Well it looks like Miami over here. It is weekend of course and thus there are cruise ships coming in for change over day. But I was not expecting soo many. The whole place is chock-a-block with ships. Yesterday we had the Explorer of the Seas, the Costa Fascinosa, the Costa Fantastica, the Mein Schiff 2, the Aida Aura, the Thomson Dream (our old Westerdam) and the Ocean Dream (ex Tropicale). The last one is a bit of strange duck among the chickens as she is supposed to be a ship on a mission. It sails in charter for a Japanese company called Peace Boat. They had already several ships in charter in the past (always old ones) and now they have the ex Tropicale which was built in 1983/84. If I understand it all correctly, the idea of taking a cruise on this ship is to further peace, brotherhood and understanding between the various nations. As the ship is full with Japanese I assume it is between them and the countries they are visiting. They do tend to stay longer in each port than other cruise ships and they also run more unusual shore excursions. In how far this contributes to World peace and understanding I do not know but the concept seems to work for the Japanese market.

Green blocks are the cruise ships, blue cargo ships and ferries. The WTC is all the way to the right. Courtesy drawing: Cruise ship “forecast ” page of Barcelona Ports.

Barcelona Port has two areas where cruise ships dock. Around the World Trade Centre which is in the inner port and which can take 3 cruise ships as long as they are not too big and the rest at the Moll Adossat which is the inner side of the breakwater of the outer port. We were at 1D for the overnight and thus we could see the other cruise ships coming and going.  Most of the names of yesterday had left but were replaced by other and today we had in port, Mein Schiff 2 (also doing an overnight) Costa Fascinosa (until noon) and her place was taken by the Costa Fortuna, Then there was the Star Flyer , the Sea Dream II, the Sovereign and the ms MSC Divina. I will spare you the total number of guests being part of the change overs on all these ships but it was interesting to see that we had a complete traffic jam of black and yellow cabs leaving for the airport. One can only wonder about the mayhem at the airport with all these cabs discharging at the same time.

We also had change over; 1100 guests going off and 1100 coming on and then a few hundred being in transit as they are stringing one or more of these segmented cruises together. Barcelona is getting very popular as a cruise destination and is for Costa one of the major change over ports in their network. So much that Carnival Corp. has built a special terminal for the Costa Ships, (which of course can also be used for non Costa ships if they are not there). Demand is such that now a 2^nd terminal has been approved and should be there by next year.  Room is there sufficiently at the Breakwater side as the Moll Adossat was extended a few years ago and not all the space has been filled up yet with new docks.

I personally prefer to dock at the World Trade center (WTD), where today the Star Flyer and the Sea Dream II were docked but as these ships already show, the berths are shorter. The Rotterdam fits in there but it makes it quite tight to swing around in the inner basin for leaving again. For a change over it is also better to be at the larger terminals.  More room for luggage, taxi’s and coaches. At the WTC you do not need a port shuttle to get into town you can just cross the street. But the shuttle only costs 5 euro’s so it is not too shocking to go to town from the larger terminals.

We sailed just before 17.30 after making sure we had everybody on board and now we are on the way to Palma de Mallorca which is only 110 miles away including curving around the Southside of the island to get to the port. We are supposed to be at the pilot station at 0700. Hrs. and start docking about 5 minutes later as the berth is right behind the breakwater.

Again the weather is holding; a bit more wind during the night than before but the predictions are that the port will be in the lee of these winds and we are looking forward to a sunny and nearly wind still day.  A good thing as I am supposed to go down in the water with the trainee’s to look at the finer points of how to maneuver a lifeboat.

From Monaco to Barcelona is quite a distance and because of that we did not arrive until 16.00 hrs. today. When sailing from Monaco you follow a Southwesterly course and have to cross the Golf of Lion. This is the area of water in the curve of the land between Spain and France. This is an area where the weather can be very bad. Even in the summer. If a depression is sitting under a right angle in relation to the land.

On our voyage down to Barcelona we just skirted the Gulf. But if you go to Marseilles you have to sail through it.

The name is a bit strange but it comes from the mists of time, 13^th. Century, and seems to be derived from comparing this area to a roaring lion because it can be so bad. On occasion the Tramontane or the Mistral comes roaring down from the mainland valleys and then whips up the sea in a matter of minutes into a cauldron of “excitement”.  Similar to the Tehuantepeccer which can be found on the west coast of Mexico near Huatalco. I have extensively blogged about that one as well in the past.

