Warnemunde is lovely for the Guests, it is lovely for the crew to go ashore but it is a hard work port for the Captain and his team. Due to the full day trip to Berlin arrival is extremely early but it is not early enough to have a good excuse to go back to Bed again. And that means it turns into a long working day. Sailing into Warnemunde is a pretty straight forward affair with only two challenges. One we did not have today: Wind. The entrance channel is fully exposed to any sort of wind and with the multi deck & multi balcony cruise ships of nowadays a Warnemunde approach can be a real challenge. The channel is not so wide for it to be possible to let the ship drift and thus a lot of horse power comes into play to stay in the middle when slowing down near the berth. But today there was hardly any wind at all.

There is not much space with ferries around hence they want the cruise ships out of the way. This is a stock photo from the internet with the Rotterdam alongside. Today the Zuiderdam was at Berth 2, where the two little cruise ships are in the photo.

The second challenge is always there: Traffic. In the early mornings we have all the ferries which go in and out. Ferries run on time and thus have preference. If they are running late, they claim even more preference to get back on time again. Some of these ferries are train ferries and they cannot afford to be late at all as the German Railroad runs on time and likes to keep their efficiency record as high as possible. A disturbance by a ship, whether it is a Holland America cruise ship or not, is not appreciated. Thus we try to get into port before the ferries turn up. Port Control and the pilots are very good in helping with this as it is in their interest as well to keep the flow moving in port. Hence there is a focused effort from everybody to get the ship in without delay and that works the best if you are early.

View from the bridge. This is as much as I saw from the town today. In the front the rail road to Berlin. Takes about 2 hours to get there.

The port of Warnemunde has really developed in the last 10 years that I have been coming here. With direct access to Berlin and the proximity of Rostock (where smaller cruise ships can call at directly) the little town and the area around it has a lot to offer. Through the years the main dock has been spruced up, two new guest terminals built and all of it right on top of the Rail road station and on top of downtown. It really cannot be better. The town was always a sea side resort for the Germans to start with and therefore the infrastructure to make it interesting to stroll into town was already in place. A quick walk long the pier, pass under the railroad bridge, and the town is there.

Today the Aida Diva was with us in town. Aida is a company which also belongs to Carnival Corporation but is part of the Costa Group of ships, in the same way as Holland America is part of the HAL group which also includes Princess, Seabourn and P&O Australia. Aida caters almost exclusively for the German market and thus a certain amount of German language is needed to have a good time on board. And that you can as some of the Aida ships have a complete brewery on board where they produce their own AIDA beer. For a lot of Germans a very important item and hence the “Braumeister” or Brew master is after the captain the most cherished person on board.

Another safe working item. Working on the Davit. Is the scaffolding safe? Wearing a secured safety harnass ?. …..and on a sunny day like this is the sailor wearing safety/sun glasses ?

My day was filled with helping out with drills and diving into workplace safety. This something I have not much blogged about, but it is a part of the services I offer to the Master of the Vessel. I am a handy person for this as I come on board with a pair of fresh eyes to look around. As with every job, routine sets in when you are on board a ship for a long time. Routine is good as it helps people to perfect their job, but the danger is complacency as you do not see hidden dangers anymore. If a box has been standing somewhere for a long time, then people forget why it is there and nobody questions it anymore if it SHOULD be there. So when I step on board, my first question is: what is in the box? (It helps when you are nosey and that is a qualification I certainly have). And then we look if the box should be where it is now?

Is it in a safe location?  (Think bad weather)

Are the contents still in good order and allowed to be where it is? (Think chemicals)

Who is in charge and is this person qualified to handle this box and its contents ? (Think training)

And if there is anything not in order, what are we going to do about it and when and how ?. (Think corrective action)

And thus I made rounds, deck by deck to check for anything that might be amiss. The captain is making such rounds as well but with the Baltic sailing season, it cannot be one of his priorities and thus I step in.

Tomorrow we have a day at sea, when we head East in the direction of Tallinn. Again a beautiful port to visit. But first we will sail the middle part of the Baltic Sea towards Estonia. The weather should be good, with a gentle breeze, partly cloudy skies and pleasant temperatures.

I had not expected to be back again on the fleet so fast but things do happen and here I am on the Zuiderdam for 10 days to help out. The Zuiderdam has just come from the crossing and with facing a large crew change over, yours truly was asked to hop on board for a few days to support the officers with getting through it and keeping the ship completely up-to-date with all requirements. On a crossing there are hardly any ports to drill the crew and to verify operation and thus we have the action plan to do it now on this first Baltic cruise. So I will be training, auditing and nosing around while the bridge team can concentrate on their first Europe cruise of the season.  My lord and Master is not completely happy about it but I will just extend my leave a bit in June to make up for it.

