The sun came through this morning but it also brought some headwind. So much that we had a gale blowing today. But it was a new gale, a wind just developing under the influence of a low pressure system somewhere to the south west. And new winds have not had the time yet to create swell and thus we had a nice ride today.  We are now about 1100 miles from Horta and that is almost halfway to Nassau.  We are sailing a Great Circle route which is the shortest distance on a curved surface.

The world is a globe and that means that if you could folded the surface flat and draw a shortest distance between two points and then put it back the way it was it would turn into a curved line. That is what we call a Great Circle Line or course. The opposite goes for the Rhumb Line which is a straight line but when it follows its track along the curvature of the earth, it is longer. I am not going into further detail as a quick google will give much better explanation than I can give. 

The two important things to remember are the curved line goes higher up then the Rhumb line and could thus potentially come closer to bad weather.

If the weather all around is the same then it is interesting to use the Great Circle as it is shorter and thus saves fuel. It can make a difference of up to 150 miles on a complete ocean crossing and that gives a significant saving in fuel consumption.  We are using about 0.3 tons of fuel to cover a mile, times 150 miles, times 600 dollars a ton =  $ 27,000 in the pocket.  We are not the only ones who do this. Airplanes do the same. Every time you travel Intercontinental you hear the pilot explaining that they are going over the North Pole or close to it and that means they are following a Great Circle route.

My own navigation landed me today in the Pinnacle Grill. Not for dinner but for training. The ship’s officers do a lot of “First Response” training with the crew, so the crew knows what basic steps to take in case of a fire; until the Fire teams arrive. Very often these basic steps ensure that a fire gets extinguished on the spot or remains very small and under control. When I am on board I like to help out here as A: it is always nice for the crew to see a new face and B: I have more time to spend on this than the average deck officer and that gives the possibility to give a more extensive training’s. Plus it makes the crew feel important that they are being trained by a captain. Word goes around on A, B and C deck, and sometimes I am admonished by certain groups why I have spent time with “the others” and not with them.

This training brought me in the kitchen while Room Service Breakfast was still going on, e.g. being delivered. We have a special group of stewards mainly assigned to this job as their work hours are out of kilter with the rest of their colleagues. Breakfast starts before the Lido or the Dining room opens and regular room service is there for 24 hours a day.

Breakfast assembly line. the 09.00 time slot. A lot of guests must have been sleeping in. Please notice that Holland America touch of a little flower on the tray.

The whole happening is quite a puzzle which is carried out as a sort of assembly line. It starts with collecting all the breakfast cards hanging outside the cabin doors. So after midnight stewards roam through the ship collecting all these cards. And that roaming does not stop when the deadline of putting them out has passed. There will be a final pick up, to ensure that those who forgot, those who are still on another time zone, or those who changed their minds (or added a 2^nd order) will not be left out.

Then during the early hours the first run of tray’s are lined up and everything not cold, nor chilled, hot or perishable is put on the tray. When the first run goes out the next line of trays appear, etc. etc. etc.   until all breakfast time slots have been completed. Once done, the rounds start to collect the trays again. Some have been removed already by the Cabin Stewards but some still have to be collected by the Breakfast team.Tomorrow will be another day at sea. We have already outrun the wind of this morning and tomorrow should be another nice and quiet day.

Today we had rain, courtesy of the tail of a weather system north of us which is moving to the East.  It also brought wind and resulted in a bit of a miserable day; but as there was no swell involved the ship was nice and steady so the guests could enjoy the day fully. The temperature is slowly rising as well and out of the wind we almost had a tropical feeling for a while. We are sailing away from weather system by going West and the system is moving away from us by going east and tomorrow it should look a lot better.

The ship is gearing up for arrival Fort Lauderdale. Gearing up early because it is going to be a very busy day. With 6 days to go everybody is already on full alert. As the ship has been away from the USA for the whole summer it means that we are going to be inspected by the USCG. Since a very long time they carry out a Control Verification program to ensure that the ships calling at the USA are safe. The countries in Europe are doing this as well but there is no coordination or joint agreement between the old world and the new and thus we will have our USCG inspection. Even while we had inspections on the other side of the pond as well. There is a yearly one which is quite elaborate and then after six months there is a follow up inspection which is apart from the full safety drill a walk through the ship. That one lasts normally about 4 to 5 hours, the full – yearly – inspection lasts the whole day. And we get the full one.

