Approaching Puerto Vallarta is in a way quite easy; you just put the brakes on 3 miles before the beach in the Far eastern part of the Bahia de Banderas: and there is the pilot station, one mile off the beach. The regular committee was waiting to receive us, erratic fishing boats, the navy protection escort and the pilot boat all gathered around the sea buoy. The pilot hopped on board at 06.59 and the ship was docked at 07.40 all fast, at the cruise terminal in accordance to the local wishes.  I was docking nose in as we wanted to exercise the portside lifeboats and that also gave the guests in the crow’s nest an excellent view of the triathlon that was being held in the port today. Continue reading

Around 06.00 we entered the wide entrance to the bay of Manzanillo port. Although blessed with a natural bay it was for a long time a port of only minor importance. That changed in the 90’s. when it was decided that it should become one of the most important import and export ports on the pacific coast.

Overview of the port of Manzanillo. The large cargo port basin is in the foreground.

For that purpose a complete new inner port was created in the back of the bay. Reachable via an entrance channel leading to the bay itself. The reason for a separate port with an entrance channel was the fact that there can be a very strong swell running into the bay when the south westerly winds are blowing. That swell runs into the bay, hits the shore and then bounces back into the bay. The two wave patterns then cancel each other out half the time but enhance each other half of the time and that is very unpleasant for the ships alongside. Hence a separate port in the back. With all the cargo traffic arranged in the back port there was room for a cruise terminal on the Manzanillo waterfront. Most cruise ships call during the season when the south westerly winds are not that predominant and thus the planners found it acceptable to put a new pier there. We had very little swell today and thus it did not matter where our dock was. Continue reading

The distance is between Hualtulco and Manzanillo is 537 miles and that means it is too far away to reach it overnight and too short a distance to go full speed. I am not familiar with the night life of Manzanillo but it seems more of an industrial port than a resort in the style of Acapulco. Thus I am Not going to run full out to arrive at 11 pm., to give all the guests the chance to race ashore to the nearest disco but sail along the Mexican coast with the sedate speed of 13 knots, aiming for a 07.00 pilot station time. By 08.00 we had passed Acapulco and by 14.00 hrs. we had Zihuatenego on our starboard side. At the same time the wind breezed up to 15 knots and that saw all the sports fishermen returning home wards and giving us something less to worry about.  For other traffic it was quite lively, due to the curvature of the coast here. The major shipping lanes bend around the corner here, following the land and that means that all coastal traffic from North America to Panama comes fairly close to the shore here. Thus we had a good sprinkling of container ships, tankers and general cargo ships coming by. Later on we lost those again when we turned more to the north heading for Manzanillo. Continue reading

Indeed the winds stayed away and we sailed through nearly flat seas towards the pilot station.  This morning we were called by somebody who called himself Port Control. That was a new one as we had never heard about Huatulco Port Control before. It became very quickly clear that this person had been planning this conversation far in advance as his English was very basic. Your could almost “hear” him going through his notes and the questions he wanted to ask before starting the call. Confusion arose at once, as he had not counted on two things: a. being answered by an Irish officer, who pronounces things slightly different, b. Instead of get answers, he was getting questions.  That had not been in the preparation and thus the conversation died away quite rapidly. But he was shortly after replaced by the pilot who had the good news, that he was on station and that it was beautiful weather inside Huatulco Bay. No other ship was scheduled; I could do anything I wanted.  Knowing that the weather would stay nice, I opted for docking on the West side, nose in, so that the gangway would be in the shade of the ship for most of the day and at the same time reducing the walk into the port for our guests by about 600 feet –  ¾ of a ships length. More I could not do and it remained a very warm day. Continue reading

The rising of the sun was eagerly awaited by us on the bridge so that we could see the breakwaters and how the swell was affecting them. Sunrise was at 06.50 but we do not need the sunlight to have a good look. For the sailor sunrise exists in three stages. First there is Nautical Twilight; the moment that you can still see the stars but also the horizon, so you can take star observations for your position fix. Then there is civil twilight; the moment that the stars are too vague to still use the sextant on them and that period lasts until the sun comes above the horizon. Each period lasts about 20 minutes. Thus by 06.30 when civil twilight started we could already see enough of the breakwaters to get a good estimate of how the swell was running. Was it going inside the breakwaters or staying out? To my relief it looked well. Although some heavy rollers were hitting the breakwater on the East side, it all hit on the outer side of the breakwater. The breakwater was doing its job. It was –breaking the water—. Thus we let the pilot hop on board and I proceeded cautiously towards the entrance. Carefully watching if the ship was not starting to pitch. We were going in at low tide and that meant that would have no more than 12 feet under the keel. For quiet seas not a problem but with a swell letting the ship pitch, that 12 feet could easily be reduced to 5 and that is too close for comfort. But the ship only lightly rolled and with both stabilizers out it was not very much. Although stabilizers need speed to fully function, just by having them out they do have a dampening effect and that was very handy today. Continue reading

