If you could drive from Juneau to Skagway it would be about 40 miles as the crow flies. However nature planned, most inconveniently, a complete mountain range in the way and thus we have to sail around it.  That means travelling all the way up the Lynn Canal at which end the town is located. The strange thing is, that with Juneau being the capital of Alaska, it is completely locked in and Skagway has access by road to the whole world as you can hop over the Canadian border and drive anywhere from there. For Juneau it is either the Ferry or the Airplane. Once again we followed the Zaandam at a safe distance of 3 miles and lined up for a first line arrival at 06.30. As the season is just starting, we are the only two ships in Skagway and thus we were parked together at the Alaskan Railroad dock for the day.   Tomorrow we will split up as the Zaandam goes to Tracy Arm and we go to Glacier Bay. The day after tomorrow we will rejoin again in Ketchikan after which we sail together back to Vancouver.  This is the first time in my career that I am sailing in tandem with another company ship for the whole week but it will stop next cruise, when the Zaandam will go up to Seward. We will wait another week before we do the same and then alternate with her. Continue reading

The wind kept blowing and blowing while we sailed back into the Inside Passage. Coming up via Cape Decision the Alaskan Inside passage runs north to south providing an excellent funnel for an already strong wind. The only positive part about it was that it provided clear and sunny skies, so we had a great view of the snow capped mountains all around us.  We caught up with the Oosterdam who was on its way to Tracy Arm and thus ended up at the pilot station at the same time. It saved the pilot boat an extra run in and out of Kake, which is a little hamlet that is just conveniently located at the lower end of Stephens Passage. There is a little hotel there, where the pilot stays overnight after they have flown in by water plane.  That makes it difficult sometimes to get the pilots there, if it is foggy or very windy.  But not today, the wind made for clear skies and very long views with snow capped mountains all around. The moment we lined up for the pilot station, we left the “funnel” and it became wind still. I thought well we are in business, I will not be delayed that much. But later on the wind came back and with it the adverse current and that meant that we did not arrive in Juneau on our advertised time. Luckily for the rest of the cruise, the average speed to maintain is low enough, that we can deal with any adverse weather that might be thrown at us. Luckily none is expected for the next few days. Continue reading

Although we left Vancouver dock first, we were overtaken by the Zaandam while we were swinging off the berth and by the time we approached Discovery Pass, we were back to the regular line up. Century in the lead as she was going to Icy Strait, followed by the Zaandam for a mid day arrival in Juneau, followed by us for a mid afternoon arrival. Those two ships can go faster than the Statendam anyway, so it is better that they pass us before the narrow part of the Inside Passage starts. We cannot go through the Seymour Narrows at the same time and thus the arrangements are made depending on the speed you can maintain and how far you have to go on the other side. With the tide being so late, all three ships will have a hard time to keep their schedule anyway.  Each cruise schedule has some leeway built into its timings but this time the Tide is very late and the weather further up north very inclement. We will be in the hands of the Weather Gods on how we fare while going through Queen Charlotte Sound. Continue reading

It is 89 miles from Victoria to Vancouver/Lions Gate Bridge and thus we all happily sailed along with a speed of 15 knots through the inland waters. Sometimes being in the USA and sometimes in Canada. The border is roughly following the regular route but it means that we are constantly crossing the border to stay on the track when going around the corner. Only by the time we pass Vancouver airport we are fully in Canadian waters. During the night the pilots were talking to each other to set up an arrival sequence. The Celebrity Century who had left Victoria at 1800 hrs. and thus gone at a very slow speed had strayed too far from the route to kill the time, so that she could not get back in the planned sequence and thus she went in at number 2, instead of number one. The Zaandam took the lead and we were number three, which is as it should be as we were docking at Canada Place North, which is the NW corner of the dock. That brought us under the bridge at 06.35 and from then on we just stayed a mile behind the Century until she was putting her nose into the East side. In the mean time the Zaandam was swinging around in the harbor to dock stern in. If there are two ships docking on the West side there is a shore side issue with the passenger flow if the gangways are too far apart and thus we dock nose to nose. Continue reading

The wind followed the weather forecast this time and by 2 am. The wind and seas started to abate.  Abate to such an extent that by 10 am. it was almost windstill. The California current fell away as well, as it curves from the Gulf of Alaska to the South East and does not touch the corner we are heading for now. Strait San Juan de Fuca.  That did not mean that I was home and dry, not at all. There would be a strong ebb current running out of the Strait when we would get there, made even worse by a strong wind from the East, in the same direction. So after playing with my calculator for a while, I estimated that we would be 30 to 45 minutes late. 30 minutes due to the bad weather and the adverse current in Strait Juan de Fuca and maybe 15 minutes on top for docking.  Not bad taking into consideration the nasty 24 hours we just went through. Luckily as both the wind and the swell were on the bow, the guests on board did not realize that we were in a bad storm but the peak wind sustained was 43 knots in the afternoon and that is a force 9 on the beaufort scale. If we had had that on the side, with the swell, then a lot of people would have sought comfort with their pillow or worse. Continue reading