Then there might also be a USPH inspection, which takes place twice a year and for that one we also have been away for more than six months. They come on board to ensure that we are all still washing our hands and following all the protocols they have established to ensure a healthy ship and healthy guests and crew. USPH tries to schedule themselves in such a way that they do not conflict with the USCG so they might come next cruise. The USCG cannot wait another cruise; they have to do their inspection during our first call as our USCG certificate has expired as we have been away.  If they both come, then it will take a lot of coordination from the ships staff to get it all properly done and still sail on time.

But that is not all of it as far as inspections goes. We will also get Customs and Border Protection with all guns blazing. We are coming from foreign and that means that all the guests have to go through a face to face inspection. But again as we have been away from USA for longer than three months all the crew has to go through a full 90 days inspection.  So all 800 crew have to march past the CBP officers and have their ID 95 issued which allows them to go ashore. The crew office is currently making all those little white papers which are then verified against the Passport and crew Visa and stamped off. 90 days later is then the next inspection. I will not be part of that as due to the quirks of the immigration system I need another visa, an L visa, (which allows me to travel between ships over US soil) and for that purpose I am considered a passenger who is entering the States and thus I have to show my face as soon as all the guests have been seen. I belong to the category of the non-revenue-passenger in CBP speak.

With all of this going on, we also still have to disembark all the old guests, embark the new guests, load fuel, load water, load all the provisions, give ashore all the recyclables, do a large crew change, have repair and maintenance people coming on board and have a lot of visitors and other important people coming as well. Thus it is going to be a busy, busy day. Captain Turner and his crew will have their work cut out for them. Frustrating for me is, that I cannot be of much help here as I have to get off the ship to enable the required “zero” count so the CBP knows that indeed everybody is off the ship. Even in-transit guests have to leave the ship, wait for the zero count and then they can come back again.

To get it all organized the Front Office is sending out letters to ensure that all the guests know what to do. Most of them travel on an ESTA – or Visa Waiver but they have to make certain that their Esta is up-to-date. Thus the Front Office is sending out reminders.

Tomorrow is our next day at sea and if I interpret the weather chart correctly, we should get some sunshine.

If the coming 6 days are going to be like this, then we are in for a treat. It was not particularly sunny today but it was not windy either and the waves were nice and low; everybody could have a happy time if they wanted to. We are trundling along with a speed of 16.5 knots or so and that will bring us on 08 November in the morning at Nassau. 

The lighter the color the better it is is; but any kind of blue is good. (Courtesy www.Surf-forecast.com)

We are doing only 16.5 knots while our top speed is 20 knots as the company has gradually been bringing down the average speed the ships had to maintain. Not too long ago the cruises where being set up in such a way that we had to run full out all the time to maintain the schedule. With the enormous increase in oil prices from a few years ago, when the price of a ton of ships fuel more than doubled, we started to reduce the average speeds. Fuel became so expensive that you could not just pass the increase on each time anymore to the guests. The second reason was if there was one hiccup during a high speed run then it meant at once a too late arrival or a port cancellation. Not good for guest satisfaction either. The third reason was and is, is that all the shipping companies are working hard to reduce emissions. Part of that is dictated by environmental legislation by countries surrounding a certain sailing area but also by the ethical standards.

Thus the days of racing across at 19 to 20 knots are over. If now we had a bit of wobbly weather in the coming days, we would still be able to make up the time as soon as the waves died down again and we would still be able to call at Nassau in the Bahamas on November 8^th.  Altogether a much better situation.

The ethical point of view is something which has gradually come in into Corporate America in the last 10 years. The Enron scandal was a wakeup call not only business wise but also morally. The Sarban –Oxley act was adopted and apart from being compulsory to live by it also gave a nudge towards a non-required but more of an emotive approach.

Holland America has developed very strong standards in this regards, with an eye on bribery, receiving gifts, how to deal with personnel, and how to simply conduct business and operate ships in a more responsible way. A real challenge here is the fact of: –what is ethical-. As this varies strongly from culture to culture. What is ethical in one country might not be so in another. Cruise ships sail with sometimes 50 to 60 different nationalities on board and this normally means at least 15 different cultures and certainly more than 1 religion. (Thus far I have counted Christianity, Islam, Hindu, Anism, and followers of Confucius on board.)

