The Island of Bermuda. It almost looks as it consists out of two volcanos that blew up and left craters full of water.

Bermuda has the form of a sort of a figure 8 shape, caused by two large areas of water, surrounded by land. In the south there is the Great Sound, to the north Castle Harbor and then in the middle a small lake called Harrington Sound. The main settlements on these pieces of land are all built in the lee of a little bit of elevated land. St. Georges to the North and Hamilton to the south. Kings wharf and Elizabeth wharf face the Great Sound and are the most exposed. There is a good reason for the docks to be located here; as Navy –battle-ships normally have a considerable draft and it made the area around Hamilton, the capital, not suitable for those ships, hence the navy port was built in a deep water area.  As explained in previous blog, the local authorities have now banned any ship over 740 feet in length from going to downtown and thus most cruise ships now dock at this old navy yard. From there taxis, a local ferry and shuttle buses will take everybody to downtown or anywhere else people want to go.

The old Statendam IV docked in Hamilton Front Street. (Photo Courtesy Cees Schuller)

Although the North west side of the island looks as if it is just sea, it is not as there is a large reef extending far into the deep sea area. That means that every ship visiting Bermuda has to enter through the East Side pilot station and then go for a long distance through the reefs, either to Kings Wharf or to Hamilton. When the British Royal Navy was still there, ships with too much draft, such as our ss Rotterdam V, had to anchor in the Great Sound and then use local tenders to bring the guests ashore. Smaller ships such as the Statendam IV, and the Veendam  could proceed to the docks at Hamilton.

Only the chart can reveal how nasty this area is with reefs and only a small deep channel.

Thus we picked up the pilot at 06.00 hrs. sailed the long route through Bermuda and were then docked a few minutes after 8 AM. as the captain had wisely decided to swing on arrival in case there would be a lot of wind picking up later in the day.  The strong winds are officially forecasted for tomorrow but with a flat island such as Bermuda you can never tell how fast an approaching weather front will travel if there is no geographical hindrance at all. So we were all set in case this would happen but although the wind breezed up, it did not go above a wind force 5 (19 – 20 knots) and the sun was brightly shining. Providing the guests with a beautiful day in a port where a lot of customs and tradition out of the days of the British are still in place. Bermuda is part of the British Commonwealth and the British Queen is the head of state and is represented by a governor. But that is more a ceremonial function as the island has its own government.

I did not see much of the island as I had a full day going with drills and assessments. This location is an excellent place to lower lifeboats and the ship combines all drills in one big scenario so the crew only has to show up once. Starting with a fire drill, followed by an assembly drill followed by the general emergency drill. In the same way as the guests are trained and advised when they join the ship. So I put the Bo ‘sun store on fire with a (fake) sailor inside who had slipped over a drum with chemicals and was thus out of action. Fighting a fire is a standard routine and does not cause our crew much of a challenge. What we are training on are the details and that invariably means communication. Because I operate outside the ships teams, they never know what I will cook up for them and what will be sprung upon them and then a good drill only works if the communication perfect. And that is not easy as the Bo ‘sun store is a dead zone. Not transmission signals get in or out due to the strong steel bulkhead separating this potentially dangerous area from the rest of the ship.

With the “chemical sailor” the challenge is for the rescue team, those who get the sailor out of the fire area, to deliver a comprehensive report to the medical department so they can treat accordingly. In the heat of the battle that is not always so simple.

The weather chart for the coming 24 hrs. In orange B = Bermuda , P = Ponta Delgada then the course goes up to Brest, France. To the north of us all sorts of things are happening, but on our course line it is quiet. At least for the time being.

Tomorrow and the 3 days after that we will be at sea; sailing eastwards towards Ponta Delgada on the Azores. We are expecting numerous weather fronts to come over but as we are on a southerly crossing it remains to be seen how much those weather fronts might affect us. For the first day it looks that we will be nicely in between.

Today we have our 2^nd day at sea as tomorrow we will arrive in Bermuda. And a beautiful day it was, a perfect sea day. The sun was shining all day and a low North Atlantic swell was running but it was so low that it hardly affected the ship.  A perfect day and thus a perfect birthday. As today our Holland America Line is 145 years young. What started out as an emigrant carrier back in 1873 (although our roots go back to 1871) has grown into one of the foremost cruise ship company’s in the world. And from all those old company’s which were founded in the later part of the 19^th. century only three of the bigger ones have survived.

The ss Rotterdam I. The first ship of the company entered service in 1871. With her 1500 tons she would have fitted 40 times in the current Rotterdam VI

And they have all ended up under the same Carnival umbrella.  The other two Companies, Cunard and P&O were never really our competitors and thus we can be very friendly with them. P&O was mainly focused on the Far East and even in their cruising days they did not really get involved in our focus market. Same for Cunard, their home base was mainly in England and East coast of the USA. While Holland America’s heartland is in middle North America.  (Although we also have a lot of guests from everywhere else)

The ss Rotterdam II. This ship made the first cruise for Holland America in 1895 to the opening of the Kieler Kanal in Germany.

