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

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

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

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

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

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

This the staff of the Culinary Arts Center.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nicely growing herbs in a variation of sorts.

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

With a thank you to Wikipedia on line.

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

Crossing the Aegean Sea tonight and all day tomorrow.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rhodes town is located at the top of the island.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Northside Fortress in the Bend.

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

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

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

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

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

Sailors paying out the ropes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The old Song of America still going strong.

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

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

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

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

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

Piraeus is on nearly each cruise schedule for East Mediterranean cruises and with good reason as Athens has more ruins per square meter than any other place in world, except maybe Rome. Plus the food is not bad either. So we like to go there. Getting there is another matter and generates less enthusiasm among the navigators as the routes leading to and from the port are normally very challenging at least when you take the direct routes which everybody else is doing as well.

The first challenge is going from Katakolon to Piraeus. Katakolon is located on the south end of the island of Peloponnesus, which is not really an island but can be considered to be one since they dug the Corinth Canal.  At the far south side of this “new” island is another island called Zakynthos. It looks like a sort of water drop hanging under the nose of the bigger island.  The gap between the two islands is wide enough for shipping and thus everybody tries to get through as it saves some 20 miles from going around. Still not a problem as long as the Westbound traffic hugs the Northside and the East bound traffic hugs the South side.

The route from Katakolon to Piraeus.

But here the problem starts: not everybody is hugging the way they should. There are some navigators out there who believe sailing in the middle is the safest and there are also navigators out there who believe everybody has to make room for them and set their courses diagonally through the passage as this is the shortest route. To complicate matters the passage has a nick at the top of Zakynthos Island and all the ships have to make a small course change there to stay on track. And again not everybody is doing that.  As a result we can often listen on the VHF to impressive recitals of all the bad words which the English and the native Greek language has to offer. Very educational. There are seldom accidents as everybody is always on high alert for this passage but sometimes things happen which makes you wonder where they got their education.  If something is about to happen the solution is always simple. Go a bit more to starboard, slow down or stop and wait until the situation clears itself up. That always goes quite quickly anyway as everybody is in a hurry.

The “route” of the bridge on the ships electronic chart.

Once clear of the passage, it is straight sailing to Piraeus harbor entrance, give or take a few fishermen who prefer to fish in the middle of the steamer routes. At the harbor entrance more fun awaits. We always give our ETA and normally that is accepted but whether it is being adhered to is another matter. The problem (for us) is the early morning arrival of the local ferries. They all arrive near 6 am. and they have  preference. If they are all on schedule then there is not much of an issue but that is not always the case. Sometimes the captain and pilot get the green light and start giving speed and then Port Control finds yet another ferry and we have to wait again.

This is the port entrance which is quite tight for a larger ship. One ship found it “too tight” and made the entrance a bit wider. Hence the repair crane being in the process of putting the little light house back and repairing the north breakwater. I think they are making it a little bit wider at  the same time as well.

Once that is out of the way, there is the challenge of docking. There are four cruise berths deep in the harbor and they are assigned to size and pecking order. The Koningsdam being completely new has no pecking order at all and as the four berths were full we had to dock at the “new pier”. This pier was built for the Olympic Games of 1996 in Athens and the first ship to dock there was the Queen Mary II; as a floating hotel. Thus we knew the Koningsdam would fit as well as she is shorter than the Queen Mary II. Still it is a tight fit and thus the Koningsdam sailed slowly through the breakwaters, stopped and then backed into position with starboard side alongside the dock.

On the departure she will do the same thing in reverse and then we will head for Kusidasi in Turkey. To get there we have to go through another busy passage but more about that tomorrow.

Queen Maxima of the Netherlands.

We have some Breaking News:  It was just confirmed by the company that Her Majesty Queen Maxima of the Netherlands is going to christen the Koningsdam. She will know what to do as she has already had practice by christening the Nieuw Amsterdam in 2010.

It turned out to be a nice warm day. There was hardly any wind and that does not help to keep the temperatures down in the port.

As Katakolon is lying in a sort of horse shoe shaped bay where you need southerly or easterly winds to bring a fresh breeze. And as the port is surrounded by a hillside from the West and the North that longed for breeze is not always there. Today it was not a problem; it was warm, not yet hot. The real heat will come in July and August after the longest day of the year and when the countryside and sea water have nicely warmed up.

The lifeboats of the Titanic completely open rowing boats.

Today we were the only ship in port and as it was perfect weather, it was a good opportunity to lower lifeboats.  The crew always needs training; sometimes retraining as functions get changed and new crew arrives but also just to keep the routine and proficiency going. With every class of ship different lifeboats are installed as the development in the lifesaving world goes very fast. It is nice to have the latest gadgets available but it means every crew member who comes from another ship has to relearn the routines to be able to operate what we have on board here. The Koningsdam has the latest insights of what there is out there in the life saving business and no doubt the next generation of cruise ships will have that as well. This does not mean older lifeboats are less safe, but with the new materials out there the lifeboats can be made lighter and more space inside can be created. Older lifeboats had a lot of cross beams to provide internal strength and a lot of wood was used, quite often coated in polyester.

The model in use on the cruise ships in 70’s and 80’s. Some older cruise ships still have them.

The newer lifeboats are made of material which is similar or can include Kevlar, a synthetic which is as strong as steel. Thus the surrounding structure of the lifeboat can take over a lot of the strength which in the old days had to be supplied by the cross benches. As a result the newer lifeboats are more of an empty bowl type instead of a fish grate structure. This gives more room for the passengers and crew to sit in but also it makes the embarkation into the lifeboats a lot easier.

The model after 2000. This shows the semi open lifeboats of a S class cruise ship.

