With a moderate breeze blowing with us we sailed towards the Caribbean Sea. The ship was making about 17 knots and with a wind strength of about the same, it was almost wind still on deck but due to the cold front of yesterday it was not too warm. Thus it was a perfect day to relax and enjoy shipboard life on board the ms Veendam. The weather forecast for the coming next days predict little change. That means that we should have a very nice cruise and not too warm as long as the North Easterly breeze keeps blowing and keeps feeding a bit of cold air from the North.
While all the guests were enjoying themselves on board, we had a bit of excitement in the deck department, as we discovered a stowaway. Happily sitting on a catwalk behind the dining room was an owl. Now it is not unusual to have birds hitching a ride on the ship, but an owl was a new one to me. I have had pelicans, Brown Booby’s, Sea Gulls, all sorts of small birds, bats, crickets, even an albatross once, but never an owl. Experts in the deck department; it is amazing in which sort of issues navigators consider themselves experts, determined that it was a barn owl. In Holland we call it a church owl. The later always give rise to the question whether it would be a Roman Catholic one or a Protestant one. But in English it is a barn owl and a barn is a barn and that makes it easy. I assume that there are several variations of barn owls and this was a brown one. That is as far as my expertise goes.
Veendam Stowaway. Photo courtesy Chief officer Remko Fehr.
It must have been blown of course somewhere off Cuba and decided to land on the ship for some R & R. With the way things normally go, it will mean that the bird will remain with the ship until it comes close to land and then it takes off again. A ship is not really a place for a barn owl as we score extremely low in the mouse count on board. So we will have a look tomorrow morning upon arrival to see if the owl is still there, or whether it had already taken off for land.
With hurricane Paloma out of the way, the weather patterns in the Caribbean Sea is re-establishing itself and in one or two days we should have the regular trade winds blowing again. The Gulf Stream that comes up the coast of the Yucatan had moved more to the East in the past few days and as a result the ship had more current against it, compared with the last week. That was unpleasant as it meant that I had to burn more fuel than I had hoped for. Every bit of current helps and with half a knot of extra current against us, the ship will consume about $2000 extra in fuel between Key West and Belize than what could have been the case. Hopefully we can get it back on the way north again.
While we did not have much traffic when we went north to Tampa two days ago; this time it was busy in the Strait of Yucatan. Tankers on the way to Venezuela, container ships going to the Gulfports and even a C4 cargoship under the USA flag. The C4’s were standard ships built by the Marad in the 1950/60’s for the various American shipping Companies and were highly successful in design and operation. However with the containerization most of them disappeared. Thus it was amazing to see a general cargo ship with booms and derricks, being over 40 years old, and still in operation. From the outside the ship did not look that good but she was making good speed so there was definitely nothing wrong with the engines. They could reach a maximum speed of about 20 knots when built and this one was moving along with about 18 knots. On the AIS we could read the name: Cleveland, and a quick google established that this ship was built in 1969 as the American Mail
(http://drawings.us-maritime-commission.de/drawings_c5_s_7xx_types.htm)
for American Mail lines in Newport News. However it was not a C4 but a C5 class, so a later version of the design.
Tomorrow we will arrive at our regular, early time of 5 am at the pilot station and should be able to drop the hook at seven for a beautiful day in Belize. Little wind and much sunshine has been forecasted.
November 13, 2008 at 8:44 am
As always, your comments are both informative and entertaining. Speaking of birds on ships, a few years ago my wife and I were on a cruise from Hawaii back to the U.S. A juvenile peregrine falcon “boarded” the ship and spent a few days on our balcony – finally flying off as we approached Mexico. We and the cabin staff fed it treats from the dining room.
November 13, 2008 at 9:25 am
We continue to profit and learn from your generous comments. Will be on Veendam again 14 December. Any possibility for a meeting with one of the ship’s officers for a group briefing on technical issues: navigation, mechanicals, and the like? (Many years back my wife and her brother had an unforgettable tour of bridge and–deafening–engine room aboard one of the French Line ships. Not possible now for security reasons, alas.)
November 13, 2008 at 3:47 pm
A superfine experience, Captain. How privileged your ship is to be chosen even by wild life as a safe haven, whether barn or church owl ! You also have a very faithful Chief Officer, I noticed. You had him on your Alaska runs, too, didn’t you? Your daily inputs are as interesting as always, even competing with the National Geographics 🙂
November 14, 2008 at 9:08 am
I served on a C4 hull reefer USS alstede AF-48 during 1967-1968. It was originally a “banana boat” built for United Fruit Co. before being acquired by the U.S. Navy. A very comfortable ship to sail in.