Because it is a valley wind, a weather front only has to move a little bit, to get the right angle onto the valley and the wind starts blowing. As it is a funnel wind it keeps increasing in strength while goes down the valley and then suddenly that enormous wind push arrives on open water. Very nasty.  Normally the weather forecasters are good in advising this phenomenon but sometimes the weather system does not follow the forecast and many sailing ships and fishermen have been very unpleasantly surprised. Even for large ships it can be an issue and freak waves can built up on occasion. One hit a cruise ship a number of years ago with considerable damage and injuries.

This morning we had less of an issue, but still there was a strong wind blowing. While Monaco and the Barcelona area were wind still; the Gull of Lion was still generate a good wind force 5 to 6. That amount of wind does not really affect the ship and with sunny skies it was still good cruise weather. Most cruise guests did not pay much attention today as they were getting ready to go home and had to go to the Mariners Society Party. On these cruises nearly everybody is a Mariner and thus the party was well attended.

If you do not want to get wet, plug the hole with wedges.

I had the crew also in full swing as today was a practical damage control drill which I normally organize on each ship that I visit. Damage Control means patching up holes in the ship’s hull after a collision or grounding, or shoring up bulkheads and things after an explosion or fire.  As I am not allowed to create a real explosion or a fire, I have to contend myself with ingress of water, lots of it if possible, which we can safely do on a ship by building a mockup ship’s hull with a few holes in it. It is quite amazing to see how much water can come in through a hole of 1 foot by 4 inches as long as it is deep enough under water. If you have a hole that size and it is 7 meters under water (the normal draft of a cruise ship is about 8 meters) then in one hour 200 tons of water can enter the ship. That is 4 swimming pools full.

So I built my wall from wood, rigged up fire hoses behind the holes and let everybody have a bit of fun while at the same time they had to figure out what the best way to plug or patch the holes.

Navigation Class on the Bridge. What they learn here is way beyond and above what is being taught at school.

Once that was over, the training class attended a Navigation Class given by one of our Fleet Captains Darin Bowland who happened to come on board for a quality assurance visit. (A Fleet Captain does on the bridge, what I do off the bridge that is why my function is called Travelling Master to keep the two disciplines apart) After that they had a session with the Security Officer and they got shown the equipment which we have to keep suspicious boats away from us.

We are now 14 days into the class and I am putting more and more practical items in. Tomorrow they have to start preparing for giving training to the crew on board, without help from anybody as that is what they will have to do a month or so from now, when they go out into the fleet. Only now they still have the benefit of my presence for coaching and providing the tricks of the trade.

We are staying overnight in Barcelona and tomorrow is change over day for a lot of the guests. Weather should be nice, sunny and little change from today.

Today we were in Monte Carlo and we docked, which made us the biggest yacht in the port. I do not know if I can say also the most luxurious, but I wonder: How many of these mega yachts would have a soft ice cream machine on board?  That is for me a very important luxury item.  Right under our bow we had several yachts anchored/docked in rows. The two which I instantly recognized;  the Lady Moira and the Christina Onassis. The Lady Moira is normally the largest yacht in port but this time she was not docked at the inner corner of the port but next to Christina O. near the exit. Either getting ready for deployment or having moved to a cheaper location?

Lady Moira to the right, The Christina O with the sleek long bow in the center, unknown yacht to the left.

The Christina O. is still a yacht with more traditional lines and thus looks more like a ship than a floating gin place or cocktail bar. There was a lot of work going on, with railings being sanded and varnished and white paint applied everywhere. Not done by the regular crew but by contractors so I assume there was some sort of refit going on.

Although both cruise ships and private yachts are luxurious and cater for guests, there is a distinct difference, at least for the officers. We on the cruise ships battle with the danger of fatigue and carefully monitor our hours so we get enough rest; while on the yachts there is often the battle with boredom. Some yachts go out for charter but some are just waiting for their owner, who might never come or just once or twice a year. When that is, is often unknown and so they wait, and wait and wait. You can keep cleaning the yacht and touching up but there is a certain moment when there is nothing to do any more. The yacht world has recognized this issue and tries to offer solutions for it.