And thus I flew from good old England to Copenhagen yesterday and joined the ship this morning during a beautiful summer’s day. Flying out for the company at short notice has always its interesting moments. First of all I flew on May 4^th. which is Remembrance Day in Holland and while I was sitting in the business class lounge at Schiphol, the clock struck 8 pm. and two minutes silence was observed. It was very impressive and moving to see the whole of the airport come to a grinding halt and everything falling silent except the air conditioning.  Apart from a few confused Chinese all travelers joined in with showing their respect even when it was not their remembrance day.   The Netherlands has taken the 4^th, of May as the date to remember those who gave their lives for their country and those who were the victims of the Second World War and then the 5^th. of May is the day of celebration for regaining our liberty in 1945. Although we now also remember those who fell in Korea and during all the peace keeping missions the Dutch were involved in. Military as well as civil. We do not have the tradition of 11 November as observed in a lot of other countries, and this for the simple reason that the Kingdom of the Netherlands was not involved in the First World War but remained neutral and quite successfully managed to keep the German Emperor outside the door.

It does not look very Danish to me but it slept well.

The company uses standard hotels in the various change over ports but if you are a last minute happening then you can end up anywhere. Quite often in a Boutique Hotel off the beaten track. Boutique hotels are built around a philosophy and the guest has to buy into that.  This particular one was modeled around an Eco –sustainable setup with a Mexican twist. That is the only way I can describe it as my stay was too short to figure out in more detail what it was all about.  So I slept in a four poster bed with Danish Duve’s, Mexican top coverings, organic bathroom amenities and the mini bar was generated by eco minded companies as well.   Who says travelling is boring.

The good ship ms Zuiderdam is under the command of Captain Wouter van Hoogdalem with whom I sailed for the last time when he was a 3^rd officer on my ship somewhere in the grey mists of time, long, long ago. Staff Captain is Bart Vaartjes who is currently the fill in captain in the fleet and who will after this contract as Staff Captain return as Master to one of the other ships.  The ship is making a 12 day cruise from Copenhagen to the Baltic States and Russia. I will remain on board until August 14 when the ship is in Kiel and then go home again for a few more days of leave, followed by training courses in Holland, to keep my Master license up-to-date.

This is a big improvement of the downtown – make do – happening and even the larger terminal they had on the West side. Built on reclaimed land and only just coming into operation.

The Zuiderdam docked today at one of the three new cruise terminals which are currently constructed just outside the port of Copenhagen. Cruise ships always like to dock at the Lange Linjen which is just off downtown but for embarkation day, this is much better. For the Back to Back guests (Collector Voyages Guests) there was a shuttle service but new boarding Guests could check in, in a nice new terminal instead of a marquee tent on the cobble stones as we had to do in the past.

Tomorrow we will be in Warnemunde, which is a real favorite of mine, not in the least because the locals are so very much sea and ship minded so you really feel welcome when you come into the port with the ship, as well as when leaving.

Weather for tomorrow: 68oF / 20oC. With partly cloudy skies and a gentle breeze. Most of our guests will be going by train to Berlin and this is near perfect sightseeing weather.

It was a windy passage through the Straits of Messina last night but it had one great advantage, there was not a fishing boat to be seen. They were all happily tucked away at home. Although I really would not know if they had been out there anyway as it was a National Holiday yesterday in Italy. The country then has a tendency to come to a complete standstill. Not always easy for a ship which needs answers and arrangements from the shore side. Therefore, you have to keep an eye on those days and ensure all the required information is in, or out and received before “Italy closes the computer and stops reading emails”.

I needed information from Naples and the Captain was sending an email accordingly but of course we did not get any answer back….it was a holiday. I was planning to throw a fire drill with the option to really spray a lot of water with hose handling. Water, which would then drain away over the side back into the port. In principle, it should not be a problem as it is port water we pump up with the Fire pumps and thus it is only a sort of loop where the water comes from and where it goes back. Still you never know how the local authorities react when they see water coming out of a ship and thus we verify. When Italy returned from their long weekend we found out it was indeed not a problem.

Nevertheless, it can be. About 15 years ago, Turkey decided to clean up the Sea of Marmara and their part of the Bosporus. To really get this going they instigated a fine of $ 40,000 per water spillage from a ship and $ 5000 for any other environmental violation. (This included if your hat blew off and into the water)People who observed and reported got a commission and thus there were many people suddenly “supporting the environment” by keeping a close eye on the ships. Quite a few ships got caught and in the end the reporting became so irritating for false alarms that our ships did not even load any fresh water anymore until reason returned a little bit.