145 years is an important milestone but not as impressive as 125 years was and 150 years will be. Thus the company is keeping the celebrations on the ships low key but active planning is already going on for the 150 years, in 2023. But 145 years is something special as well, as the big boys such as Carnival and Royal Caribbean were founded around the time that Holland America was celebrating its 100 birthday.

The ss Rotterdam III. This ship did not sail very long for Holland America as she was sold and made way for a newer Rotterdam.

What fascinates a lot of our guests the most is our naming policy and the recycling of names. They love it and at the time they can be confused by it. Sometimes because they do not realize that we handed over the name to the next ship, sometimes because they come back on the same ship and do not realize that the company keeps updating the interiors and that can make it look like a different ship. I came across guests who had made the Eastbound crossing of the Westerdam last year and then came back this year and when they walked on board they thought they were on a different ship as the whole atrium had completely changed.  (The staircase was gone and replaced by the Rijksmuseum Enrichment center) But they were glad that their favorite cabin was still in the same location.

The ss Rotterdam IV. Here seen painted white during cruising in the 1930’s. She sailed for us from 1908 to 1939.

Today I gave my Holland America lecture……………. Something I could not resist……………… a HAL history lecture on the birthday of the company onboard the Flagship of the company………… and I had something similar. At the end a lady came over who had sailed in the 60’s on board the Nieuw Amsterdam and could not work out which Nieuw Amsterdam it was as several editions had appeared on the screen. (We had a N.A in 1906, one in 1938, one in 1983 and our latest one in 2010) She never realized when she was on board as a small child that she was sailing on a ship that had been built before the 2^nd world war, had been a troopship during that war, and then went back to being a luxury liner for the North Atlantic service. Now she saw the photos on the screen but still needed confirmation that THAT was her ship.

The ss Rotterdam V. She was called the Grand Dame of the Seas as she survived all her contemporaries, well into the modern cruise age.

But the repeating names do dictate the history, even my own career. I joined Holland America in 1981 as 4^th. officer on the Statendam IV. I was captain on the Statendam V and I will probably retire as Fleet Support Master sometime after the (Nieuw) Statendam VI has come into service. Three Statendam’s in one 40 year career. There are not many other companies out there who can create history in such a way.

The ms Rotterdam VI. She joined our company the day after the Rotterdam V retired on 30 September 1997.

Tomorrow we are in Bermuda and we are going to Kings Wharf; the old navy dockyard which has been completely re-developed through the years. If nothing has changed we will be in port together with the Royal Princess, docked somewhere next to us.

Weather: Sunny with temperatures at noon around 73oF / 23 oC with a light to moderate breeze blowing through the port.

Note: All the paintings shown here were painted by Captain Stephen Card who after sailing as a Deep Sea captain turned his hobby and talent into a full time occupation. His ships paintings can be found on all the Holland America Line ships. All of the above are hanging in the forward guests staircase of the ms Rotterdam VI.

Happy Birthday Holland America Line.

The cold front came over during the night and caused the seas in the Strait of Florida to go really choppy and with the ship taking the occasional hit on the bow causing that banging sound which is not pitching but when an augmented wave hits the hull under the wrong angle. Because the passing of this cold front was exactly on schedule, e.g. the weather followed the weather forecast, the captain made the decision to give the guests a quiet remainder of the night and a quiet morning by deviating slightly from our intended track. So the good ship ms Rotterdam turned to starboard and sailed into North West Providence Channel. That way we kept the choppy seas away from us by using Grand Bahama Island as a buffer. It adds a few miles to the journey but those are the miles we have already gained by the extra push of the Gulf stream since we left Key West. The Gulf Stream peaked this time at nearly three knots where we were sailing and so in one night we gained almost a free hour of sailing time. Had the weather been good than we would have followed the Gulf Stream all the way up to Bermuda. Now we will pick it up later again but in the open North Atlantic Ocean when it is not so strong.

Black was the original plan, green was today’s deviation.

The guests had as a result a wonderful, calm and sunny morning and did not even notice the passing of this Cold front as it came over us at 08.00 hrs. As the rain was not coming down where we were nobody really saw it and the sun remained shining. By noon time we cleared the island and then we finally felt the motion of the ocean a little bit. But as the cold front is now well to the east of us, the changing wind should smoothen down the waves to about 6 to 8 feet and that will guarantee a quiet transit with maybe just a gentle movement of the ship. I have no problems with that, the guests on this cruise want sea days and thus they should feel a little bit of swell, telling them that they are at sea. It comes free of charge anyway.

Returning to Bermuda is something for me as if going down memory lane. Holland America has cruised to Bermuda since the 1920’s but it really became a summer season destination in the 1970’s when both the ss Rotterdam and the ss Statendam where visiting all the time. Then we moved the Veendam and Volendam in, both sailing from New York. The Veendam went straight to Hamilton and lay as a hotel for 3 days in Front Street and the Volendam split her 3 day period in Bermuda by first going to St Georges and then joining her sister in Hamilton.  I did a season on that ship. Those cruises were not great money spinners but did bring in steady earnings. For the crew it was pure heaven as we sailed for 1.5 days between New York and the Island and later back again, and then where basically a hotel for 3 days. Almost always good weather so maintenance work was easy to accomplished and as the watches were reduced to one officer there was plenty of time to go to the beach, to go sightseeing or to party.