We can dock here in Monte Carlo as they built a Pier some years ago. Before that time all the ships had to anchor. There is a funny story attached to this. When the dock was completed, the port authorities put a limit of 40,000 tons on it. This because it is not a dock that sits on the ground but it is a floating construction attached to anchors running into the bay. Monte Carlo is built on a cliff and that cliff goes straight down to about 150 feet and more and that makes it hard to build a foundation, so it floats. Thus 40,000 tons was going to be the limit to ensure that there was not too much strain on these anchors.

Docking always beats tender service for comfort. Even if the tender is a scenic ride into Monte Carlo.

When our Noordam asked in 2007 for permission to dock, it was granted. The port authorities were expecting our old Noordam III of 34,000 tons to come in and where quite shocked when the Noordam IV of 90,000 tons popped up. But promised was promised and so the much larger Noordam was allowed to dock. The authorities reviewed the situation, found that there was really no issue with these anchors taking a bigger strain and now all the large ships are allowed to dock.  But 300 meters is about the limit as the dock is not much longer.

The Tour buses can come to the gangway and those not on tour can walk into town by going around the port. For those who do not like the Casino, there is the Museum of the Sea; there is a Car museum and a museum of Napoleon.

Although Napoleons interest was way beyond focussing on a little princedom on the south coast of France, Prince Rainier was an avid collector of Napoleontica and he amassed a very impressive collection.  I once met a collector in Holland who had a special coin or medal which was linked to Napoleon and there were only a few of them in existence. So he got what he called “Rainier’s yearly begging letter”. As Prince Rainier wanted that item for his collection. The letter came year after year, until his daughter started to beg for a car, so dad gave in but had to find the money, to please her.

I sent my school class ashore this afternoon, to follow the footsteps of the rich and famous and hopefully they are able to keep their spending under control. Monaco is very expensive, even the local supermarket.

We will have a sea morning tomorrow, and then arrive in Barcelona at 4 pm. in the afternoon. We will be staying overnight here as the 2^nd day is a changeover day.  As mentioned before, the ship is doing an 88 days cruise but it is cobbled together from several segments.  The first segment Rotterdam – Barcelona, 14 days, will thus finish in Barcelona.

Weather Forecast:  Mostly sunny 71oF / 21oC.  We remain lucky with the weather. The rain and nastiness which were forecast for Livorno never occurred. So we keep on having mild summer weather although it is October. The people who are leaving in Barcelona have had a very nice cruise.

Livorno (or Leghorn in some languages) is one of the most challenging ports to go into. Even on the nicest day of the year with no wind or any other distraction one has to really focus to make sure that all goes well.

All ships have to enter from the south then swerve around the breakwater to a northerly course. If the big dock is not available you have to go in the smaller Y  (on its side) shaped area below.

Main reason is the small entrance in the breakwater and the sharp turn just behind it before you can sail into the port proper. The breakwater has been there for a long time and must have been the best thing since sliced bread in times gone by. But with the ships getting bigger, the breakwater and the space behind it remained the same.  The second problem is the North Entrance which is not usable at all. It has completely silted in and all traffic has to go through the South Entrance. Why the authorities do not want to dredge out this north part, I do not know, as it would make the arrival and departure from Livorno a lot easier and safer. Two entrances mean you have a plan B but now there is only a plan A and not much else.

Today we were at least lucky that we were the only ship in. Then you automatically get the easiest docked allocated.  When there are more ships, the largest one goes to the easiest dock and the smaller ones are relegated to the old inner harbor. There is enough room there but going in is through a small opening.  You back in (go astern) to make sailing out easier but on a windy day going astern into the hole is not so pleasant. If the North entrance was still available then you could at least sail in, review the situation on the spot and if you did not like it, sail out again through the North Entrance.  Maybe that is the reason for not dredging, it stops you from leaving. You have to commit, you have to go in.

Livorno is quite a large port and cargo ships sometimes have to sail deep into the industrial port to find a berth. They try to keep cruise ships near the front, so it is easier for them to keep their schedule taking the arrival and departure times into account. and it is also easier for the coaches to get in and out of the harbor. All the ferries (most of them those famous MOBY boats with the cartoons on the side) also dock in this little area that is called the old harbor.