Still it helped. Last call Istanbul we had small dolphins escorting us in to the dock so things are improving there. The Sea of Marmara which was more or less dead now life slowly coming back.

A foggy day in the Officers Bar. Stage Smoke in use to create an area on fire. By the time the teams entered visibility was zero.

This is my last day on the Koningsdam and I thought I would say farewell with a large fire drill. On the bow we have the bubble, the area under the Jacuzzi on the bow which you can see if you look at a photo of the Koningsdam. In that bubble is the Officers Bar, The Crew Training room, the Deck office, a Smokers lounge, toilets and a lot of small lockers and AC stations. A true maze. All of it is away from guest areas and thus one can create havoc to one’s hearts content. You can use real water outside when cooling down the superstructure and inside the maze everybody can mess about with hoses as much as it needed. So I put the smoke machine in, closed some doors, switched off the lights and let “nature run its course”. Four fire teams were needed to secure the area, stop the fire from re-occurring and find a casualty, which had collapsed in an escape. I saw some very good things and we learned some things which we will use for the next drill as a constant learning process for improvement.

Staying low to wait for the smoke to clear. A smoke path was created after the source of the fire was found. In the back a second team is verifying if a locker is clear.

The Koningsdam will be in Civitavecchia tomorrow and will then start a West Mediterranean cruise, which returns one more time to Civitavecchia. Then it will be westbound ending up in Rotterdam for the christening by Queen Maxima.

I will be leaving the ship and fly home to focus on the maintenance of my apartment building. This year it is phase 2 of the roof maintenance so I will be up and down scaffolding. The plan is now to join the Eurodam on June 23^th. as the company is planning another school class with new navigators. Afterwards everything is still open. Maybe to the Alaska ships, maybe another visit on the Koningsdam. As soon as my schedule finalizes, it will appear on the blog.

Scaffolding going up at home. this is the back of the northside of the building which is U shaped around a courtyard.

I would like to give a special thank you to all those blog readers who I met during the last few cruises. Thank you for your compliments, much appreciated. The Koningsdam is a beautiful ship and it was a pleasure to write about it. I will be back on the blog in about six weeks. Until then……..…;

…………………………and safe sailing if you are going to make a cruise.

Today we have a quiet day at sea while we travel towards the Strait of Messina. We will go through in mid evening. Most of the day it has been sunny but very windy. At the moment there is a force 7 to 8 blowing from the west and we go force 4 against. Hurricane winds on the Bow. But as the wind is on the bow, it is easy enough to find a spot out of the wind somewhere further aft.  Although there is a lot of wind and the sea is quite boisterous the ship is riding very nicely which bodes well for the future in general and Trans-Atlantic crossings in particular.

For the whole day we are in the wide open area between Greece, Italy and Africa and there is not much traffic to be seen. Except what is there is roughly on the same track line as we are, as this route is the most direct route to Israel and the surrounding areas. Around 18.00 we will merge with the course we sailed going Eastbound in the beginning of our cruise and then we will follow the regular ”railroad” for approaching the Strait of Messina. Although the sea is wide and large, shipping mostly sticks to the same courses in the same part of the sea and thus it looks if we are all using the same railroad to go from A to B.

New Style uniforms. Bar stewards to the left. And a mixture of Front Office and Event Staff to the right.

I still have a few promises to fulfill and one of them is in regards to uniforms. The Koningsdam is the first ship where the new house style is being rolled out and this house style does not only apply to the company’s crew but also to the Concessionaires which until now had their own corporate style. We have of course a number of concessions on board, Photographers, Casino, Shops, Microsoft, Florist, and Port Shopping Ambassador etc. etc. The most obvious ones are the Shops on board who are now adhering to our new house style which shows different colors but all accentuated with orange. Orange is the national color of the Netherlands and thus a nice link to have on the uniforms.

Some of the Shop Staff on board looking very spiffy with the Orange ties.

Similar but still slightly different are the uniforms for the Entertainment department and the Front Office. While the Front Office is always in grey, the Entertainment department has brown when on day work, same color as housekeeping, and grey style as with the Front Office in the evening when in the ship.

This the staff of the Culinary Arts Center.

With the Art on board I keep finding the odd piece in an area which there was not one before. Some art was only installed once the ship arrived in Civitavecchia and since then I have not been patrolling the decks to see what is /was going on. Thus I end my blog with a small piece which is located in the Starboard side of the Crows nest and I have to admit I have no idea what it is. Apart from the fact it is very nice.