Lifeboats on a cruise ship always go down in groups. Partly due to the fact that we have so many on board (22 here on the Koningsdam, 11 on each side) but also because we constantly train on lowering in sequence and getting the boat commanders used to the fact that they are not alone with their boat in the wide wide world but when they enter the water they will be surrounded by 10 other lifeboats that have come down at their side as well.

The inside of the newest lifeboats. The opening for entry can be closed with a sliding door and there is room to walk around.

Training does not always focus on the pure skills in handling the boats, although it is important as we need to get the boats back again after lowering, but also on communication. With sometimes 6 nationalities among 7 crew, language, perception and the form of communicating will vary greatly.  Most crew is used to getting the order and then doing it. They expect the supervisor to watch and control them while they are carrying out the work. In a lifeboat the commander cannot see much as he/she is in the center and in an emergency the passengers inside the boat will block most of the view. Thus the crew has to shout at each other, confirm the orders received and report back (loudly) to the commander when the order has been completed. It is quite fascinating to see a 4 foot 4 Filipina shouting at a 6 foot 6 Dutchman but that happens, as the responsibility assignment is by skill and certificates and not by height or nationality.

Today I took the chance to have all the crew of a lifeboat (7 of them, Commander, Asst. Commander, Counter, Communicator, rigger fwd. and rigger aft) maneuver a lifeboat. Normally the asst. Commander drives the boat but the more skilled everybody is, the better it is.  So each of them got the chance to steer a lifeboat and go ahead as fast as they wanted and then do the same while going astern. A good time was had by all and they all learned something new as well.

Tomorrow we are in Piraeus and before we get there, the Navigation team will have a busy night as the route under Katakolon towards Piraeus can be very busy and the ships on the route are not always implementing the Rules of the Road as they should. We should be in the port around 7 am. under once again sunny skies and wind still weather.

We have to go back the route where we came from to reach Katakolon once more and thus we had to go through the Straits of Messina yet another time. We should be entitled to a discount for frequent transits. We should, but I have never heard of it, so I think we aren’t.

Greece is in another time zone than Italy and thus we went an hour forward last night. Holland America is a company which traditionally is doing clock changes. Companies such as Carnival stay on “Miami time” for the whole cruise. This is quite easy in the Caribbean as there are not exactly an abundance of clock towers present. But HAL does it in the Caribe as well, we do it everywhere. Unless it does not makes sense such as during our short evening call at Sarande last cruise. But until we return to Naples in 10 days, we are in another time zone and thus we move the clock forward and later back again. When this is done varies with the situation. Where possible we follow the Golden Rule, never an hour forward on a formal night, which is now called a Gala night. The idea is for guests to enjoy themselves and not having a bummer by losing an hour. What works very well is to give  one hour forward the evening of leaving the home port. Guests are still tired from travelling and tend to retire early and can then set their own wake up time as the next day is a sea day.

So we did and the guests responded as expected. At 0700 hrs. in the morning it was very quiet in the Lido Market when I went to breakfast. There were some guests out there of whom the preponderance was male. I wonder why there are always more gents out and about early in the morning than ladies. Have they been sent out to get coffee or are they escaping? One thing for sure, the Lido area was not buzzing with communication noises; most gents were making a deep study of their cup of coffee and solving the problem of whether to stir their coffee clockwise or counter clockwise. A decision process which is best dealt with in total and concentrated silence.

Early morning Lido. The deck is slowly draining dry from deckwashing and BLD has been setting the deck chairs.

Who were not exactly quiet but very busy and very early, were the sailors. Here we always face a conundrum. The Sailors start at 5 am. to hose down the salt from the decks and yes that makes a bit of noise plus they are in the way of the early morning risers. Sometimes we get complaints about this but if we do not do the hose down and do the railing cleaning we get complaints again about the salt crystals which have settled down during the night. When I was staff captain I tried to do it every other morning which worked to a certain extent but it was not perfect. What does work very well is a carefully planned downpour or decent rain shower. I always encourage my navigators to sail through a rain cloud just before sunrise. If it works, I can keep the sailors in bed and the rain does a much better and much more thorough job than 20 sailors with a hose can ever do.

When you switch on your tv, you automatically get a highlight of the day. On embarkation day it is the safety video on other days it can be anything else.

What is definitely not silent either is our TV system and it is a very special one. Interactive TV was first introduced last year on the Nieuw Amsterdam and with the lessons learned it is now implemented on a grand scale on the Koningsdam. Every day a new part of an almost unlimited number of options is added.  When we sailed from the shipyard we had 10 movies to choose from and this morning I counted 169 of them varying from very ancient (The wrecking Crew = 1960’s???) to releases not much older than six months. Apart from watching the odd movie, what I like about it is the option to stop the movie, go away and when you come back, you push the start button and it resumes where you stopped. Very clever stuff.

Then you can select various sorts of movies, from action to drama and children. There is a parental control option but I have not found a movie yet which really warranted it.

Apart from the movies and the News there is shore excursion information and information about all the food outlets. Currently you still have to phone 88 for a table reservation but eventually you will be able to do it via the TV. Eventually we will have all the capabilities a five star hotel has as well. In our case it just takes a bit longer as all the applications for the Koningsdam are ships specific and when installed need to be extensively tested. When the Koningsdam II comes out everything can just be copied over. But the first ship of a class, especially a proto type for a company, is a trail blazer in new forms of operations and we do blaze the trail but we do it carefully so we know the trail is a workable one.

Then there are the information channels with what is what and where on board. This is one of the Dutch Ladies in the Grand Dutch Cafe serving Dutch pastries.

Tomorrow we are in Katakolon with sunny skies, nearly wind still weather and temperatures of 77oF or 25oC. It is going to be a warm Greek day.