While the guests went ashore to see the sights, the ship was busy as well. We had divers today for propeller cleaning. This happens about twice a year. Divers go under the hull and scrub and clean the propellers and often parts of the hull as well, to remove the marine growth. Although we have polymer paint on the hull which should avoid marine growth attaching itself to the hull, this never works completely and thus we get a regular clean by divers. That is not cheap as it is highly specialized work but it pays itself back very quickly with a reduction in fuel.   So bridge officers and engineers kept a close on the proceedings to make sure that the divers were safe and supported in the best way possible while they were doing their work.

Hotel was not without work either as it was heavy loading today. Heavy means that the major storage and provisioning took place today. In ports along the cruise we can then stock up with smaller quantities and that we call light loading. Today 58 tons of supplies were taken on board and that will last for at least 14 days. We use Livorno as it can be reached quickly from the Netherlands where Holland America has a depot where a lot of the provisions come together to be packed into containers. Livorno is North of Rome and that is not an easy town to get around for the trucks so Livorno works a lot better.

We will leave from here at 19.00 hrs. to cruise westwards to reach Monaco tomorrow morning.  We will dock there and that will make it very easy to get ashore. Next week, when we are back we will have to anchor and that is a lot more complicated.

Weather for tomorrow in Monaco, Sunny with temperatures around 67oF or 21oC. and little wind.

We never saw the rain except high up in the mountains and that made everybody happy. Those rain clouds did bring some cooler air and that brought perfect sightseeing weather to the port. Sunny but with temperatures around 24oC. And with a little bit of a chill in the air it never felt too warm while walking around and about.  In all words, a perfect day which started at 10 am. when the Rotterdam approached Ajaccio for an 11.00 gangway out.

I think the port of Ajaccio holds the record for the fastest arrivals and dockings. We were on dock nbr 1. and that meant straight in and hard a port to turn 90o to the north and put the brakes on.  Dock nbr.1 is right inside the breakwater and thus there was no sailing in. The pilot could barely make it to the bridge before the ship was sticking its nose inside the pier. A captain can only wish for more of these ports. If one just thinks about Tampa which has a 3.5 hour sail in & out, then this is heaven.

A much more simpler port for an approach is not there.

The only drawback is that the port is fully open to the elements from the SW, south and SE side. One big open bay and no protection from the elements what so ever. So when it blows then you just have the hope for the best. At least when you get close to the port you know that it blows as hard at the pilot station as it will at the dock and that helps making up your mind about going in or not, a little bit easier. What you see is what you get and no interpretation by the pilot is needed.

Today we did not have that issue. There was a gentle breeze blowing which just lifted the flags (Beaufort force 2 to 3) from hanging completely limp. It did not affect the sailing and it kept the outside temperature very nice.

Ocean liner row Corsican way. The ferries are docked stern in for the car deck ramps.

Ajaccio is a fairly simple port in the way the docks have been laid out. It looks a bit as Ocean Liner Row in the New York in the old days with all the docks nicely in a rows and all perpendicular on the shore and the city. And it looked a little bit like Ocean Liner Row today as well, or maybe better called Cruise & Ferry row. With us in port were two ferry’s, One based in Marseille and sailing for the French side and one based in Ajaccio and sailing for the Corsica side. The fact that Corsica is part of France does not matter very much as a lot of Corsicans believe that France belongs to Corsica and not the other way around. They gave Napoleon to France and the mainland should be forever grateful for that.

Around 12.30 the Horizon of Croisieres de France came in. This ship was built in 1990 in Papenburg as the first of the new builds for the revitalized Celebrity Cruise Lines, which was based on the traditions and experience of the Greek Chandris Shipping Company. When the ship became too old she was pushed on to new markets and now it serves the French Cruise Market. The French are a little bit more reluctant to cruise than the Germans; hence there are a lot less cruise ships dedicated to the French Market than to the German market.

You cannot park much closer to the city than this.

Ajaccio is walk-able, the town/city is built up against the mountain ridge which provides the boundary of the harbor and the view from the ship is one layer after layer of apartment buildings. All nicely painted and giving the impression of a contented Mediterranean life.

The good ship Rotterdam had to get all its contented guests back on board by 6 pm. as we then started to  make the hop to Livorno about 180 miles away. We will be arriving there before 0700 hrs. in the morning as the full day tours for Florence and Pisa have to leave on time.  We have a lot of guests who want to see the leaning Tower of Pisa, as you never know whether it will topple over the next day or not.

Weather forecast for tomorrow: The expected rain has been moving north quicker than anticipated and now we are expecting a dry day, at least after 8 am. with temperatures of around 20oC / 68oF.  Good weather for looking at leaning towers.