The Veendam and Volendam seen here on a rare occasion together in New York. Originally built as the Brasil and Argentina for the American company MooreMcCormack, they came to Holland America after 1971.

When we built the N-ships from 1983, they were especially designed to fit alongside the Front Street terminal with their length and water, oil and sewage connections but with Alaska getting very big, Holland America could do much better business there and so we left. In the last few years we have returned, with the Veendam making summer cruises here, although not a full summer.

This time we are not going to downtown Hamilton but to the new cruise terminal area of King’s Wharf, the old navy port. For the larger cruise ships it was already much harder to get to the downtown cruise dock in the 80’s and if they could then it resulted often in the overcrowding of the main street. Thus now the guests have to travel around the island to get to Hamilton but the largest ships can now visit. The government now let only ships with a maximum length of 720 feet still go to downtown Hamilton, which automatically means only smaller ships. So our Prinsendam would qualify but our S- Class would already be over the limit.

But we are not there yet. Tomorrow is another sea day and it is a special day as it April the 18^th. And that is the Birthday of Holland America Line. On 18^th of April 1873, a small private company went public and the Holland America Line was born. Together with P&O and Cunard we are the oldest still surviving Ocean Liner company in the world. More about that tomorrow.

The weather front that passed over us today, this is midnight English time or 21.00 hrs. ships time and already far away from us. (Diagram courtesy Myfutureradar.com

Weather for tomorrow, it looks good. Sunshine, steady winds and low swells. If the weather forecast is correct then the next weather front is coming through on the 20^th. and then we are well away from Bermuda.

This is one of those pedal to the metal runs for every ship going from Tampa to Key West and who wants to arrive mid-morning. Due to the 3 hour transit time through Tampa Bay, it takes much longer to get from Tampa to Key West then from Ft. Lauderdale where departure takes only 30 minutes. (Plus Tampa is higher up the Florida coast as well, which also adds more miles). So if a ship has an early departure say 17.00 hrs. and manages to pull out by 16.30, then you can make Key West Pilot Station around 08.30 – 08.45. Now the Rotterdam left shortly after 18.00 hrs. and that means you are looking at a pilot station time of 11.00 hrs. at the earliest. In the old days we could do a short cut through the Dry Tortugas but that is now a National Park and thus we have to sail around it. Hence this morning the ms Rotterdam was at the pilot station just before 11.00 and docked well before noon.

Basically we were the hour late, that we lost waiting in Tampa. Unfortunately for our Royal Caribbean friends, they had to follow us out in Tampa Bay and arrived even later than we did. But they had the better dock, being on the B pier, and we had to content ourselves with the Navy dock. And that meant that we had to use the little shuttle trains again around the dock all the way to the port entrance. This was a new one for me; Grave yard and Ghosts tours in Key West. Never seen that one before.

USNS Spearhead bow view.

I had already seen the ship being docked there last cruise but now we were next to it. The navy ship Spearhead was docked on the inside of the Navy pier. For a navy vessel it is of a very unusual design, being a sort of Catamaran with water jet propulsion pushing out water with 12000 hp. Rumor has it that the navy was inspired by the Stena Line Fast Ferry’s who were sailing between Hook of Holland and Harwich and they could carry a lot of guests, cars and lorry’s between the ports in a very short time. And if boys see toys……………..  So a navy version was designed and they called it an Expeditionary Fast Transport ship. Because it has no fighting capabilities by itself it is commanded by civilian officers under the Military Sealift Command structure and has a crew between 22 and 41. The thought behind it is to have very a very fast transport capability if needed.  And fast it is, having a maximum speed of 43 knots. It can carry all sorts of things as the inside is basically a box (modular design they call that) and so they can just stick inside whatever is needed. Even humans as it can carry 312 troops and they can be landed very fast by means of Inflatable speed boats. Accordingly Wikipedia, there are more of them but this is the first one of the class and it has already been everywhere. Key West is a sort of home port for them when they are not on missions and thus we saw them today in port.

And another view from the side. As it is basically made out of aluminum, they decided not the paint the hull but to keep it as built.

Although we did not have much of an issue in the end with the weather in Tampa, except sailing late, we are still not off the hook. We just managed to get into Key West with a beautiful sun shining but with a lot of wind blowing. That wind is supposed to increase, so the captain is trying to get out as quickly as possible, as sitting between the Key West reefs with a lot of wind is not the best place to be. Tonight and tomorrow we will follow the Coast of Florida taking maximum advantage of the Gulf Stream and eventually we will enter into the North Atlantic Ocean. This we will certainly feel as the Ocean Swell will meet the ship as soon as we clear the Bahama Banks. We have about 900 miles to cover and will do that by maintaining an average speed of 19 knots.  Once clear of the Bahamas it will be one straight North Easterly course running straight towards Hamilton Bermuda.