The one big advantage we have over the shore side and which makes it all a lot easier is that we are first of all beholden not to our background but to the company’s product. And as we live on board there is no option to retreat after the working day back into the home culture. So, for at least half the year we live 24 hours a day by one norm and that is the company norm, and that makes it a lot easier.  Whatever standards an individual crew member wants to apply to his or her way of living, the company standards of safely operating and providing service to our guests come first. If an individual cannot deal with such a thing, then there is no room for this person on board. But if you are willing to accept this basic rule then at the same time the company will go out of its way to ensure that you can live as closely as possible to your private preferences. I do not think that there are many mainstream company’s out there that have a mosque on board, support a regular Christian fellowship society, and make room for Hindu and any other belief which needs a certain way to express itself in a more open and formulized way. It is ethical to respect an individual’s morals and principles but it is even more ethical when all those individuals respect each other’s standards and morals, even if they much different from their own. In all my 35 years with Holland America I have never seen any issues in this regards on board our ships.

To help to deliver this message, we train the crew in our ethical standards and for that purpose the ship’s Human Resources Manager screens video’s, holds meetings and is available for any support a person might need.  And if the crew is happy in their routines, then it directly brushes off onto the guests as well. That is where our smiles are coming from.

We approached Horta in the very early morning and dropped the anchor outside the harbor, as close as safely possible to create the shortest tender distance. The port installed fairly recently a new pier which can handle ships up to 800 feet without much of an issue. Anything over is “at the Captains discretion” as they call it. The ship would fit in but the Zuiderdam with 962 feet would have too tight a space to play around in. So it was the better option to anchor and run a tender service.  The swell was very low and thus a regular tender service could be safely conducted.

To my amazement the Cruise Director had to make several announcements to get everybody going. I had expected that our guests would have been piling into the show lounge as soon as possible to get a tender ticket to go ashore, as today was only a short stop but this was not the case. Maybe they had been there already, maybe because it was Sunday and everybody was in church, maybe because they thought it would be the same as Ponta Delgada; I do not know but nobody was in a hurry it seemed.

My job this morning was to train a group of Dining room and Lido stewards in how to handle grumpy and un-willing guests during an emergency. ………….. And during the Passenger Safety Briefing before the cruise starts as well.  As part of our system of getting everybody as quickly as possible to the muster stations when the alarms go, we have groups of crew members whose task it is to find any stragglers, nay-sayers or those who got a last minute accident to their cabin or the lifeboat station. These groups are called Sweep Teams. There is one for the crew areas, the Crew Sweep Team and there is one for the Guests, called the Passenger Sweep Team.

They have a system whereby 2 groups of four walk  passenger decks. One group of four on the portside and one group of four on the starboard side. They cross each other at the bow end of the ship and then walk back again. Each group has a deck plan for verification and they check each space, each open locker and each rest room to ensure that everybody is indeed following the Captain’s orders.  If somebody is found, he/she is politely but firmly ordered to get going and to do as he/she has been told. I do not know how easy this will be in a real emergency as we can only train for that and hope it will never happen but during the Passenger Safety Briefing before the cruise starts it can be difficult.

Almost everybody will “march” to the lifeboat stations as ordered, but…………….there are always a few. Some of them are multiple cruisers who are getting fed up with the same routine every cruise and think they are exempt after so… many 100’s of days of sailing with HAL and then there are some who do not speak any English and try to use that to their advantage during drill time. (Somehow they always seem to be able to read and order from the menu………….) As they all know that they will be kicked out of their cabins by the cabin stewards, they try to hide in the public rooms. And there they come across the Sweep Team.

And the “sweepers” were telling me this morning, they sometimes had to try to get them out of the lounges and even out of the Rest Rooms. Some went as soon as they were directed; but some were sometimes obnoxious and rude and refused to go.  Not easy to handle for a Steward who has been trained to be forever polite and friendly. Thus this morning we went through the tricks of the trade and how to handle these guests.  As we do a bit of acting it out and as it is US against THEM, there is always a good laugh when everybody relates their experiences and how they got this particular guest to the lifeboat station while the person was remonstrating all the way. There is more to a Dining room steward than just serving food. These guys have a very important job in an emergency as we want to ensure that nobody will be left behind.

We left Horta in the early afternoon and now we will be at sea until 08 November. Then we have a call at Nassau in the Bahama’s and the next day the cruise finishes in Fort Lauderdale. The weather looks good for the coming days, it looks like that this wave front to the North which I mentioned yesterday will indeed not reach our course line and thus we are looking forward to a nice Ocean Crossing.