Today we are at sea, sailing between Malaga and Ajaccio on  Corsica where we will be tomorrow. We are happily moving along with a speed of around 17 knots and that is the fastest we have been going for a long time as the previous ports were so close together that we basically had to put the brake on the moment we left. Navigational highlight of the day was passing at 6 pm. Mallorca at a distance of about 7 miles on our portside. The whole route is made up of two straight lines, hence being 7 miles south of the largest of the Balearic Islands. The straight line simply caused that distance to occur. Then at 8 pm we should be abeam of Menorca a little further to the north and passing it at a distance of about 6 miles.

Cruising towards Ajaccio. This depth chart. the deeper the blue, the deeper the sea.

We still have some traffic around us; tankers and containers ships that are coming and going from the Strait of Gibraltar and also to and from ports on the North Western side of Italy. Ships from Marseilles and Barcelona are mostly sailing between the Spanish main land and the Balearic Islands, staying on the other side of Mallorca and that makes the life of the navigators a lot quieter. Everybody converses at the area I described yesterday.

Although are still having a gentle breeze blowing, it is now indeed a South Westerly wind and we saw the sky go brownish, a clear sign that there is sand in the air. I heard the Bo ‘sun already cursing as it means more deck cleaning and this very fine sand is not so easy to get rid of as it has a high “clinging” factor. A changing wind is the first sign that the weather is changing but as we are sailing east and the change in weather comes from the West, it will take a little time before it is catching up with us.

Behind us things are already happening and to the north of us as well. There was rain today in Malaga and on the south side of France they had torrential rains, causing severe flooding with several fatal casualties and there is the danger of more to come. For us the wind seems to be reasonable but Ajaccio is forecasting chance of showers and Livorno is looking like rain all day as of this moment. When I think about it, every time I went to Livorno it either rained or it was sizzling hot. So people saw the tower of Pisa in the rain or they wished they could have seen it in the rain as it was so warm.

Although I do not have much of a chance to look outside as I am mostly cooped up in the ships training room, there seems to be more wild life out there. For years the Mediterranean Sea was considered a Sea devoid of much life but now I see lots of porpoises or dolphins and I think I even saw a fin whale yesterday or a whale with a similar dorsal fin and that would mean that the Med is getting cleaner again.

We have West Med. Cruises and we have East Med. Cruises. What is missing are pure Centre Med. Cruises.

A long time ago the area was dry land, when the west side near what is now the Strait of Gibraltar was closed off. When the sea water finally spilled in, it had a large area to fill as the dry land was criss crossed with deep valleys. The average depth of the Med.  is 1500 meters (4900 ft.) but it can go much deeper. In the Ionian Sea near Greece the Calypso Deep is located which measures 5,267 meters (17,280 ft.) I wonder what that would look like if it had still been dry. Quite a deep valley to drive down to with the car. (And then having to go that 170000 ft. back up again)

Take the whole Mediterranean layout into a cruise perspective and we see that cruises follow the contours of the Sea. West Med cruises take place in the ports of the West Basin and East Med cruises take place in the East Basin. I have not yet seen a cruise which just circles the Ionian Sea which is the 3^rd basin in the middle although it is not officially named so.  The Ms Rotterdam is doing the same thing. Until October 16 she remains in the West Basin area and then after the 16^th. she moves south and will eventually end up in Istanbul and beyond.

Tomorrow we are in Ajaccio, the capital of  Corsica. We are scheduled to dock there at 10 am. and then stay there until 6 pm. Weather will be a bit of luck on a string. Pull and it might rain all day, do not pull it and it might be sunny all day.  It all depends how fast this extensive rain system over Western Europe moves and whether it will tip more to the north or not.

With a 23.00 departure and a 06:00 pilot for Malaga, it was a short night for the Deck department. Even with the short length of sailing, the ship did not have to go that fast as Malaga is just around the corner. What made it seem longer was the fact that we had to go around the long way.

Red is what we like to do but then we come across opposing (pink) traffic, so Green is what we have to do to make it a lot safer.

It looks strange if you look at the chart but it makes sense as it avoids ships crossing in front of each others bows, while using short cuts along to coast to save mileage.  Although the lines are clearly drawn in the chart, there will always be naughty boys and thus there is a radar station on the coast which keeps a close eye on everything. You have to call in when you approach the system and then you are being monitored all the way through and you receive information about who is also in the area. It adds some miles to the journey but it is much safer.