 Puerto Quetzal is a fair distance away from Corinto so we put the pedal to the metal once clear of the shallows of Corinto. Luckily we found a nice bit of current that pushed us in the right direction and so during the night the bridge could easy off on the engines and still arrive nicely on time at the pilot station. Puerto Quetzal is the main entry port for Guatemala on the Pacific side and a very busy port. Apart from the cruise terminal, there are two tanker berths and four berths for large cargo ships (and of course more if there are small ships). When we arrived, all the cargo docks were full and only the 2 tanker berths and the cruise terminal were still empty. The two tanker berths are close to the cruise terminal and thus I did not mind it at all if they were no tankers there. Less traffic going past the ship and as one berth is opposite the cruise terminal, more space for me if that dock is empty. Today we docked starboard side alongside on request of the 2nd officer training. He had scheduled a boat drill for the portside and wanted portside boats in the water. Who am I to refuse? Quetzal is a very nice sheltered port and a great place to lower the boats. Tomorrow we are in Puerto Chiapas and then we will do the Starboard side boats. Continue reading

Arrival in Corinto always worries me. And that is due to the long swell that can run into the port entrance. The closer we come the shallower the water gets and the more swell can build up. If the swell is in line with the approach course of 077o then it will catch the ship under the stern, making it very difficult to steer.  If the swell it too high, then there might not be enough water under the keel and the ship could touch bottom. So it is always with a certain trepidation that I go here. This morning there was a considerable swell running, but it was under an angle to the course line. That meant that the ship would be swaying to either side of the course line a bit but not to the extent that it would endanger a safe entry. And so we sailed in, swinging on arrival and were happily docked at 0900 hrs in the cargo port of Corinto. Swinging on arrival was preferred today, as we were coming in with the following flood and it makes life a lot easier to dock with the nose into the current than with the stern. Plus the flood helped with pushing the stern around during the swing and some free thruster power is always appreciated.  There was a gentle breeze blowing today and that meant that it was not so hot as it can be. Continue reading

 Puerto Caldera Port Control is the authority that looks after the port operations. With two ships alongside and 6 at anchor it is not that much of headache to deal with it all as far as I think. Still it seems that each time when we arrive we cause a good deal of confusion and excited conversation on the VHF. This morning they were all in fine form again and in the end the agent called to obtain the necessary answers by means of some simple questions. I think he relayed those answers by phone to Port Control as it remained quiet from that moment onwards. When we came closer we could more or less reconstruct what it was all about. There was a ship alongside that had to leave for us. That meant a pilot and two tugboats; the pilot could not reach us as he was standing with his handheld radio in the steel-hull- lee of the cargo ship and thus Port Control in their mighty tower high aloft had to relay and did not do that very well. With only one pilot on duty, the big question was DID I need a pilot? When the answer was no, it solved a lot of logistical problems as the pilot did not have to split himself in two and could now sail the other ship out. Port Control then had to deal with a Tuna fisher which was also alongside and who also had to leave. He was pulling out, while we were coming in. So he cleared the berth but then dropped anchor, right in our preferred approach line. Fishermen think about safe passing distances on a totally different level than deep sea ships. So it was a bit tighter than normal but that is all part of the equation. By 06.00 we were docked and all was right with the world. Continue reading

After a long but good day in the Panama Canal, it was time for some relaxation and recharging of the batteries. Starting tomorrow we will have five ports in a row to call at. Warm ports as well, so today was a day to recuperate and get ready.  We had the regular “Pacific” –Ocean weather with a nearly windless sea to look at. Wind velocity did not go above the 6 knots and that is what the Beaufort scale calls a “Light Air”.  We saw turtles paddling by, dolphins showing off, and a few flying fish trying to “take off” but due to the lack of wind, that did not work very well and they all fell back in the water after a few feet. We trundled along with the sedate speed of 12 knots to maintain our schedule for an early arrival in Puerto Caldera.  So the navigators had the unusual experience of being overtaken by cargo ships, which were not going that fast either. We had left the Canal yesterday in the company of a small cargo ship the BBC Ganges which was doing 13 knots, so after 24 hours she managed to overtake us finally on our portside. Today time was flowing by quietly.  Continue reading

 Late evening we left the windy area behind and we had very quiet weather sailing towards Panama. The 140 year ball was a resounding success and with the hour back everybody could still get a goodnights sleep for the Panama transit. We had been ordered to be at the Cristobal breakwater at 0500 to line up in the convoy but somewhere a muddle must have occurred as at 3.30 we were advised to drop back and arrive 30 minutes later. I wished they had done that last night and I could have stayed in bed those 30 minutes longer. So we slowed down and I was going to fear that it was going to be a very long transit as a delay in lining up the convoy normally means that there is a slow boat in the convoy which holds everything back. In accordance with the new ETA I drifted at 05.30 through the breakwaters at Cristobal and then the whole clearance circus started. Boarding Agent, Ships agent, Fumigation officer, Panama Canal Technician, Ships Chandler, Narrator and eventually also the first Pilot. With him on the bridge we could slowly move towards the first locks. The other two pilots joined just before we entered those. Continue reading