During last night the swells slowly abated although it did not go as fast as the weather chart indicated. But today the swell got back on schedule again and went down to about 6 to 8 feet. Which is similar to the regular swells you find in the Caribbean Sea. Thus we are back to normal.

The Azores are back in the blue and the green. And with a bit of luck the red of another wave field will stay nicely to the North. (Chart courtesy of Surf-forecast.com)

For the arrival the swell did not bother us as Ponta Delgada is located on the South side of the island and thus completely in the lee of any swells North of the direct East and West directions. The Captain swung the ship around on arrival and we docked nose out at the Cruise Terminal. We were later followed by the Aida Vita who also sailed stern in but docked at the inside of the breakwater which is officially the cargo pier.

Docking nose out when possible is a sort of safety routine as you can shoot out from the berth directly into safety; into deep water. The only berth where this does not matter that much is the corner berth of the breakwater. If you are docked there, then you can just give full astern and you are in safety as well. With the other berths where you still have to travel a certain distance to get outside and then nose out works faster.

The cruise terminal with parking on the top and shops and handling area under it.

They built a new cruise terminal here a number of years ago, when the three cargo berths were completely insufficient to cope with all the cruise traffic.  This is the first time I have been docked at it, as during past calls my ship was always the smaller ship and then they put the biggest one at the cruise terminal. They did so today as well, the AidaVita is smaller and thus it had to go to the cargo berth. For the guests it means a longer walk as you have to walk around the rim of the harbor. The cruise terminal ends up directly at the main street leading into town.

Ponta Delgada does not have a Big Red Bus to do a hop on hop off sightseeing tour and thus I decided to stay on board. They do some beautiful tours here on the island but you have to book and organize in advance. What many guests do and what works quite well, when not going on a Holland America tour, is to book a taxi. Many of the local taxi drivers speak very good English, are very knowledgeable and very proud to show you their island. The only danger is the ship will not wait if you get back too late, while it will wait from the ships tours if they are delayed in returning.  If you would have missed the ship here, then you could rejoin tomorrow in Horta. There is a ferry system but it runs on a limited schedule outside the peak season.

This morning the whole crew went through the motions again of the full General Emergency system. Starting with a fire drill under the show lounge (First Stage Emergency Alarm) followed by the assembly alarm of all without a function (Crew Alert Alarm), followed by the General Emergency Alarm which calls everybody to the lifeboats and life rafts. Now it was only for the crew but in a real emergency the same system is used for the guests as well. At the Crew Alert Alarm all guests are told to go to their cabins to get ready and then at the General Emergency Alarm they will all go to their Lifeboat stations. So I ran around this morning through all the drills, to see if each and every team followed the company standard instructions and routines. Observations made are shared and then used for further improvement. Training and exercising on a cruise ship never stops as the crew keeps changing and need constant refreshment in the routines to stay on top of their proficiency.

Tomorrow we are in Horta on the island of Faial. This will be an anchor stop and also Horta is on the south side of the island. The only question, which answer we will only find out on arrival, is whether the remnants of the swell are curving around the island or not and will it reach the tender area or that we will have very flat and calm waters to enjoy. In the meantime we are back to a gently moving ship as can be expected on the North Atlantic.

Weather for Horta:  Partly Cloudy, leaning to Overcast as they are expecting rain on Monday and a temperature of 67oF or 19oC.

And in accordance with the weather forecast the ship slowly started to become livelier after10 am. in the morning and by 10 am. the bow started to go up and down on a regular basis. It is not often that the weather operates in line with the forecast but today it did. We had the highest waves around 2 to 3 pm. and then it slowly but steadily started to abate again.  By late this evening we should be back to the regular motion of a North Atlantic crossing. As you can see from the chart, the wave field around the islands is breaking up and by the time we leave Horta (the day after tomorrow) the North Atlantic should be quiet again. There is a disturbance going North East from Cape Hatteras but it is not expected, as of yet, that its wave field will reach the intended track of the Zuiderdam. If that all works out, then we will have had a good crossing. One day of wobbly weather on a North Atlantic crossing in autumn, is not bad going.