For those on board who are scared about the Bermuda Triangle; courtesy of Holland America we will sail just outside it. At least we are sailing just outside the area which the experts say where the triangle is located. I do not believe anything about this triangle business, as thus far never a passenger ship has disappeared and cruise ships sail through it all the time. Maybe too many witnesses???

Our course line is just skirting the North West boundary, the line that most “experts” seem to agree upon where the triangle stops.

The weather for tomorrow: we have this cold front coming through and the wind should move from North West to the East and thus it is hard to say what the effect on the ship will be. I am expecting rain, tonight and tomorrow, but how much is anybody’s guess.

The weather remained good during the night and the ms Rotterdam was nicely able to follow the Rhapsody of the Seas to the dock and both ships were parked on time to start discharging luggage followed by disembarking about 90% of the guests. The remainder were the CVG or Collector Voyagers Guests who are staying board for this coming cruise and a few even beyond. These guests also have to go through Immigration inspection but that is arranged by marching the whole group ashore when the last guests have left. Once they have been seen by CBP, and the so-called zero count has been achieved, the whole group is marched back on board again. These are of course those who decided not to go ashore and explore Tampa and surroundings. As we were all warned to expect very inclement weather, most did stay on board. I normally tag on with this group as I am neither guest nor crew but something ephemeral called a non –revenue passenger. Basically somebody who CBP cannot classify in any other way. I am normally joined by the Port Shopping Ambassador who is sailing as an outside representative, although working for Holland America, but not as a crew based entity, so today we waved our passports together at CBP. And the gentleman was much more interested in her as she is much prettier than I am or ever was.

While the CVG guests stayed on board I went ashore and tried to be back before the arrival of the rain, while trying to buy a large TV for the Bo ‘sun store. With a smaller ship we always lack venues to conduct training and although the Bo ‘sun store is not the most posh of surroundings it is a larger space and to my utter amazement the ms Rotterdam did not have a TV in the Bo ‘sun store. The Bo ‘sun really felt left out. We have funds for these sorts of things but the challenge with larger organizations is always to find the right piggy bank to get it out of. And here I can help the ship and I do have time in a change-over port to go shopping. Tomorrow the Deck Machinist will weld supports and then we have a 55 inch TV in place for training of the sailors and others begging for a space.

Our Transatlantic Cruise.

Today we started our transatlantic crossing which eventually will bring us to Rotterdam on April 30^th. First we go the Key West and then we head in the direction of Bermuda followed by the crossing.  We started our journey an hour later than planned due to the inclement weather. The Harbor Master of Tampa kept the cruise ships wisely at the berth until the wind had really died down so it was safe to go through Sparkman Channel and then into Tampa Bay. As explained yesterday, Sparkman is very narrow and you have to go through with slow speed to avoid wash and damage to the fuel barges docked at the side. The slower you go, the more you drift, and here there is no room to drift.

This is what scares sailors. A sharp edge in a cloud line as it indicates a sharp border between little wind and a lot of wind. Today the edge was not as sharply defined as it can be and the clouds not so dark, hence the passing weather front was not as severe as originally predicted.

So what the Captain and his team do today. First figure out when the frontal passage with the expected rain, wind and thunderstorms, were coming through. That turned out to be between 13.45 hrs. and 14.30 hrs. After that time the wind would slowly die down again and only the rain remain. On arrival extra mooring lines were given out and at 13.30, the bow and stern thrusters came on line. Then the tugboat arrived which had been ordered to push against the side of the ship if needed to keep the gangway (on the other side of the ship) in place as we had embarkation going on. The Radar was set on 24 miles to see the nasty rains approaching. (We cannot see clouds on the radar but we can see rain). 60+ knots of wind gusts were predicted but luckily some of it was dispersed before it reached the ship and the wind meter peaked at 42 knots. Still not nice but better than Hurricane Force. By 15.30 the wind had peaked and then the rain started.

The tugboat arriving before the wind picked up. Only this is not called a tugboat but a Docking Module as it can go with the same speed in any direction, instead of what a normal tugboat does, pull in one direction.

So we went to plan B, conducting the Guest Boat drill inside the ship. The portside boats were directed to the Show lounge and the Starboard boats to the Dining room. When we do this, we always have some confusion as on the first day most guests have not yet figured out what port and starboard is, or odd and even, let alone where the bow and the stern is. So for about 15 minutes I was a very popular person helping the Stairway Guides by directing guests in Dutch, French, English and German to the correct mustering location. The Stairway Guide I was with came from South Africa, spoke good English but as 2^nd languages, Swahili and Sud-Afrikaans and those two languages are not so much in demand on a Holland America Line Ship.

Lifeboat drill inside the ship. Normally this is only done on large ships where the deck space is too small for all the guests to stand, such as on our Koningsdam. The Rotterdam musters under the lifeboats except when it rains, and it DID rain today in Tampa.

The Harbor Master gave permission to sail at 18.00 hrs. and the good ship Rotterdam pulled out of Tampa for the last time this season just after 18.00 hrs. Tomorrow we will be in Key West. The weather should be nice sunny with 24oC / 76oF but breezy after lunch time.