Something very beautiful in Glass graces the starboard entrance to the Crows nest.

Tomorrow we are in Naples where the weather is going to be a mixed bag. Partly cloudy, partly sunny and scattered showers with temperatures of 17oF or 63oF. On the schedule for a day visit is apart from us the Norwegian Epic.

Today we were in Iraklion and blessed with sunshine and not too much wind, which made the docking of the Koningsdam a pleasure. The captain wisely decided to swing around in the port while the “going was good” = very little wind, and thus to be able to sail straight out at departure. If there is no wind in the morning, it still tends to pick up later in the day, so why not prevent yourself from getting a headache. One other cruise ship was in port with us, the Celestial Olympia which we also saw in Kusadasi. Due to our size we were docked at the container pier but the port authority provided a free shuttle bus to the port entrance. From there it is still a distance to the town itself but there are all sorts of local transport available. The Olympia left at noon, it is making very shorts stops in all its ports of call, and this time the Koningsdam did not stay very long either as we pulled out at 15.00 hrs. It is quite a long way to our next port of call Naples which includes going again through the Straits of Messina.

This must be heaven for a whisky drinker. Top of the Range but also for your Credit Card. I believe on 40 bottles exist, hence the price.

I still have a few loose ends to clear up here and there and as I have not much to tell about Iraklion in this case, we might as well do it now.  There was a question some time ago, what the most expensive Whisky was we sold in NOTES in the Music Walk. Well they just labeled all the bottles and now we know. The Whisky is called Royal Lochnagar 36 years old and sells for $ 299, — a shot. I leave it up to the connoisseurs among the readers to say if this is worth the price. Next best is The Glenrothes 1978 which goes for $ 109, — Cheapest one is a 12 year old Aberlour which sets you back $ 9,–.

2nd best but with the added bonus of a wooden display box.

I might be tempted to buy one if we had a NOTES that sold ports but Whisky’s are lost on me. NOTES is working as the guests are buying and the Lochnagar did attract one customer a few days ago. The bestselling ones are in the region of $ 15 to $ 25 which are also the best known whiskies. But if you decide to buy one or more shots, there is a whole ritual, including a tablet, to steer you the right way and advice by the bar staff present during the sampling.

My dad was a gardener and he would have loved this. Working with plants and not having to go out when it rains.

Another loose end. Not yet ready when the ship sailed, the Herb Center in the Culinary Arts Centre. As part of the Farm to Table concept, the idea is for the Chef in the kitchen, to use our own cultivated herbs in the preparation. Due to lack of a vegetable garden, hard to do due to the salt air, we have an artificial one, it is a short of walk in with the emphasis on the right lighting. Herbs have now arrived and are being cultivated and are starting to grow. In due course the harvest will be used in the preparation of the meals.

Nicely growing herbs in a variation of sorts.

From Crete we are basically travelling in a North Westerly direction sailing through the Ionian Sea which is the continuation of the Adriatic Sea and it is all part of the Mediterranean Sea. In this area we have the deepest part of the whole Med, the Calypso Deep which at last measurement went down for 5,267 meters or 17, 280 ft. which is a deep hole taking into consideration that the average depth of the Mediterranean Sea is 1500 meters.

With a thank you to Wikipedia on line.

While sailing towards Messina we will be staying just south of this deepest part but that does not mean the rest is shallow. So the chance or running aground here is fairly remote, unless of course a new volcano is building up and that is not unlikely because the Calypso Deep has everything to do with it. The Calypso Deep is part of the Hellenic Trench where the African Plate slides under the Aegean Sea Plate. And were plates go down there is normally volcanic activity. (Just remember the explosion of Santorini). But Volcanos normally do not grow that fast and thus we will should be ok here.

Crossing the Aegean Sea tonight and all day tomorrow.

We are expecting to arrive for the transfer through Messina Strait around 21.00 hrs. tomorrow evening. The weather is holding for the remainder of the day but tomorrow it will be becoming more and more overcast with a chance of showers the closer we come to Sicily. And yes there should be about 20 knots of wind and we are going against it with 18 knots. Makes for a windy day on the bow with a combined wind force of 36 knots.

Thus we arrived this morning at Rhodes to witness a strange phenomenon; the wind was not from the North but from the South West and not much more than a Gentle Breeze. Although the harbor is of a decent size, the Koningsdam is close to being the biggest size it can handle and today it dominated the sky line of Rhodes.

The Koningsdam docked against the outer wall of the old port.

