After our heatwave call of 14 days ago it was a bit of a shock this morning to stick your nose outside. On arrival the temperature barely touched the 50oF or 11oC. which is not weather our guests expect at the end of their cruise. Tampa can be very cold at times if there is a northerly prairie wind blowing and I remember from the mists of time that we came in with the old Nieuw Amsterdam once when it was freezing. Not much but enough for the longshoremen to have 2^nd thoughts about work and for the oranges harvest to be touch and go.

My day was only partly filled with work as I had to move cabin and visit my friends of the CPB again to help them achieve the zero count. This time the routine was re-established by marching all 330+ in transit guests & me off together, quickly inspected by the Officers and then being marched back on board again. Very smooth and very fast.

For my accommodation on board, I am a sort of nomad. The company ensures that there is a place for me but what that is varies from cruise to cruise. I can always stay in an empty officer cabin but the policy is to organize a guest cabin so the officer’s cabins remain available in case an officer is scheduled to be on board as an extra. And thus I have the interesting experience of moving through every permutation of cabins which the ships can offer.

So most home ports I have to change cabins as a cabin which is empty one week will be occupied the other week. Also there is the phenomenon of guests buying an upgrade or having to change cabins if they are doing a back to back course. They change and I change with them. Since coming on board the ms Oosterdam I have been on Deck 4 all the way forward, then I was bumped up to deck 8 with a balcony and today I descended again from those lofty heights to an inside cabin on deck 1.  I do not mind inside cabins as all the company’s staff cabins ( ie Captain, Staff Captain, Chief Engineer and Hotel Director) have inside bedrooms (except the Prinsendam, but she is special) and that is want you want if you sleep unusual hours. I have the bridge to look out of a window.

But what impressed me is the size of the inside cabins on the Vista here on Main deck.  They are very nice and very spacious even if I do not need all that space. My focus of each cabin is always is the desk big enough to handle my two computers? I carry a small one for presentations and a bigger one issued by the company. The latter one is heavy enough to survive a bomb explosion and thus excellent for all the travelling when I hop from ship to ship. And I always hope for a desk which can take both.

The Oosterdam has just been through a refit where they adapted some of the public rooms to make space for Billboard on Board (the dueling pianos) and the Lincoln Art Centre (Classical music) and also changed televisions and put more plugs in above the desk. When I now make my next Holland America Cruise with my wife I do not have the battle of laptop versus hair dryer .  Also added were USB points to charge phones and cameras.  The Oosterdam now has the interactive TV system with approx… 200 movies on demand (free of charge) same as on the Koningsdam which was I think the first ship where it was implemented.

We see a lot of amenities coming over, which were introduced on the Koningsdam first. Interactive TV, new cabin directories (in beautiful Dutch –Orange) new breakfast menus, and hot on its heels a roll out of new dining room menu’s as well. The favorites are still there but the presentation of the choices has been greatly upgraded.  And very important the new Gallery Bar (in the location of the old night club) has four draft beers on tap, including Newcastle Ale and that makes a lot of guests happy who have an interest in craft and other beers which are not the run of the mill lagers which you can get everywhere.

Tonight we have our rush – run for Key West again. The Oosterdam left on time from her Tampa berth and, pending no unforeseen circumstances, we should be on time in Key West as well. The Weather for Key West looks a bit unsettled so we will find out what we get, when we get there.

Castries is most of the time a great port to be in. It is sheltered from most winds, it has fairly deep water and if you are not at the downtown dock, the larger cruise dock has a small shopping village which satisfies those who do not want to go very far. For the captains the most brilliant thing is the airport which is located right at the entrance. The airport – control – tower, which is manned by the time we arrive can give the exact wind strength in the port.  On the off chance there is too much wind in the port the ship can then decide to stay out and does not have to abort at the very last minute. It seldom happens but we always prepare for the worst scenarios.

The Elizabeth dock in downtown Castries St. Lucia.

There are several docks in Castries but most cruise ships dock at the two cruise terminals which leaves the downtown pier open for the cargo ships. We were the only cruise ship in port today, the 2^nd cruise Terminal was taken over by a French patrol boat and the Elizabeth dock at  the down town side was indeed occupied by cargo ships coming and leaving. Most of them are involved in a feeder service to Panama, Aruba or to Miami; where the long distance containers are transferred to the very large containerships on the worldwide routes.

The French Patrol Boat La Gracieuse.

France has 21 of these patrol boats and this one listens to the beautiful name La Gracieuse. The   French Patrol boat was not an un-expected appearance as this part of the Caribbean Sea is looked after by the French because their islands are just around the corner. Most islands in the Caribbean Sea are independent or only loosely attached to an old home country but Martinique and Guadeloupe is fully part of France. One of the reasons these islands are so much more expensive to visit as the prices are the same as in France itself. St. Lucia is part of the British Commonwealth which means it runs itself but the British Queen is still the official Head of State. When we come to Curacao and Aruba we will see Dutch patrol boats and helicopters as they guard that part of the Caribbean. Main job for all these patrol boats is to try to keep Drug runners from coming out of South America and making it to Puerto Rico or even the USA.