Overview Tampa Bay.

After leaving Costa Maya we set a rather straight course for Tampa Sea buoy. Rather straight because it is an almost straight line. We can sail straight from the Caribbean into the Western edge of the Straits of Florida and then into the Gulf of Mexico. Arriving in the early morning hours at the sea buoy and then sail towards the pilot station.  What time that exactly will be is a little bit up in the air, as we have to follow the Rhapsody of the Seas. She was with us in Costa Maya, has been sailing next to us all day, but will be docking behind us in Tampa and thus has to go to the berth first. Once she is in, the Rotterdam will dock in the terminal in front of her and there is no space to go around the Rotterdam once she is docked. The channels in inner Tampa Bay are not very wide.

Although we have been on only a 7 day cruise, we have been quite busy with time changes. As the USA went to summer time and most of Middle America does not, we had to adjust the clocks twice back, and twice forward. The USA – Florida is now on GMT – 4 hours and Roatan and Santo Tomas are on GMT – 6 hrs. so the clocks went back twice between Key West and Roatan. Nobody complained about that one and everybody stayed out later in the ship, making the Bar Manager a happy man and everybody still gets a good night sleep.  But then we have to go the other way. East Mexico, which includes Costa Maya is on GMT – 5 hrs. and thus we go an hour forward. Not nice and the guests still have to get up early to go ashore. Then from Costa Maya to Tampa we have to get back on Florida time and thus we go another hour forward.  Today is a sea day and guests did not feel the need to get up and that gave an extremely quiet Lido this morning at 06.30 hrs. when I go for breakfast. On sea day’s breakfast starts at 07.00 hrs. but as most experienced cruisers know, continental breakfast is already available much earlier. I try to stay away from a full breakfast and its related temptations as the middle age weight battle has become a daily focus.

The Tampa Seabuoy is far out to open sea and marks the channel entrance, that gives the ships safe passage through the Tampa Bay shallows.

Our route takes us all the way to the top of Tampa Bay. But of course as we are humans (see my blog about names of part of the Caribbean Sea some time ago) we have to make things difficult by giving different names to the same bit of water. If you want to be docked at 07.00 hrs. for work, you aim from 06.00 hrs. alongside. The transit is anywhere between 3 or 4 hrs. and thus you have to be at the pilot station between 02.00 and 02.30. Thus most ships aim for the sea buoy for 02.00 hrs. and if there are more ships they normally follow each other two miles apart. The pilots board about halfway up the outer channel at buoys 9 and 10. Then with speeds of anything between 6 and 12 knots the ship follows the winding channels through shallow and muddy Tampa Bay.

The narrow entrance to the cruise terminal called Sparkman Channel. To the right is a larger area and in the 80’s we had the cruise terminal there, appropriately called “Holland Terminal”. But for political/development reasons the cruise ships moved to down town and the area to the right is now cargo ship only.

First the Lower Tampa Bay, which starts after the Sunshine Skyway Bridge and there we are normally 45 minutes after the pilot is on board. Then we reach middle Tampa Bay. This is where the Channel splits at the T junction. The West channel goes to St. Petersburg and the East channel goes to Tampa. Then about 90 minutes before docking we enter Hillsborough Bay, the upper right side of the Bay. The upper left side is called Old Tampa Bay. Here we pass the famous buoy Hillsborough 9, which holds the distinction of being the most hit buoy of Tampa Bay, by ships coming by. Mostly with windy weather as the channel makes a tight turn here. From this moment the ships speed has to come down to 10 knots and later to 8 knots to avoid erosion on the banks to the east. Then 1 hr before docking we enter Sparkman channel, which is really too narrow for the cruise ships but they cannot dredge very much as there are houses on one side and oil tanks and related at the other side. 30 minutes before docking we are then in the turning basin opposite the Aquarium and then the ship backs up to the cruise terminal assigned. 10 minutes past docking the captain is back in bed after having kept for a 4 hrs. period a close eye on the approach sailing in, pilots activities and the docking the ship.

Weather: Dry with a moderate breeze on arrival. Strong winds with rain and thunder storms around noon time and early afternoon. It is supposed to get calm wind again just before departure. We might just be lucky and we need it to get to Key West on time.

Costa Maya is a port where we never know if it will work out or not. And that has to do with the fact that the pier is just built into the open sea with no protection whatsoever. And thus it gets damaged at regular intervals. To reduce damage and the wear and tear, it is an open pier and that means that the waves can roll freely under the pier and onward to the beach. It reduces damages as the pier does not have to absorb the energy of the waves when it hits the concrete. For us it is less pleasant as the ship, while alongside, can still roll on those waves coming in under the pier. And we never exactly now what we will find until we get there.  The local pilot is a larger than life optimist and even has nice weather when the waves are rolling over the dock and thus we wait until we are there to have a good look.

The good old days. The way it looked when opened in 2004. Not much has changed apart from the fact that the piers have been extended.  We were docked today where the ship with the X in the funnel is docked.