The Malaga Cruise Terminal under construction. It is now completed but still very bare. No trees to bring color.

Malaga is an important port for container traffic and a ferry terminal with regular services. It is also an important cruise port and has recently constructed two new cruise terminals with long docks so also the big boys can come in.  Then there are a few other docks which are cruise ship friendly as during the cruise season 4 or 5 ships are no exception and they can easily put 15000 guests ashore.

What do all these people cruise people do? If they stay in Malaga they can visit the Picasso Museum, its cathedral and it also has the best preserved city walls / citadel in Spain. Going out, Granada and Cordoba are very close and many tours are offered to take you there; same for Mijas, also known as the white city, which has a lot of Spanish country life on show. This city you can also do on horseback but our shore Excursion Forms do warn that the horses cannot take more than 100 kg. or 200 pounds. Cruise Guests who enjoy the good life on board too much might have to be disappointed.

Because of its location the Phoenicians were here and in the cellars of the Picasso Museum you can see part of their old city. When the Phoenicians went, the Romans came and when they went the Muslims came and they stayed for several centuries given us such cultural highlights as the Alhambra in Granada. Plenty of things to go ashore for.

We all stayed on board as the deck team was spreading some culture as well by means of Lifesaving Training. On a monthly basis all the crew has to go through at least one training and a drill and to make that feasible we have 25% of the crew attend on a weekly basis. When the whole cycle is completed after some weeks we hold a General Drill and everybody then has to attend at the same time.  To cover all the topics the crew has to know and understand, and to make it a bit more interesting, we try to tell something new each time so that the crew does not get bored with the same story or too much information during each drill.

To experience this I had my team of Trainees on deck. They have all been on board for a year and have thus observed it as a cadet; but now they have become licensed officers they have to start doing it themselves. So today the order was: observe what the more experienced officers are doing because next week it is your turn and I will be watching. Well they paid attention as during the debriefing they had a lot of comments. Observations about good things but also what could have been better. So the challenge is there………… you have seen it, now follow up on your own observations.

The cruise terminal is located right inside the breakwater and when you enter the port the only thing you have to do is put on the brakes and give the mooring lines ashore.  Because of being so close to ‘the exit” the captain decided not to turn around on departure but just go straight astern for half a mile and turn outside the port where there is much more room. Cruise ships can sail astern very well and if you do not go too fast you can steer with the bow thruster and keep the ship perfectly on course.

Tomorrow we have a sea day as we are heading for Ajaccio on Corsica. So we will be crossing the Western part of the Mediterranean Sea. Thus far the weather has been great, little wind, plenty of sunshine and pleasant temperatures. Now it will slowly start to change with more wind coming from the south and South West. That means that we might see some brown haze in the air, sand from Africa. Tomorrow the winds should only marginally increase but the day after it could be more.

Gibraltar is only a short hop away from Huelva and therefore the captain decided on a slightly earlier arrival. If the sailing speed between two ports is very low then you either have to float, go to anchor or run on one engine to maintain the schedule. Anchoring and floating is not much of an option, as wherever you go in this area, you are in somebodies territorial waters or you are in somebodies way. Very slow speed is not good for an engine, it gets dirty and uses more fuel and with our diesel electric setup running on one engine is not so easy for the system. So if you arrive a bit earlier then the average speed goes up and you can find a better engine configuration. And the guests do not mind it either…… more time to spend ashore.

Sailing through the VTSS under Gibraltar. All the yellow dots are ships.

Getting to the place itself is more of an effort, especially when coming from the West. To avoid accidents again the area is regulated by means of Vessel Traffic Lanes. Coming into the Med. You are in the south lane sailing north of the African continent. Gibraltar is in Europe thus at a certain moment you have to cross the north lane, south of the rock (leading traffic out of the Med) and then enter the bay next to the rock. This morning we were quite lucky. Only a few slow tankers around us but a large gap in the west bound traffic and thus the ms Rotterdam could just slip through without having to slow down or take any other avoidance actions.

With Gibraltar we are in the peculiar situation that the Spanish are convinced that the rock belongs to them and there are squabbles over it on a regular basis. Still the cruise business does not notice it very much as we happily sailed from Huelva to Gib and tonight from Gib to Malaga.