No chance to get lost, just try to get to a place where you can look over the houses and you would see the ship. We were joined here by the Aegean Odyssey which we had also seen in Piraeus and which is a small Greek cruise ship that specializes in really in depth antiquity cruises. There then was the Golden Iris from Mano Cruises which is an Israel oriented company and that makes short cruises in the East Med. All were docked in what is called the old port; then further East is the new port where you can park quite a few more cruise ships. Between the city walls and the old port you then have the Fisherman’s port and the Visitor’s Marina.

The Fortress of the port which is only a small part of all the fortifications and the City Walls.

Rhodes is a World Heritage site and it calls itself the City of the Knights. The Knights Templar had one of their major strong posts here. Another important one was Malta as both islands were strategic for controlling the Sea routes to the East Mediterannean and the Holy Land. As a result Rhodes still has some strong fortifications which draw a lot of tourism, apart from the beaches of course.  With the emphasis on the  words A LOT. I stepped ashore for a walkabout in the early afternoon after a whole morning of training and with the intention of hopping on the Big Yellow Bus, instead of the Big Red Bus which gives you hop on hop off for a whole day or an hours sightseeing tour for 12 euro’s. However there are more clever clogs than just me and when the bus stopped it was so full of “12 euro – tourists” that I gave up and walked into the town.

This appealed to my of  sense of humor. I am used to Duty Free shops. This is the first shop I see which calls itself a Duty included shop…… It is located in the City Walls, which might be appropriate as the Knights Templar where known to be good drinkers. In the Dutch language we still have the saying “as drunk as a Templar”.

The main (tourist) street in Rhodes runs from the main port gate towards the Fortress and then splits up a little bit at the square where most tavernas and restaurants are located. Every tourist marches up and down this main street and the funny thing is, there is a parallel street about 50 feet behind it, right under the city walls and nobody goes there.

This is the back street of the main tourist street and only 30 feet away behind the rows of shops.

It is where the regular people still live and who by the noise were having lunch. So I went there and looked at the old architecture without having to look at “souvenirs – cheap price” signs.  I even found a book shop with 2^nd hand books although nothing related to ocean shipping. The owner was still one of a dying breed of old book dealers, orginal, peculiar and cantankerous if you do not hit the right nerve with them. This one displayed the all the traits and only melted a bit after we decided on speaking in German, “because they always want me to speak English……what is wrong with French & Greek ??”.  Once we had agreed that the world was coming to an end because nobody spoke any other languages anymore, I found out he was related to a family who produces nautical books in Athens and which is a shop I like to visit when in Pireaus. Far away related but he was.  It is a small world sometimes.

The sailing yacht the Mikhail S. Vorontsov. I would not be amazed if the cost price was close to a 100 million.

In port also a large sailing yacht, privately owned. It is for charter and sets you back about $ 260.000 dollars a week but it sleeps 12, so I suppose it is not so bad a price then. I do not know much about sailing yachts so I had to look this one up. It was built in Holland in 2013 and then laid up as the owner did not pay. In September 2015, the shipyard forced a court sale to recoup their costs but the day before the judge would decide, the matter was settled out of court. Now she lays in Rhodes, empty, and waiting for a charter, or the owner I suppose. All built from wood, including the hull and very beautiful to look at.

Tomorrow we are in Heraklion (Dutch spelling) or Iraklion (Greek spelling) and we are expecting a sunny day with temperatures of 58oF or 14oC.  Winds should around 10 knots and from the south and that is good because we are planning to send all the lifeboats down. And empty lifeboats tend to get blown away so the least wind the better.

Today we are at sea, as we have to cover the long distance between Istanbul and Rhodes. After departure yesterday at 17.00 hrs. we sailed through the Sea of Marmara and then through the Dardanelles again between 02.00 and 05.00 hrs. Now we are in the Aegean Sea heading almost due south until we will clear the SW point of Turkey and then turn slightly more to the South East. All the islands which we pass, even almost on top of Turkey, are part of Greece. The North part of the Aegean Sea is quite open and land is far away but late this morning we came to the more southern part and here more and more islands are scattered around. These are called the Cyclades and it is in this area were Odysseus had a number of his adventures.

Our route from Istanbul through the Dardanelles and the Aegean Sea to Rhodes.

We have the Etesian wind blowing again, wind force 5 to 6 but as it is a northerly wind it is following us. With our ships speed the relative wind is about half and that gives a very pleasant day to day on the outside decks. One of those dangerous days when you do not feel the warmth of the sun, due to the cool wind, and suddenly you realize you have turned red as a lobster.

The Watertight door layout of the ship. Doors which do not have to be open for work are always closed. (Green) Doors were work is going on such as the Engine room or the aft store rooms are open. (Red). Red and Green indicates large doors, which we keep half closed so in case of an emergency they will close in the same time as the smaller doors.