There are three berths and sometimes there are three ships in port but today only 2 were scheduled as the 3^rd berth is under repair. It sustained damage during one of the hurricanes last year and is also being strengthened with extra pillars at the end where it takes most of the force of the sea. I tried to find out what they were doing exactly (not much today as the swell was not good for much work) and I was proudly advised by the local security that they were making the pier so “bigga” that it would never be damaged again.  Well if they manage to do that then they can sell and export that construction to a lot of places in the world.

Rebuilding berth 3 which sticks out the furthest into the sea. Work is a slow process as the swells do not always allow for work to take place. Today was an average day with low swells.

Today things were nicely in our favor, there was wind but the in rolling swell was low and we had nice protection by means of a RCI ship which was on the east berth. For docking that is the easier berth as you simply stop near the pier and let the wind push you alongside while controlling that movement with the ships power. Going on the west side is more complicated as the dredged width of the underwater area is only about 2x the width of the ship and thus we have not more than 40 meter room to play with. The advantage is that you have a ship next to you which act as a breakwater for wind and waves. We do not like competition when we are in port but sometimes other ships do have their uses. So today we were quite content to have a bit more of a challenge to get in, but once there, it was nice and quiet.

This yacht was carried a considerable distance inland during last years hurricane season. We have a saying in the Dutch language: A ship on the beach is a beacon for those at sea.

Costa Maya is an artificial port, hence the location of this T pier which is just sticking out of the coast. As mentioned yesterday the prime focus is going on tour or enjoying the resort. Option for those who do not mind to walk a few miles, there is a small fishing town just to the south of the resort. The resort is dominated by a fake Mayan Pyramid and surrounded by everything the Tourist might like. Also here there are still repairs in progress. There is also an amphitheater where at regular times, a sort of Mayan show is given to offer the resort guests a bit of culture.  I find those shows always fascinating and also always wonder how that they know that all those dances and rituals are authentic. The Mayan culture did not have the written word, nor photo camera’s and the stone inscriptions reveal a lot but not every detail of dress or cultural routines.  But that does not mean it is not enjoyable and at least it gives mom and pop from another country some sort of insight into the cultures of Middle America.

The ship is now returning to Tampa and tomorrow we will be at sea. The captain is a little bit concerned about the weather as there is a cold front with thunder storms expected on Sunday around noon time. His concern is “around noon time”. So a close look will have to be kept on its progress. I think that we will be ok, as we normally dock around 06.00 hrs. and the weather gurus are normally not six hours off schedule when we have less than 48 hrs. to go. Still stranger things have happened and thus we are vigilant.

This what s expected over Florida by Sunday lunchtime. Rain with wind.  On early Sunday morning the cold front is still laying between New Orleans and Jacksonville and if it does not speed up, we should be happily docked before the wind reaches Tampa. (Thank you Weather Channel)

That means that tomorrow we still have a nice day at sea, at bit cooler because of the sea breeze, but it should be dry and sunny.

The nice thing about this port is that it is very well sheltered from the open sea; the not so nice thing is that you have to travel a long distance through shallow water to get there. Santo Tomas is located in a sort of inlet or bay that is almost closed off at all sides by land. Most of it is the mainland but at the entrance side there is a peninsula and some islands. Because the inlet is very shallow a long and straight canal has been dug to the port. Once you come outside the buoys you are immediately aground. This morning when we came in, we saw a container ship that had just done that. It has been there for a while and might be there for a while longer until they have figured out how to pull it off the mud flats. I do not know what caused it to go aground but most of the time it is a steering gear failure. A cargo ship seldom has the option B that we have of keeping the ship under control with the thrusters. With a cargo ship it either works or you go aground and there is not much you can do about it.

Our Approach. White color is water with depths from 10 to 20 meter. Blue color is less then 10 meters and we need 9 meters at the minimum. We have 8 meters draft and then we need about a meter more to be able to sail through the channel.

To be on time for 07.00 hrs. docking we had to be at the pilot station at 06.00 hrs. and then sail through the channel for 30 minutes and then swing to port to dock starboard side alongside. It does not make much difference here which side you go alongside. I personally prefer portside, so the noise is aimed at the shallows but some captains prefer the nose (& bridge) towards the rest of the port so you can see all the traffic coming and going and any mayhem that might ensue. If there is only one cruise ship then it is always docked in the west corner, to shorten the distance for the guests to the gate, the water taxis and the souvenir shops. When there are two cruise ships then one cargo ship has to go to anchor to make room. Today we did not have to make any cargo ship captain unhappy as we were the only one.

………..You will park exactly at the flag and nowhere else………, otherwise the harbormaster will be upset. This photo was taken this morning on arrival when I was observing / reviewing the docking routines of the sailors and officer at the aft mooring station.

Guatemala and Costa Rica had a large influx of German immigrants around 1900 and that is still very visible in the way the ports here operate. Everything is organized and everybody in the port sticks to the rules. While in other Middle and South American ports there is sometimes a certain amount of “creativity” present as far as adhering to times, safe working practices, planning and efficiency. Here everything is (pre) organized, everybody is on standby and it all rolls as we expect it to be when dealing with a cruise ship on a tight schedule. But at the same time the locals do not give the impression that they are really stressed by it. Maybe they should start a training school, I know quite a few port authorities who would benefit from it.