Although Gibraltar is not much more than the Rock and a small bit of land around it, it has a very thriving harbor. There are the docks to support the place itself but also dry – dock and repair facilities for ships, there is a lot of bunker activity going on and various cargo ships call for crew change and provisioning. Then there are the regular calls of the large super yachts. That might not seem so important but they generate a lot of income for the port as they always require a prime spot in the harbor and that means prime docking fees. Today we had a blue one and a white one coming in but they were too far away to read the names. But both were very big, more like small cruise ships.

Gibraltar from the air. the cruise ship dock is at the far right, where the white (cruise) ship is docked. (Photo courtesy Gibraltar Port authority)

The main reason for Gibraltar being so popular with the shipping world is its location. Just inside the entrance to the Mediterranean Sea it is the ideal place for stocking up before a crossing or to stock up again after a crossing while going further afield. Then there is a 3^rd reason and that is for ships to use the sheltered anchorage while they wait for orders and take in fuel oil at the same time. All in all it is a busy place and I spoke to one gentleman today, who was staying in his deck chair near the railing –all day- as he found there was more to see through binoculars than there was to see when going ashore. His (British) wife had gone ashore to visit the local supermarket which is operated by a very British chain called Morrisons. Makes for a happy marriage I suppose. I know they will make lots of extra money today as the crew was descending in force upon the shop.  It even got my trainee’s excited and it also made them be in a hurry as they wanted both to go to the supermarket and to the top of Rock. I just warned them about the monkeys. When I was here last time one of our guests with beautiful long blond hair, got a monkey on her back and did not enjoy the experience. Guess what the monkey was doing.

We will sail tonight at 11 pm. and then just go around the corner to Malaga where we are going to be docking at 0700 hrs. Weather is supposed to get a bit more cloudy and windy, but I think for tomorrow and the day after we are still going to be ok.

After an hour forward, as we are back in Spain, the ship arrived in the morning at Huelva. Although we really did not arrive there as the town is about 10 miles from the port. The port is a natural river which is still in the same place as a long time ago, as a narrow strip of land, which separates it from the sea, is heavily sealed in by rocks and now forms a sort of natural breakwater which stretches for miles upriver. That meant when the ship entered the river, which looks quite wide on the surface but is quite shallow under the surface, we only saw sand, sand and more sand. The port is quite busy as it serves the industrial hinterland and thus the docks stretch all the way along the river further inland. What I call the river, is a merger of the river Odiel and the river Tinto which together supply sufficient water to create a large estuary with sufficient depth in the fairway for larger ships.

The Radar/Chart gives the best idea how peculiar this port is located behind a bank and sandbar.

Huelva (pronounced as gHwelav) is located just east of the border with Portugal, same as La Coruna in the North. Therefore it has always been a mystery to me why Portugal has to be on a different time zone than Spain. But they are, hence the hour forward last night.

It is still a long way to go upriver to the town itself but luckily the port laid on a good shuttle service.

Due to its natural river estuary this has been a port for a very, very long time. The romans have been milling around here for a long time and before that the Phoenicians. But the town came only to prominence in the 19^th. Century when the mining started and still continues to this day. As a result Huelva is mainly an industrial town but it has some interesting old stuff as well, including “The English quarter” called the Queen Victoria district, where there is a section of houses that could have looked good in any English Garden City.  Then there is the connection with Columbus who came here to get political support to start his project of finding a new way to India. (He never got there but instead discovered America).

The Cruise Terminal. The crew is busy hooking in the ships long gangway which is normally stored on the Forward Deck.

So for the whole day to day we docked in the middle of the desert where we could smell some burning wood fires which made it slowly into the ship A.C. system and for a while I thought we were all back out there with the boy scouts.  Our guests were shuttled to and from the town but a large number went on excursions to more interesting areas away from the industrial part.

Huelva is not a really logical port to go to. Mainly because of the distance from the port to the city. Although there were the Shuttle Buses but still it was 10 miles or 30 minutes just to get somewhere. So we do we go to places like this? First of all there are forever more and more cruise ships coming and they cannot all go to the same ports; secondly and that is a Holland America reason, our guests keep coming back to us time and time again and they want to see new things. So the fact that a city or place of interest is not directly on the door step is something that is part of the equation. For a quick “walk-in-to-the city” the guests have to wait until tomorrow when we are in Gibraltar. In principle you can walk the whole territory if you do not mind climbing the rock but to get to town is only a short walk. Most of the crew are looking forward to this as there is a large supermarket nearby so they can just run ashore during their break and also do not have to spend money on taxi’s to go somewhere.