These are the forward breast lines which run over water to the shore. Note the silver circular shields on each rope.

As you can see from the photo the dock is very small and so is the berth where the Oosterdam is docked. As a result we run long lines to bollards and mooring buoys far away. This makes the docking process on arrival quite a time consuming affair. Each line has to be brought ashore by boat and then pulled over the bollard.  Because these bollards are almost inland and the vegetation close by, we take extra care here to have Rat-Shields or Rat-Guards in place on the mooring ropes. These things come in a variety of designs and then they are normally painted by the sailors – just for the fun of it —- Hence there is no rhyme nor reason what is used by a ship but some ships just keep them as is with the Galvanized silver color. So as soon as the ship is docked a sailor with a trolley comes out of the ship and puts on each rope a shield. We prefer to do it from the shore where we can tie them up better than shipside as otherwise they might be blow off by the wind. If we cannot get at them because the ropes are on a dolphin or mooring buoy then we hang them from the ship.

There were times when they were compulsory in any port in the world, and there would be heavy fines if they were not in place. For the W.H.O organization they are not compulsory anymore as the ships do not really carry rats anymore. The poor rat that climbs onboard dies a certain death due to lack of food. Still most countries recommend it and also the American Navy health regulations still demand them. So we put them on as in that way, we will always be in compliance.

The route to Les Pitons about an hour down from Castries.

As long as I have been sailing here, St. Lucia always was a shorter stay. Invariably the ships sailed before 15.00 hrs. as they then went to Soufriere to pick up the Overland Tour and do a scenic sail bay of the Pitons, two Volcano cones which rise straight up out of the Jungle.  We will also do the sightseeing again and afterwards sail westwards towards Willemstad on Curacao. So tomorrow will be a restful sea day.

San Juan is a port which is often on the cruise schedules with an abnormal arrival time. Whereas in most ports we are docked by 08.00 in the morning and stay a full day, San Juan is the exception to the norm. They only time ships seem to arrive there early is when it is their last port of call or when they do a longer loop cruise. Today was not different. The Crystal Serenity was docked by 10.30; the Oosterdam was docked by 11.00 hrs. The Eurodam was docked by 13.00 hrs. and the Freedom of the Seas started docking at 14.00 hrs. Then at 14.30 the Celebrity Silhouette came in who was not even on the pilot’s schedule. All we are now waiting for (4 pm. in the afternoon, while I am writing this) is the arrival of the Regal Princess. We had much less wind than expected today as the wind suddenly changed from East South East to South West and then dropped down to almost zero. Very usual for San Juan. The South West winds, when blowing, can bring in quite a bit of rain but as the wind change came at 09.00 hrs. there is a fair chance it will remain dry until at least the early evening hours. It will all depend on when the wind gathers force again.

Sailing into San Juan harbour is always nice. This is Morro Castle seen when looking back to sea.

We arrived nicely in the way I had described yesterday, except the pilot came out early not doubt inspired by the nice weather and thus we were docked earlier and that meant the ship cleared well before our scheduled arrival time. San Juan is one of those ports where you are right on top of the town. Walk out of the gate and up the hill and then you only have to aim for the old city. Docking at 1 West is even better but the Oosterdam is really to long for the dock to be comfortable and thus the port authorities prefer the longer ships at berth 3 and 4. Berth 4 has a terminal constructed about 15 years ago but berth 3, of a more recent date, is just an open space. You wonder why but  my assumption is that if they would have made the dock wider to construct a terminal, then the distance between a ship at 3 East and 4 West would have become a little tight so to speak.

Berths 3 and 4. Berth 3 completely flat and berth 4 with a terminal on it.

This means that ships that have San Juan as a home port will have to be assigned to berth 4 for luggage and clearance purposes. I do not know if there is currently a large ship home porting in San Juan but Holland America did so for a year with the ms Veendam, when the ship was new, and it turned out to be quite a challenge with flight arrangements and lots of moaning guests who were greatly affected by the heat when coming out of the airport and then having to lug their suitcase(s) to the taxi. The idea behind it was: if you start a cruise in the Caribbean then you can offer more ports as you do not have the sea time between Florida and Puerto Rico. Great Idea but our guests preferred embarking in a US port. Easier to get to and the sea days were to be appreciated as well.

No doubt the Authorities will do something about this one. Ropes touching the catwalk is not good for anybody.