Something to report from yesterday. The Holland America ships try to do charity work in the various ports of call. For those of you who have been reading my blog for a longer period might recall that the ms Veendam was always quite active in this port and the ms Statendam in Corinto, Nicaragua. Well the ms Rotterdam was active yesterday in Mahogany Bay. When you build a new port, you alter the water flow in the natural bay that forms the basis of the new port. The water flow can then produce silting, sediment and more land but also coastal erosion. A very effective way to stop coastal erosion is the planting of Mangrove trees. The only challenge here is that you get wet.  But that did not stop our crew yesterday and under the leadership of our environmental officer Juliana Coffey, there was a lot of splashing going on just around the corner of the ship.  A new line of mangrove trees was planted and their roots will help to anchor the soil against the banks for Mahogany Bay and protect the land but also create a new habitat for several sorts of birds and water animals.

A compilation of photos taken during the Mangrove Planting yesterday in Mahogany Bay. (Photo courtesy: Ships environmental Officer Juliana Coffey = the lady top right with the fancy sunglasses)

Apart from that we also try to recycle as much as we can and in the past few weeks we have offloaded in various ports 550 extinguishers as the time came that they had to be replaced. All our extinguishers are kept in perfect condition but the law says that after 20 years you have to replace them. Basically we are replacing brand new extinguishers that have just been hanging there for 20 years, with new ones, which will (hopefully) also just hang there for a very long time to come. 550 extinguishers are expensive and for local schools, hospitals and other organizations, this is a great help.

Another batch of Extinguishers going off in one of the ports. (Photo Courtesy: Rotterdam Environmental Officer Peter Tukker)

Tomorrow we will be in Costa Maya, Mexico. This is also a specially built cruise port and here the guests have either the option to go into the resort to enjoy a beach day, to the little fishing village of Mahahual, or go on an excursion to the various historical Mayan Sites in the area. According to the schedule we should be together with one of the “Apartment of the Seas” so we will see who will show up.

Weather: More of the same. Partly Cloudy going to full Sunshine later and very warm temperatures.

During the night the wind did not die down but whipped the waves up to a short and nasty chop on top of the longer swell that is always there due to the forever blowing Trade Winds. This 2^nd swell was sort of from the same direction but on a slightly different angle and that meant that it mostly increased the wave height but sometimes leveled the other wave height out.  (Filled the hole so to speak) The effect on the ship is that on occasion you hear a bang, when the bow hits an unusual pattern in the combined wave/swell, and sometimes the ship only moves a little bit. Because it is not consistent it is not so easy to get used to.  The Front Desk has decreed that I should have a guest cabin all the way in the bow this time and so I had the nightly enjoyment of the occasional bang, the occasional wobble, or the occasional bow movement that just did not turn into a pitching motion. Better me than a paying guest of course and so I did my good deed for yesterday and only had to stay in bed during the night to achieve it.

Over view of Roatan. The Resort is located on the top of the hill, with a cable car running to the beach. This is a overview from when the port had just been opened. There is a lot more vegetation now between the dock and the resort.

The ship was on time, the pilot was on time, and we could sail into the bay without any hindrance. Although the wind was a hindrance. The wind blows here on a 90o angle across the entrance channel and that means that we can drift considerably while going in… and the channel is not that wide. We always want to dock nose out, to be able to race out of the port in case we get really inclement weather and that makes the docking maneuver: going in sternway with the wind full on the beam not as easy as it sounds. Once you are halfway in the approach channel, the mountain ridge will catch the wind and all is well. You just have to get there first.

The layout of the port with the approach maneuver. Swing outside. Go in sternway while staying the middle of the channel with the buoys indication the 10 meter boundaries. As you can see in the beginning, when we have the wind, the ship has about one ships width on either side before it comes close to the buoys. That is only a 100 feet or so on either side.

Because of this situation, the port normally sends two pilots, one for each bridge wing. Not to maneuver the ship as they know that all Captains know this port very well (It is one of the standard training sessions on the companies simulator) but to warn the captain in case the ship drifts too far one way or the other. As this is an artificial port, the depth is also artificial and sometimes sand accumulates at locations in the channel that only the pilot knows. Hence an alert eye is dispatched by the local port authority.

The problem here is also that there are not many options to choose from in case you drift too much. They entrance channel is narrow and the banks on either side quite steep. So if you are being blown off track then you will touch ground. And that ground is coral with sand on the top. Thus if you drift against the bank you will not sustain much damage as the sand will be take the impact of the contact. But if you would drift over fast or make the turn the wrong way and hit the bank with speed then the hard coral can result in a nice crunching sound with dented plating. Not nice. Hence we like to go stern in first. If we would drift too much then with one good kick ahead on the engines we can get away again.

Sailing about 10 meters from the buoys, which are not real buoys but sticks, so we have room to drift over to the other side if needed.