The crew has another highlight today or better said this evening: A Crew Party. About every two months, we throw a party for the whole crew. Lots of food (all Indonesians are looking forward to eating steak) and then a disco. We normally hold those parties in the Oasis which is the open area above Club HAL, the children’s’ area. We currently have only a few children on board who will be in bed by the time the party starts. There are no guest cabins nearby so the crew can make as much noise as they want. My whole group of Trainee’s will be on the first row no doubt, and I have given them a late start tomorrow as this cruise is more or less their final hurrah before the real & serious life of a deck officer begins.

Tonight at 9 pm. we will swing the ship around on the river and sail back to open sea again. Then it is only a short hop to Gibraltar. Basically we just have to pass by Cadiz and then line up to pass through the Pillars of Hercules, turn to the north keeping the Rock to the East and dock around 10 am.

Weather for tomorrow:  same as today. Partly Cloudy 26oC / 78oF and no rain in sight, which is a bit disappointing for us, as you expect better when visiting Great Britain.

And thus the good ship Rotterdam sailed south towards Lisbon. It takes a bit of time to get to Lisbon itself as you have to sail up the river Tagus for about 90 minutes before you even get to the city proper. The Tagus has a very wide estuary which is very shallow with only the central part being deep enough for ships navigation. But as it is so wide and nothing else can happen to you but running aground in the soft mud, there is not pilotage until you come to Belem Tower.

Belem Tower. The pilot station is just next to it.

So the Rotterdam sailed up river conned by the ships navigation team itself. There is some help in the form of a very strong Leading light system consisting of two red lights above each other (if you are on course) and that makes it somewhat easier to stay in the middle of the channel. Local fishing boats and sometimes the Portuguese navy make it more difficult again but as it was still dark at 05.30 in the morning, both groups were not very active yet.

By sailing up the river with about 12 knots and a strong current against us, we reached Belem Tower by 7 am. to pick up the pilot. Belem tower has been since times immemorial the pilot station and it still is. From the pilot station we passed under the singing bridge and docked at the new passenger terminal which was built recently and is still being improved upon and extended. As we were sailing against the tide, the ship docked portside alongside, keeping the nose in the current. It is much easier keeping the nose in the current and the ship in position (little kick ahead on one propeller) than to try to do that by having to give astern speed to keep the ship still while the ropes go ashore.

The new cruise dock with three large berths. We were at terminal 3.

By 8 am., the gangway was in and everybody could stream ashore for a full day of excitement. The weather was really nice today, sunny but with a cool chill in the air caused by a gentle breeze coming from the sea side. Warm in the sun, cool in the shadow. Nobody should have been able to complain about today.  Even for those who stayed onboard Lisbon is a nice port as it is built against a mountain ridge and there is plenty to look at. Look at the multi colored houses and apartments or look over the river as it is quite busy as all sorts of ships come by.

Eventually the barren concrete surface is supposed to look like this.

One of those ships was a little cruise ship which I had not seen in a long long time: The Ocean Diamond, better known from the past as the Song of Flower. In the 80’s we saw it very often in the Eastern Caribbean. As it was a converted cargo ship she had and has a very distinctive profile of two stylized funnels side by side near the stern; and hanging over the stern the ships tender which was then called  “Baby Flower”. Since then I have heard about her on occasion but as she sailed in different area’s than most of the HAL ships, I did not see her any more,  so it was interesting to see that she is still going strong after 41 years, having been built in 1974 and converted into a small cruise ship in 1986.

The old Song of Flower now the Ocean Diamond and pictured here as Le Diamant. She now sports a blue hull. Note the cruise tender at the stern.

Lisbon is a city where you can easily get lost in for a few days and on some cruises our ships stay overnight here, but not this time. We sailed a 5 pm. under clear blue skies, back down the river to open sea.  We have quite a distance to go to the next port, and as we are returning to Spain we will go an hour forward tonight. Bringing us back on European Time. Tomorrow we will be in Huelva and that is going to be quite interesting as it is a new port for me.

The weather is expected to be the same as today, sunny but with a gentle breeze from the south west.