Today we went through the deep red of the wave field. As you see they way it is curved, there was also not way to sail around it. This chart is for tomorrow morning when we will be back in the green again. (Chart courtesy surf-forecast.com)

People who do ocean voyages are a different sort of cruise passenger than those we see on the 7 day Caribbean circuit, Alaska or Europe Cruises. They have done those cruises already and they are seasoned sailors.  Therefore I was not amazed at all to see the ship full of people today. Also the reports from the Infirmary indicated that the number of sea sick people were not high. The Front Office did do a roaring trade in Green Apples but you never know if they were taken by those needing them or by those just liking them. But whether it was the Green Apples or the cruising experience, the ship was buzzing and all activities were well attended.  The Captain held a Q&A interview meeting with the guests in the worst place possible for this weather; the Crow’s nest, during the worst possible time 3 pm.  and also he had a full house.  We are sailing with a ship full of cruise veterans it seems.

The mid Atlantic ridge with the Azores on a large triangle to the East. (Chart Courtesy: www.mantleplumes.org)

The Azores are a sort of mountain ridge in the North Atlantic Ocean, there were three tectonic plates meet and volcanic activity coming out of these rifts created a large North – South mountain range, not unlike the Rocky Mountains & Andes, but then under water.  The Azores are located on sort of wider outcropping almost like a plateau to the East of this Mid Atlantic Ridge. The location where the 3^rd plate meets the other two.  There are 9 islands created by volcanic activity and because they are located near the Gulf Stream they have a very pleasant and stable climate. If they were not so far away from anywhere, then they would be a number one area for retirement. In a similar way as you have “The Villages” in the Florida but then on islands.  Half of Europe would descend on them. Now it is just too complicated to get there and those who want the milder weather settle in the south of France, The Spanish Coast or Tuscany in Italy.

We are calling at two islands here; first at Sao Miguel which is the largest one on which Ponta Delgada is located and then at the island of Faial on which Horta is located. In Ponta Delgada we will dock but Horta is an anchorage port as it only has a very small harbor.  Luckily both ports are on the south side of the islands so it is in the shelter of the wind which is still blowing and the remainder of the swell.

We are expecting a partly cloudy day as the current weather front which makes the ship so lively is pulling away and is taking all the rain with it, at least for the call at Ponta Delgada. For Horta it looks a bit more unsettled at the moment.  Temperatures of 63oF or 17oC and a moderate breeze.

Cadiz is sheltered under the Portuguese coast and because of that we did not feel any movement at all during the first few hours. Then late last night, the gentle movement of the ship started caused by the motion of the ocean. Finally we were really back at sea again and so it stayed for the remainder of the night. By this morning, the wind slowly started to pick up from nearly zero to a good 25 to 30 knots by lunch time. As the wind was mainly on the bow, the ship went against it with 15 knots, which is a force 4 and if you would have been able to stand out in the open on the bow, you would have had a severe storm experience. However the Zuiderdam has wind breakers on the top deck and an enclosed promenade deck near the bow and the thus the guests were kept nicely out of the wind.  By this afternoon it started to get overcast with darker clouds and we saw rain developing in the distance. We are coming closer to this weather system which will produce the high waves.

With the increasing wind there should have been more swell already and thus more motion but that was not the case. We had “confused swell”.  Swells and seas from various directions and they dampened each other out quite nicely. Giving for the North Atlantic in autumn a very comfortable ride.  Still there were a few guests rumbling about the moving of the ship and in one instance a gentleman demanded a solution from me at once. I was a bit puzzled about how he singled me out but by now the crew all know me and they gingerly deflected his problems to me. “Ask Captain Albert, he is from Corporate, he knows everything”. ———— I am going up in the world day by day.  So I explained to the gentleman that Holland America had created happy hour in the bars just for this purpose. Two drinks for one and all your problems are solved. The Front Office believes in green apples and crackers, I believe in a planter’s punch or a high ball to cure sickness.  I have never been sea sick on a HAL ship so it must work.  The gentleman did not look completely convinced and opted for a lay down in his cabin instead.

The blue circle was our location today, the green circle is for late tomorrow morning when we enter the wave field. (Courtesy www. Swell-forecast.com)

However the confused swells are not going to last and by tomorrow morning the heavy swells from the North West will start to take over. As you can see from the wave chart we are still expecting 21 feet, while today we had about 12 to 14 feet in confused seas and swell. How much the ship will move will depend on the period of the swell. If it is a nice and long swell then the ship might nicely climb up and go down with the amplitude. If it is a short running swell it might lift the ship up and then drop it down again; we call that pitching and sometimes it becomes severe enough for the bow to bash onto the waves and you get this banging noise which vibrates all the way through the ship.  For those who can stand it, it can give some spectacular water displays over the bow, visible from the crow’s nest. For those who can’t there is the option of green apples, crackers, planters punch and highballs.