So we sailed very close to the red buoys, on the high side of the channel, giving us some leeway in case the ship would start to drift. Which is always possible if the wind would suddenly start to blow much stronger than the force 5 to 6 which we had today. But the wind remained its steady self and the ship was safely docked 45 minutes later alongside the pier. We went in all the way to the back to have as much shelter from the wind as possible and we could do so as we were the only ship in port. The forward dock remained empty and that gave the guests a lot of space in the resort.  Always nice if you do not have to wait for the cable car that takes you to the other side of the Resort area.

A nice empty dock and that gives our guests the whole resort to themselves.

This was a full day call and we could stay until 17.00 hrs. as our next port of call is Santo Tomas de Castilla in Guatemala. That is only across the bay and we need the fast speed of 11 knots to make it tomorrow morning at 06.00 hrs. to the pilot station. This port is a tour call, so the guests can go on Eco tours although there is the little town, which is quite cute but limited. Then around the corner is the port of Barrios and we always advise the Ladies not to let the gentlemen go there by themselves.

How tomorrow will work out remains to be seen as there is a fair chance of showers and for the rest an overcast day which will make it warm and humid with the tropical rain forest right on top of the port. Temperature 30oC / 87oF and no wind in the port expected.

Today we are hurtling with the low flying speed of 16 knots towards the Island of Roatan off the coast of Honduras. Although we are calling at that country, we will not notice much of it, as we are calling at an island with a custom made Resort, built by our parent company Carnival Corporation. Before Mahogany Bay was opened, there was one cruise dock which could take one ship. That dock is still in use when the two berths at Mahogany Bay are full. Quite often we then see a ship belonging to the competition going there. They can also use our berths but only if we are not there.

In the years B.C. (Before Carnival) Holland America used to go there on occasion; mostly during the Christmas cruise when marketing had glued two 7 day cruises together into one 14 day Holiday cruise. I cannot remember what the guests thought about it in those days but we were not impressed. The dock was always occupied by another ship and thus we had to anchor. The East Bay is quite deep and then becomes shallow very quickly and thus we had to drop almost 300 feet of chain before we even touched the bottom. That was not very pleasant when there were squalls coming over and you wanted to raise the anchor quickly. And with the old Nieuw Amsterdam, Noordam and Westerdam you never knew how fast and how much the anchor winch could pull. Tomorrow we dock and now have no more worries.

Approaching the VTS, ships highway at sea off the coast of Cabo San Antonio. We are in the top right corner at the end of the white (course) line. There are a few ships around indicated by the yellow dots and the green speed arrows but in general it was a very quiet day today. The green/yellow dot next to us is the Caribbean Princess and on the right hand side of the radar screen you can read her navigation particulars. Most important it says CPA 6.93 miles = Closest Point of Approach.

This morning at 09.30 hrs. we passed the west coast of Cuba, Cabo San Antonio, and then sailed into the Caribbean Sea. The moment we did so, the wind started to breeze up as the Trade Wind is quite strong at the moment due to an extra pressure system laying somewhere in the North Atlantic. But it should calm down again somewhat during the night.

This area of the Caribbean Sea is called the Yucatan Channel as it is located between the Yucatan Peninsula to the West and Cuba to the right. The border between the real Caribbean Sea and the Straits of Florida are a little bit fuzzy as it is all wide open water. For me it roughly starts North of Cozumel and then it stops once past Cabo San Antonio but that is more art than science.  Explorers in the old days, on their slow moving sailing ships, had not much to do so they named everything they could think of. Sometimes after areas at home, sometimes after King/Queen and country and sometimes after themselves.  And thus they were not happy with just naming the whole area Caribbean Sea but gave a different name to the area under Cozumel Island and that has the name of the Gulf of Honduras and stretches from Belize down to the Honduran coast.  That area we entered late this afternoon.

Our course down to Roatan, sailing through the Bay of Honduras.

From Cabo San Antonia it is one straight course down to Roatan. Which is not an island by itself but belongs to a group called Islas de la Bahia or: the Bay Islands. We call it Roatan Island but that is not correct either. Roatan is a town/settlement on the west side of a long and narrow island with the main town of Santa Elena at the East side. The island is called Isla de Utila and is flanked by either side by a very small island. The one on the left is also called Isla de Utila and the one on the right is Isla de Guanaja.

The Islas de La Bahia with Roatan in the middle. (Thank you Wikipedia) Trujillo is an important port on the North Coast of Honduras.

Mahogany Bay is located on the south side of the main island and is in general very well sheltered, except if there are squalls coming through, which can change the predominant Easterly wind to S.E., South or S.W. and then the ships have to be ready with their thrusters so they do not get blown off the dock. We will approach Roatan from the west side and sail between the two Islas de Utila towards the pilot station. We are expected at 07.00 hrs. and as we are supposed to be the only ship, we will dock as deep as possible in the Bay, getting as much shelter as possible from the strong Trade Winds. Weather, overcast skies with a chance of a squall are expected but it will be warm and humid with temperatures up to 27oC / 81oF. I hope the guests will be careful as you can get a sun burn here even if it is overcast.