I did not see much of it as I was busy all day teaching the Engineers a deeper understanding  why our watertight door system is laid out in the way it us. Corporation – Fleet – Wide there is now a requirement for everybody, who has to operate a watertight door, to receive training and to understand the larger picture and also understand why accidents and incidents still happen. Holland America has been lucky in that we never had any, or maybe not lucky but well trained, but other companies have had issues. And with a watertight door, an incident is quite often fatal.

This is such a big/half open door in the Provision area. When in port the bridge will open the rest of the door and pallet jacks and big boxes can go through. At sea the half door still allows for quick passage by crew and quick closing if needed.

Apart from safe handling, the watertight doors are there to keep the ship afloat by stopping water going from one compartment to another.  If needed we can close everything quickly from the bridge but we try while sailing to keep most doors closed. Not always handy for the engineers and thus they have to open them as most doors are in the engine spaces in the depths of the ship.

We are going at at fairly low speed as this is one of those distances where you cannot do it in one night and if you would go full ahead we would arrive in Rhodes late evening when everybody is already in bed. Thus we trundle along with the sedate speed of 12 knots and give everybody the chance to recover from the hard work of being a tourist in Istanbul. Some guests really went for it and one couple came back with a complete Turkish carpet. As they live in Holland and will disembark there, it is not so difficult to take it home. I hope they have their paper work in order as Turkey is not in the E.C yet and Dutch Customs is really good in charging import duties and this size carpet you cannot hide in your suitcase.

Rhodes town is located at the top of the island.

The city of Rhodes is located at the north point of the island and the original town located there was to support the local fortress which protects the island from attacks from the north. As it is also the closest distance to the Greek Mainland the ferry port is located here was well. Convenient for reducing the sailing time between the islands and the mainland but not so exciting for the sailor. This Etesian North wind blows straight in and tugboats here are quite often needed to keep the ships in position even if those ships are very powerful. It will be interesting to see what wind we will have tomorrow although the weather forecast predicts the winds will be less than today.

Most people set their clocks to wake up but this morning but they needed their clocks on a very early alarm to beat the local community as they helped out……… At 05.00 hrs. The loudspeakers went on and the local mullah called the faithful for morning prayers.  So  everybody was awake in time for their tours or going ashore. Sometimes, something can be said for having an inside cabin. For those with an outside cabin, they could see the sunrise over the Bosporus and witness the start of a sunny but very chilly morning. Only later it was more bearable but it was very cold to start with.

The pier which can handle 4 mid seized cruise ship is under reconstruction and the race is on to get it all finished before the season really starts. In the meantime the port is looking for more berths and it will be interesting to see what they come up with as current and wind make some of the docks a real challenge to get alongside to.  And cruise ships cannot always wait until the wind has died down. It is very difficult for the smaller cruise ships to find a place when the big boys are in town and anchoring with the local current is not really an option.

As nearly all guests went ashore today, the crew could stand down to a certain extent as well and a large number managed to have a morning or afternoon off, to do some shopping, find free internet or try to find stores even cheaper than the Grand Bazaar. I could be of help here as in the past I had sent crew ashore to get tools and equipment and I still remembered where these little shops were which sell everything you do need, you might need, or what the shop keeper thinks you cannot live without..………. I had advised several crew to try the Big Red Bus tours, which stopped right outside the Gate but they came back and reported that a Taxi ride for 2 hours had been cheaper for the four of them and it had included free tea at the family owned petrol station. To remember for next time.

Four ferries in one snap shot taken while we were docking yesterday. And lots more outside the edge of the camera lens.

Because Istanbul is on both sides of the Bosporus there is an enormous number of ferries which criss- cross the Bosporus in all directions. The only rule they have while being on their route, is not to hit anything and it was amazing to see how close they curved around the Koningsdam but also around themselves and all of it at full speed. But it works and the transport system is fast, safe and cheap and goes nearly anywhere in the larger Istanbul area.

A fire team member opening a watertight door to evacuate a casualty. (We use a 80 kg. dummy of this purpose)

For the crew that was on board and hard at work, they had the option to enjoy the Fire drill of this morning. One of my better creations if I say so myself; tactics, application “and the best way forward” created some heated discussions. Exactly what we aim to achieve. We drill to improve and we can only improve with lessons learned. Today we had an engine store on fire, simulated of course. The fire itself was easily extinguished as there was only carton packaging and no fuel inside. Today the challenge was to reach the fire as several watertight doors had to be opened and closed again to let the crew through while at the same time maintaining fire integrity as much as possible.

