pm. we were outside in the Pacific and the Veendam was very gently moving. Just before I went to bed a report came in from the agent of Juneau advising that all water supplies to the ships would be discontinued from tomorrow on, as the reservoir level was in danger of falling below what was needed to sustain the fire brigade. Not a good time to live in Juneau. They are still suffering from lack of electricity due to the avalanche that damaged the power lines a few weeks ago and now they might run out of water.