With the wobbly ocean it is hard to see night wild life in the ocean and although I looked for a while, I did see anything, neither birds, nor fish. Just a lonely cargo ship heading the other way. For the guests it did not matter that much as the ship was in full swing with lectures varying from flying over the Andes to Portugal and its Empire. Then there was bridge (when isn’t there bridge??) and for the more active people there was Bean Bag Toss, and the Dancing with the Stars competition.  For those battling sea sickness there was Premium Wine tasting, Beer tasting, Mixology class and for the non-alcohol minded the Indonesian Tea Ceremony.  (And that is of course only a small sampling of what is crammed into our daily program)

With the crossing of the Ocean we get time differences and tonight we go our 2^nd hour back and that will bring us on the Azores time. With an hour back it is a good opportunity to have the crew show as it basically means that the crew is not losing any sleep while giving this extra performance for the guests.  Tonight it is the turn of the Philippino’s and if the waves will indeed hold until tomorrow then they should be able to do their regular program.

Tomorrow we will have our 2^nd day at sea and I expect that the afternoon will be quite lively until it dies down again in the evening.  At the moment it does not look like that we have to worry about our call at Ponta Delgada.

Today we were in Cadiz Spain, which is just on the other side of the Straits of Gibraltar when looking west from Malaga. Cadiz is a very popular port to call at as it is located right on the edge of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is a regular port for ships which are coming from or commencing a crossing. The city is full of ruins and historical buildings and thus there are plenty of shore excursions available or self-exploring to do for independents.  I had all but forgotten that Cadiz also has a Big Red Bus and by the time I saw one coming by the ship, it was too late to still hop on one. I must remember next time. I have done excursions here before and walked around the place but with regular buses your view is limited as the driver has the best view. But with an open top double decker, you can sit where the driver sits, just one deck higher and have a perfect view. Well I will be here again sometime in the future no doubt.  But this time the Big Red Bus lost out on my contribution towards their yearly profit margin.

It was quiet in port today, hardly any movement of ships and only one cruise ship in port, the AidaCara of Aida cruises. This was the first ship Aida built and formed the base for their great success and current expansion.

I pulled this picture from a spanish website as my photo of the ship in port had too much background clutter. Muchias Gracias to the maker.

But another ship in port was of more interest as it was a square rigger or tall ship and those you do not see that often anymore.  In this case it was the training ship Juan Sebastian de Elcano, of the Spanish Navy.  There are several navys in the world who still have sailing training ships, especially the Latin American ones. Here we find the largest ones. The “de Elcano” is the 3^rd largest tall ship in the world, the largest one is a cruise ship the Royal Clipper, followed by a Russian Training ship.  It is an old ship, built in 1927 but through the years is has been renovated and updated several times so it can still sail as required.

The ms Prinses Margriet training ship of the Dutch Merchant Marine. She was a bit top heavy due to the class rooms and the 2nd bridge on the top and you noticed that in bad weather

There was a time when sailing ships were the preferred way of learning – literally – the ropes, of a seafaring job. It created comradeship and taught you to trust each other when hanging in the top of a mast with wind force 12. There were even shipping company’s such as the Hamburg America Line who had their own training ship. But these ships are expensive to maintain and operate and only some navy’s and dedicated training institutions still operate them.  When I went to my Maritime Academy between 1976 and 1980 we still had a small motor ship on which we went 14 days a year and which was shared with the other Dutch Seafarer’s Institutes. Apart from finding out what seasickness was (that thing seemed to have been constructed especially to make bad weather even worse) and how too many crew could make a big mess, we did not learn much, but it was a nice vacation. I made two trips on this Prinses Margriet and both times we had nice weather, much to the chagrin of the Captain who seemed to specialize in finding even the smallest disturbance out there in the North Sea. The little ship is still afloat after a complete rebuilt and now operates as small cruise yacht called the Sherakhan. They lowered her superstructure considerably which must have greatly improved her behavior at sea.

The Sherakhan. Rebuilt the ship had much better proportions. She is still out there.

That experience has always made me doubtful about the usefulness of training ships for the Merchant Marine and the Dutch Merchant Navy does not have one any more. A cadet training year on a commercial vessel and bridge simulator work is deemed to be much more beneficial than messing around with sails and getting cold and wet on the deck of a square rigger.