The On Scene Commander and support team tracking the movement of all the teams involved. The same is done in the Engine Control Room and the Bridge.

We will sail this afternoon at 17.00 hrs. and go the same way back as we came up yesterday. First a scenic sail away, followed by crossing the Sea of Marmara and then a very early morning passage back through the Dardanelles. Most of the monuments are lit up during the night but it is a long “wake” to see them all as they are spread out along the Dardanelles. Still quite a few people were planning to be up for it.

Tomorrow we will have a sea day while sailing down the Aegean Sea on our way to our next port of call, Rhodos.  Sunny weather is expected with temperatures in the mid-sixties. We should be sailing with the wind and that should give a gentle breeze on deck of about 10 knots.

This reminds me of the John Wayne Cowboy movies of the 1970’s. The only thing missing is a few Chinese stretched out on the sofa’s with a long pipe in their hands. We have two of these sitting area’s side by side.

I am still finding nooks and crannies I have not yet explored and could not see during the new build as they were not yet finished. But the ship has its own two Opium Den’s on board, although it does not sell Opium but various Asian beers and cocktails. It is part of the Tamarind Restaurant but you do not need a reservation to just go there for a drink. Well Recommended.

Today was part at sea and part docked as we have an overnight. Thus we try to wriggle it as much as possible to sail the scenic bits by daylight. That brought us at 05.30 at the entrance to the Dardanelles. You cannot be much later otherwise you arrive late in Istanbul. But it was getting twilight already and thus there were things to be seen. Cruising is not only about lazing about, it is also about culture and for that you will have to get out of bed early sometimes. The Location Guide had to get up as well as there was a narration by him from 05.30 onwards. We had good visibility and thus everything was clearly visible from the Monuments to the Villages dotting the green hill sides.  I woke up at the more decent time of 06.30 and by the time I made it to the Lido we were just going around the major bend in the passage. The only one where you cannot see around the corner and the radar does not help either as there is a hillside which blocks the radar from detecting ships. But there is a good Vessel Traffic Control which keeps the pilot updated and that avoids us from running into nasty surprises.

Air photo from the Dardanelles with the sharp bend clearly visible.

This bend is what fascinates me most about the whole Dardanelles. On each side there is a fortress and in the good old days, long time ago, they had a chain in place all the way across. The chain could be raised or lowered depending on whether foe or friend came by or more often who had paid the river tax and who had not. In those days the sailing vessels were relatively small and thus a regular thick chain would do the trick. Every time I pass by here I wonder, how thick a chain would be needed to bring the modern day vessels to a standstill and pay their dues? With the Koningsdam putting 40,000 hp. in the water means it would have to be a very thick chain.

The Northside Fortress in the Bend.

Pilotage is compulsory for this area and he (I have not seen any Female Turkish pilots yet) boards just before Cenekale. This is also the location where Customs and Immigration boards, but as we were coming from Kusidasi we were already cleared there. Pilotage ends at Gelibolu or Gallipoli where the Dardanelles enter the Sea of Marmara. From there the ships can sail by themselves until they reach the beginning of the Bosporus where a pilot will either bring the ship to a dock in Istanbul or will take it through to the Black Sea.

Famous Landmark when sailing in. James Bond sailed a Submarine under it, we sailed around it.

We arrived at the Pilot station at 14.30 and then it is about 45 minutes before we come to the dock. And then the fun and games start. Docking in Istanbul is not for the faint hearted. Today we had a lot of wind coming from the North and also a lot of current coming from the North. That current keeps coming from the North until you come closer to the dock and then it bounces back from the shore side and then it suddenly comes from the South. The problem is, you never know exactly where the change is.

This is what the water looks like if you put the Azi pods full astern to stop in position after the turn. I do not think a iron chain would stand any chance against that.

Thus the best option is then, make the turn, stop about a 100 meters off the dock, keep the stern in the wind and watch. Watch what current and wind are doing with the ship. Once that is known you can bring the ship under an angle which balances the wind and current influence and then go slowly sideways to the dock. Slowly, so you can keep adjusting for the constant varying influence of wind and current.

Sailors paying out the ropes.

That takes a little bit of time but it makes docking safe. And thus we did not completely make our target of being fully docked at 16.00 hrs. but it took 10 minutes extra. But as the first shuttle bus to the Grand bazaar was only going at 16.30 hrs. nobody was really inconvenienced. We have shuttle buses going as the local authorities are upgrading all the docks. As a result no more than two cruise ships can currently dock here at the same time, but as the season has not really started here, there were no issues as we were the only ship in port.