Today we were sailing off the coast of Oregon, having gone past Cape Mendicino. The weather chart had indicated that there was a rough patch of weather coming and indeed the wind started to blow around 5 am: exactly on schedule. I had anticipated for this as much as possible by going full out on the engines as I knew that I would lose some speed here. The 30 to 40 knots of wind does slow the ship down by half a mile and then the swell that comes with it 13 to 16 feet, will do the rest. The ride remained quite pleasant compared to what it could have been with this weather. As it was mainly a light pitching movement I did not get any reports about guests being inconvenienced. The highest wind we observed was around 2 pm in the afternoon when it breezed up to 43 knots. That is a wind force 9 on the Beaufort scale. In the evening it started to abate again and then by tomorrow morning we should be completely out of it. If that happens then I do not expect that it will affect us very much for our arrival time. Continue reading

This morning we left the area of the Catalina Islands by sailing South of St.Nicolas Island and entering the North Pacific Ocean. There was a long running swell but as I had hoped for it had lost most of its power already as the bad weather that had generated it had been weakening since the day before yesterday. So for today we were in business and the Statendam could nicely keep its speed. The wind had completely fallen away; down to a light air and sometimes a gentle breeze and that brought another challenge. Very low hanging clouds and so thick that our visibility was reduced to about 150 feet. In the old Atlantic days they would call that a “one funnel fog” as you were able to see only the first of the three or four funnels that a ship would have.  That meant that the bridge of the Statendam went to battle stations. Double manning, all watertight doors closed and the whistle blowing every two minutes, so the whole world could hear that we were there and the captain was on the bridge. Today was an area mainly free of traffic, at least according to the radar but that does not mean that there is nothing out there, so the extra look-outs were in position and all radar stations manned. Continue reading

at 04.20 we hopped over the border from Mexico and put the brakes on shortly after, to pick up the pilot at the San Diego Sea – buoy.  Being so early meant that there was hardly any traffic out there and that always helps.  Lately it seems that the navy is doing late night exercises and not early morning things and that leaves the sea completely to us alone.  When coming in, we had some security boats giving a demonstration of “boys with toys”, e.g. racing around at full speed for no apparent reason but the pilot thought it might have had something to do with the departure of two Air craft carriers; one at 09.00 and one at 11.00 At least that was on the schedule. In the end nothing happened but there must have been some plans to do something as these boats were not there for my benefit.  We docked without much excitement and then settled down for the day. An unusual day as it was a part change over port and part regular port of call. Not so easy for the ship, as you have to work around the guest expectation (those staying on board) of having a regular port day and the need to get the rest of the ship ready for those boarding. On top of that we had our annual USCG inspection, which altogether resulted in an interesting cocktail of events. Luckily the weather was very nice for a day ashore or for lugging suitcases as it was not too warm. Continue reading

Today was the 2^nd day at sea and we sailed with a speed of 15 knots along the west coast of the Californian Peninsula. We were now far to the East of the Axis of that Northerly flow 40 miles off the coast and where we were there was no more than 7 knots of wind. A gentle Breeze is what Mr. Beaufort calls that. A good thing as well, otherwise it would have been really chilly today. The noon time temperature dropped to the low sixties. Partly due to the cold wind and cold current, but also partly due to the fact that it was mainly overcast during the day. That was courtesy of the bad weather that was raging near San Francisco where it blew yesterday up to 60 knots. Today that weather is supposed to ease off and then return to more normal patterns. I will need that as we are going that way, the day after tomorrow. I do not want sick people on the two last days of the cruise. Plus we are embarking about 400 people for the coastal and they want to enjoy themselves and that excludes the ship acting as a roller coaster. But we will see; it all depends on how fast wind and waves will dissipate. Continue reading

During the night we sailed through the Baja California, the stretch of water between the Mexican mainland and the Californian Peninsula. Further up the inlet it is called the Sea of Cortez but here at the entrance to the Pacific Ocean it is the Bay of California. On occasion it can blow considerably from the North with the land on both sides acting as a Funnel. This time it was not so bad as most of the wind was on the bow. There is a strong outflow from the North in the North Pacific Ocean (It is quite horrible weather in the San Francisco area at the moment) and that funnels nicely along the Californian Coast. When it comes to the end of the Peninsula the “funnel wall” in the form of the Californian Peninsula falls away and the wind bends around Cabo Falso & Cabo San Lucas and then blows in the direction of Puerto Vallarta, only to lose momentum when coming close to the Bahia de Banderas. That meant that from around midnight we had the wind full on the bow and it dropped the outside temperature considerably. Midday in Puerto Vallarta had been 85oF (30oC) now it came down to midday 68oF (20oC). Still not cold but chilly after the sweltering weather of the last 14 days. Continue reading