When we docked today, the officer on the aft mooring deck was not a happy camper. The port authority had decided to install a catwalk to the last stern bollard to make the handling of the mooring lines easier and saving the linesmen the hassle of having to climb onto the bollard, secure the rope, climb down again in their boat and then go and get the next mooring line. Great idea but when you put a catwalk there you have to take into consideration where the ropes need to go to and install it in such a way that it does not hamper the free running of those ropes. The catwalk had been installed yesterday and we were the first ship “to benefit” from it. By the time I took the photo, the Port Director was on the dock and already indicating that the catwalk had to be shifted so it did not block the ropes any longer. So we will see next time. Luckily with today’s weather it does not matter that much but when it is very windy and the stern ropes need to take a lot of strain it would have been unpleasant.

Tonight we sail at 23.00 hrs. and so will the Eurodam as we both go to St. Thomas.  Who goes first will depend on whose guests are back on board the earliest. For the distance and approach it does not matter. For the captain whose ship goes out first it has the benefit as he will be off the bridge first and can get to bed first as well. The Eurodam will dock at Crown Bay and the Oosterdam will go to downtown to Havensight. We would normally have gone to Crown Bay as well but the Oasis of the Seas is in port and then she goes to Crown Bay as it is a better fit there with the dock.

Weather for tomorrow in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas: Same as today, Warm but with more wind expected.

Last evening we sailed out of the protection of the Bahamas and Cuba and came into the open waters of the North Atlantic. The area is fairly quiet, or better said the North Atlantic further North of us is fairly quiet as there is not much of a swell rolling in and thus the Oosterdam is sailing through the water in a nice and stable way. Good for everybody, as they could enjoy a carefree sunny day. For most of the day we sailed above the Dominican Republic and then during the night we will cross the Mona Passage located between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, with the plan to arrive at the pilot station of San Juan at 09.45 in the morning.  We arrive at 09.45 at the pilot station because the Crystal Serenity is scheduled for 10.00 hrs. She is going to berth 1 west while we are going to 4 West. The docks are counted from the sea inwards and thus if we sail in just before the Crystal S. then we do not have to wait for them while they make the turn into the 1 dock as 4 dock is further inwards.

I mentioned yesterday that we were expecting two other ships but in the meantime the list has become much longer. We will now be joined by the Eurodam (docking next to us) the Freedom of the Seas , the Regal Princess, the Crystal Serenity, the Silver Wind and the Club Med.  Which means it is going to be busy in San Juan. Even when keeping the pax. count low, we are looking at 12,500 guests coming ashore from the ships, sometime during the day.  It will certainly mean that the T shirts will not be on discount tomorrow.

The Puerto Rico trench running from above the Dominican Republic to the East.

Sailing towards Puerto Rico, we come across a natural phenomenon which most guests will not notice as it located under water. It is the Puerto Rico Trench which is one of the deepest places in the world. Laying to the north of Puerto Rico it has a length of 800 kilometers (497 miles) long and a maximum depth of 8,648 meters (28,373 ft.) or 5.373 Miles. Not as deep as the Mariana trench near the Philippines but still deep, very deep. All the Caribbean islands are from volcanic origin (something you can see very well when we will pass the mountains near Soufriere on St. Lucia) but the whole area is dormant. The mountain range which tops are the islands were caused by a minor tectonic plate, the Caribbean plate, pushing over the much larger North American plate. The North part of this minor plate is now sitting on top of the large plate and has thus cut off the direct connection with the earth’s fluid inner core. Not completely as we still have a very active Volcano on Montserrat, more to the south east, which crated a lot of mayhem a few years ago.  The Puerto Rican trench is a crack on the North side of this plate and goes much deeper down than the ocean floor around it, which is not shallow either with depths of up to 5 or 6 thousand feet. Because of the tectonic plate movement and the depth, landsides are easily possible, creating tsunamis and also earth quakes can occur.

Our course (red) when going in, as seen on the Electronic chart. The black line is the track the ship used last time and you can see with the bulge near the dock that the captain went “high” to compensate for the strong Trade Wind.

When we line up tomorrow morning for going in we will do that several miles from the entrance itself. The sail into port is nearly directly south (the leading lights are 181o, with south being 180o) and to get a feeling for the set of the current, the captain will try to get in the leading lights very early as the entrance is not very wide and the shallows are very close by. Then the pilot will board, outside if it is not too bouncy or otherwise when we are just inside. Once past Morro Castle on the portside, we will lose all the current and most of the wind. Then we have a 50 degree turn to port to head for the downtown docks. San Juan is a very large and natural harbor and there are a lot of docks much deeper into the Laguna than where we are going. Next step is to keep a lookout for small airplanes as they built the runway right in the line of the entrance channel. Then we come to the dock and we turn north again. This will bring the Trade wind full on the sb side of the ship and thus the captain has to ensure that he “stays high” otherwise the ship will drift against the cruise ship docked at pier 3 east.  Although we always enjoy visiting the neighbors, drifting against each other is not the way to do it.

We will stay in San Juan until 23.00 hrs. as it is only a short hop to St. Thomas, just around the corner. More about that tomorrow. Weather for tomorrow: Fair chance of showers and 29oC / 84oF with a gentle breeze in the city.