The ropes go to these gentlemen, who are also the Watermen for connecting the fresh water hoses. The red flag indicates the location where the stern should stop.

I spent arrival on the mooring deck aft checking on the proficiency of the mooring team there and to see if more support was needed to get them into the routine of the ship. Hence the photos.

And thus we will stay overnight and then have a full day tomorrow. I am not going ashore here as I am teaching the crew at the moment how to handle watertight doors properly. As these doors can be lethal when not correctly used I am going through the training with small groups so I can ensure everybody’s full focus. But I feel as a sort of gramophone who plays the same tune every hour. Most crew is going off tonight and will then have time tomorrow either in the morning or in the afternoon.

Today we are in Kusadasi which is a place with a lot to offer. For the sailor, it has two nice piers giving four good docks, for the historian more than 2000 years of culture and for those into shopping; Leather Goods and Jewelry can be had at very good prices. The latter depends a little bit on your negotiating skills but my Lord and Master Lesley has proven in the past that it can be done with just a little bit of persistence. It still cost me an arm and a leg but as we “saved money by spending it” there was not much I could say and we now have quite an extensive leather jacket collection at home. Today I saw several gentlemen coming back with the same thought on their minds……… and we still have two days in Istanbul to go with the Bazar just on the door step.

We are now in a region which is mind boggling if you want to keep track of which island belongs to whom. Either to Turkey or to Greece. Greece was for a certain period occupied by Turkey (and they are still not very good friends) and after the split some Islands became part of Greece while not more being more  than a stones throw away from Turkey. And that is not an exaggeration. Just to the South West of here lays the Greek island of Samos with the town of Pythagorion. Holland America used to call there and it is similar to Katakolon but less touristy. The ships tenders dock almost inside the Taverna’s on the Boulevard. Great place for an evening stay.  If you go to the East of the island there is a narrow passage which can be used as a sort of short cut to Kusadasi.  In that passage is a rock and that rock is Turkish while Samos is Greek and the far side of the passage is Turkish as well. Here you can literally throw a stone across the water and hit Turkey. What is so strange about this is, is Turkey is a stones throw away from Greek Samos but Samos itself is at least 10 miles away from mainland Greece. Hence it being so easy for all these refugees to hop from Turkey to Greece and into the common market.

The old Song of America still going strong.

Luckily cruise ships are normally not involved in politics and we can thus peacefully hop around the various islands regards less of who owns them. We were not alone in the port today, there was another cruise ship. The Celestial Olympia owned by Greek Interests. Normally I do not write very much about ships of other companies but here I make an exception: This ship was originally the Song of America which came in service in 1984. With 40,000 tons and 2000 beds she was considered the first “big” cruise ship out there. You can say this ship’s success gave the push to all the mega liners nowadays out there. Eventually she was a victim of her own success and then sailed budget companies in the European Market. First as Sun Bird in 1998 for a company called Air tours, then became part of the Tui fleet as Thomson Destiny and after 2012 became the Louis Olympia. Then Louis cruises created a new company called Celestial Cruises and here she is as the Celestial Olympia. They must sail with a great variation of clientele on board as the departure announcement came in Greek, English, Spanish and what I thought was Japanese.  It lasted for quite a while; directly followed by more noise in the means of a pool party.

Meandering our way through the islands and the traffic to Kusidasi in Turkey.

We arrived at Kusadasi by going east from Athens.  All ships coming and going to and from the East bend around the south point of the main land somewhere and can choose various passages through the islands, but sail through an area with traffic coming through Steno Kaos. Named after the island next to it, the island which gave us the word Chaos and the local traffic is sometimes not unlike it. It is seems that seamanship for small, Greek, Turkish and Russian ships, mainly consists out of doing your own thing and hopefully your neighbor will not mind. Once past everybody can then pick their preferred route with the many islands acting as impromptu traffic blocks. It can be very hectic here but through all the years I only had issues here once, when the Greek navy decided to exercise right in the middle of the steamer route.  In the end they made room for us but it was interesting as they did not communicate and we on the bridge had no clue what they would do next. But also this cruise the Navigation team had an interesting night.

From Kusadasi we will head north and sail through the Dardanelles and then through the Sea of Marmara to arrive in Istanbul around 16.00 hrs. for an overnight stay.  Today we had very nice weather. Sunny, hardly any wind and not too high a temperature.  Tomorrow should be the same 23oC / 74oF and a steady breeze of about 16 knots.

Note: There is a drop down box on my blog site here, called Current Captains and their Schedules. It has now its first entrant, Captain Emiel de Vries Master of the ms Koningsdam. Eventually all the 33 other captains will follow.