Tomorrow we start our crossing of the North Atlantic Ocean. Today the ship topped up all its tanks with fuel oil so we have more than sufficient to get to the other side. If all goes well we should arrive in Fort Lauderdale on the 9^th. of November . It is not a direct crossing as we call at the ports of Punta Delgada and Horta in the Azores.

The weather is now getting harder to predict. For the Ponta Delgada port call we are looking at partly Cloudy with 16oC/61oF. That is the good part. Getting there might be different.

Red is never good on a weather chart. But for tomorrow the waves are still green and thus low. the Azores are in the centre of the chart (Courtesy www.surf-forecast.com)

For a crossing, the wind and rain are not so important, what is of interest is the swell as that makes the ship wobble. And that can reduce the happiness on board considerably. There is a depression out there, north of the Azores with the potential of coming over the Islands and/or pushing a large wave field that way. If that is going to happen, then we might get some lively movement on Friday, the day before we arrive at the islands. We will see.

We were not the only one in today. When we sailed into the port the MSC Davina was already docked and also the Allure of the Seas who was furthermost in but due to its size still stuck out quite a bit. This evening she will have to go astern all the way through the harbor into open sea as it is too tight for her to swing around inside. We did swing around on arrival in the widest part of the port and there we had about 300 feet clearance but the Allure is 200 feet longer than the Zuiderdam (1187 ft. versus 962 ft.) and that makes it a bit tight. Luckily this ship has so much power so such a maneuver is not really much of an issue.

No doubt this was the biggest Apartment Building in Malaga today.

When I was captain on the Prinsendam, I was once docked nearly under her stern (I felt as if I was a tugboat captain) and the Allure had more horsepower for her bow thrusters than the Prinsendam had in the main engine room. You are talking different dimensions here. So when we looked astern today we saw indeed an “Apartment of the Seas” behind us and the ship took up the complete horizon on the port side.  You cannot talk about a ship here any more, this is a floating resort and the on board approach must be totally different than the way we go about our business on Holland America.

On the other side we had the MSC Davina which with 137,000 Gross Tonnage is also considerably larger than the Zuiderdam and that made us the smallest ship in port today. Proof that whatever our guests say about the size of the new Koningsdam, it will still be a medium sized ship compared to what we saw around us today.  In 1936 the Zuiderdam would have been the largest Ocean Liner in the world if it had been built then and now 80 years later it is one of the smaller ones. Do times change.

I do not know if both ships were full, we are, but if they were then today 6300 + 3400 + 1900 guests were invading Malaga and surrounding areas.  Although it is very much a tourist city with 100’s of thousand living along the coast line, there are a lot of things to see. From the ancient days, as the Romans were very much present here, to the current day, with a Picasso Museum. (I wonder how busy it was there today with 11,000 guests ashore who must all have read the ships shorex brochures) Then there are tours running to the Alhambra which is about 90 minutes away with the Coach from the port.  I hope that all the guests had a good day, as it rained and drizzled for larger periods. Not what you expect in Spain but then it is October and the hot summer is over.

I delved today into shipping legislation. That is for nearly every captain a sort of monthly “enjoyment” as things keep changing and it is not always easy to keep abreast with the latest developments. The IMO (International Maritime Organization) keeps producing new rules and regulations and these become law after a certain number of members have signed up to the agreement and its implementation. That can take a few years but then suddenly –pop- it is there.  Sometimes these regulations are frame works and the “Administrator” that is the Flag State has a certain freedom to implement the regulation. Then there is nothing to withhold the company to add more to it.

What had my attention today were the STCW 2010 Manila Amendments. STCW stands for Standards of Training, Certification and Watch keeping. These came into being in 1978 and regulate the operational requirements for seafarers. In 2010 there was a conference in Manila and various amendments were made to these rules based on the experience gained through the years. More and more of these 2010 amendments are now coming into being with the bulk of them becoming compulsory as of 1 January 2017.  To give a simple example: It was always compulsory to have a cook on board. The question was who would officially be the cook and what is a cook (e.g. under the law) Thus far the solution for the Dutch flagged cruise ships was where we can have a 100 cooks on board: It is the most senior Cook, the Exe Chef and he has to make sure that he has the required paperwork.  What was required was always a little bit vague but now under the 2010 amendments, there is an official Cook certificate. Our Cooks are way above the qualifications required for this certificate but they still have to have one. Thus the Dutch government is now issuing these certificates as long as Holland America can prove that the Exe. Chef can cook.  My interest today was to find out what this certificate looked like and when it was coming out, so I could prepare the Crew Officer.  The crew office is tasked with verifying on behalf of the Master if all crew members have the required certificates so they can be signed on and thus they have to know and understand the details.

