11 July 2008, Vancouver.

As was promised to us by the weather forecast, Vancouver day was a nice and sunny day with no wind at all on arrival. It was busy with traffic though. English Bay (that is the anchorage just outside the Lions Gate Bridge) was full with bulk carriers. They were raising anchor one by one to follow the cruise ships in. It seems that the grain exports from Canada are picking up again as thus far there have not been that many bulk ships waiting for a dock. In between also a containership entered the port so it was a busy morning that must have pleased the port authorities.

As explained before, docking in Vancouver is always an interesting affair as we never know what the current is doing. We had three knots of ebb current running from in the harbor to open waters, the ebb current, being against us when sailing under the bridge. However that does not mean that we then know what the current is doing off the dock at Canada place. This time it was completely different again and the current was now running quite strongly under Canada place which is built on poles, that means the water can flow freely under it. By the time I had the ship lined up with the dock it took quite a bit of thruster power to bring her sideways to the dock as the current kept pushing the ship away. Nothing to be concerned about, but totally out of the regular pattern. Sometimes I just wonder if there is a regular current pattern in the harbor…………….

We had our regular docking on the inch again and as there were some remarks about it last time; let me explain briefly again what the issue is. The gangways at Canada place can move up and down with the tide. They can also move along the pier but very slowly and cumbersome. The morning before a ship is expected these gangways are moved in to the approximate position of where the ships doors are going to be when the ship has come alongside. Nearly all of the outer glass wall panels of Canada place terminal can be opened up as doors so the shore side of the gangway can line up anywhere. However when the gangways are placed in their approximate position they stay stationary as it takes at least 15 minutes to align them again at a different location. Thus it is much quicker for the ships operation and much easier for the gangway operators if the ship lines up with the gangway instead of lining up the shore gangway with the ship. That is why we have to park on the inch at Canada Place.

This is also the reason why we dock nose out to open waters. It works better for the gangways, as we use two of them, and for the resulting flow of the guests going ashore. One gangway is used for guests going directly back to the USA and they are let through a secure area to the buses so that in principle they have not been ashore in Canada which makes it easier for the processing and the other guests use the 2nd gangway. They go through regular immigration and from there into the main terminal to find transport to their next destination.

Also for transport there is the new direct sky train link with the airport. It is currently under construction and is making good progress. By 2011 it should be possible to be at the airport in about 20 minutes directly from Canada place. At the moment most of Seymour Street is one big construction site but it is open top construction and from the street you can see what they are doing. At the more interesting places there are even signs present explaining what is going on. I do not know if the Cab drivers are going to like it but it will make traveling a lot easier provided you do not have too much luggage with you.

We left right on time and headed back to the North for our next cruise. The slack tide window at the Narrows is between midnight and 1 am., and thus we do not have to travel too fast to make the window. According to the Weather forecast it is going to be a windy night. The wind from yesterday is still present at the North side of Vancouver Island.