This evening we will be sailing towards Cadiz, were we will arrive tomorrow morning. Around midnight we will leave the Mediterranean by passing Gibraltar and then follow the Spanish coast towards Cadiz.

Weather for tomorrow: partly Cloudy, little wind and temperatures around 71oF / 22oC.

Alicante is typical of the south Spanish ports. A large breakwater / pier which runs parallel along the coast. The inner side of this breakwater was normally used for ships making short stops and with the increase in the cruise Industry that is where the cruise ships are docking as they normally stay for shorter periods than the cargo ships. Several of these piers have now been adapted especially by building cruise terminals on top of it.  Today we docked at one of those piers here in Alicante and it will be the same in Malaga tomorrow.  (It was the same in Barcelona, only Palma de Mallorca was different) It makes arrivals and departures fairly easy as docking the ship is a matter of slowing down and then going sideways to the dock. In several ports you can even leave by just backing out, something the Rotterdam did when it called at Malaga recently. (See my specific blog in the archives)

The cruise terminal is half way along the breakwater. If we had docked at the end, it would have doubled the distance.

Today we thus also parked at the inside of the breakwater and although that was easy for the ship, it meant that it was a long way from the city, made even longer as we were at the Cruise Terminal near the end of this long breakwater.  But with plenty coaches around everybody who wanted to go, could get to the town. There were however quite of few guests who decided to stay on board today to catch their  breath and to build up stamina for Malaga tomorrow. As it was nice weather, sitting on the outside deck and lazing the day away is also part of cruising. Plus often there is the added bonus of seeing the sailors working on the outside decks and there are few things nicer than watching other people work.  (Plus it gives a good feeling to know that your cruise fare helps them to make a living)

As mentioned yesterday, today we had our weekly Fire drill and the focus was this time on the Engine Room and what to do when the normal fire fighting procedures do not work. That means we have to go to the final resort or releasing CO2. The problem with cO2 is, that although it is a good extinguishing agent, it works the best when the temperatures in the Engine Room have not yet reached a too high a value. The longer the fire rages, the more damage and the greater the chance of Reflash due to the longer natural cooling down period. Co2 does not have as much of a temperature reducing capability such as water has. Thus the rule of thumb is that the Master has to make up his mind within 10 minutes after the fire has occurred and the CO2 should be released within the next 5 minutes to be the most effective.

That means the necessary procedures to establish if we need to release CO2, if all crew is out, and if the ER is completely closed and locked down has to be done in that short period of time. CO2 works by replacing Oxygen and is thus fatal for crew still in the area concerned and also very dangerous if it would leak out of the area concerned.  And for that you really need to train well. Coordination between the Chief Engineer who assesses the situation, the Master who makes the final decision and the Officers in the CO2 room who release the agent,  have to be seamless to ensure it goes fast, achieves the objective and there are no casualties. For the older cruise ships it means losing all propulsion power and most of the power for the ship as well. (Only the Emergency Generator is left) for newer cruise ships which include the Zuiderdam it has less of an impact as the ship has two separate engine rooms. The idea being is, if one is out of order than the other one still works and takes over.

These are the officers and crew who man the fire teams. You have to be young and strong to be able to carry the heavy gear and fight a fire at the same time.

An important part of the drill sequence is the debriefing afterwards. Doing a nice drill is good fun but the objective is to learn from every drill. That is why I act during these drills as Assessor. Going around and observing.  Checking if the policies are being followed, issue compliments where things went well and note the items which could have gone better. Those are discussed and then kept on file to be incorporated as objectives in the scenario for the next drill. In this way we create a continuous learning and improvement process which increases the proficiency of all the crew involved.  Normally the debriefing takes as long as the whole drill, as each participant is given the chance to speak up and help with the debriefing process.

Tomorrow we are in Malaga and the weather will be less good than today. On departure today we already saw dark clouds gathering at the horizon and there are rain clouds coming over the southern part of Spain. According to the weather forecast there is supposed to be very little wind in those clouds and thus all should be well for arriving on time.