Our cruise is different to last week. Holland America often does so, giving guests (Collector Voyager Guests or CVG’s) the option to do a back to back cruise. We are now making a circumnavigation cruise around Cuba, by calling at Half Moon Cay, Georgetown Grand Cayman, Cozumel Mexico and Key West Florida. If Half Moon Cay was located directly opposite Cuba, then we could have issued everybody with an official Circumnavigation Certificate.

Our Seven Day Cruise around Cuba, calling at Half Moon Cay, Georgetown, Cozumel and Key West.

The weather was glorious today, with just a gentle breeze blowing over the island and the sun shining all day. On top of that we were the only ship and thus our guests had all the facilities to themselves and 2000 guests ashore does not really make much of an impact on it all. The beach is more than large enough to handle triple the number but less, the better for the guests and certainly for the children. I saw today one shore tender coming back with several occupants showing signs of too much sun and not enough sun block and this is only the first port. They were accompanied by a large group of children whose immediate focus when stepping on board was the ice cream parlor, leaving mummy and daddy standing in the entrance with all the towels and all the various beach implements needed to  make it a successful day.  They made a lot of noise so it must have been a successful day.

From the 2000 guests on board about 1700 went ashore, the rest remained on board. Preferring shade or the tranquility of the pools. With all those ashore, the ship was very quiet and the first main event in the afternoon was “High Tea” on the ms Eurodam served in the Ocean Bar. I am still confused about what it is. Depending on some deep inspiration by the program makers, I have now been exposed to English-High Tea, Dutch High Tea, Afternoon Tea and just Tea. There is a distinct difference between High Tea and Afternoon Tea.  High Tea was an English invention to bridge the gap between Lunch and Supper (which was often served as late as 8 pm.) The word High was related to the fact that one sat on a higher chair as the food served was often more a meal than snacks and sandwiches.  Some of the The English (I do not know about the Scotts and the Welsh) mainly with children still call dinner Tea time. That confuses me as being Dutch, I relate Tea to a cup of tea with a cookie or a chocolate which I would get when coming from school at 16.00 hrs. It still does not make sense to me that the British can have Tea / dinner at 5 to 6pm but more and more now the English have dinner especially if a little later.

Afternoon tea was more for the posh people who had servants and kitchen staff who could prepare a range of nibbles and snacks to go with the tea. . Thus what we serve on board is Afternoon Tea as it comes with nibbles and (being a Dutch ship) also with cookies. I once opened a can of worms by raising the subject among hotel staff if it was a different “Tea” if you got those 3 story serving dishes with all the nibbles or if you had just waiters who were rotating by each time with an assortment of nibbles on a silver tray. As this group of Hotel staff came from different nationalities, quite a heated argument ensued which made me understand that it is not easy to have “TEA”.   Thus I stick with green tea, totally improperly made by means of a tea bag which I dip up and down in a mug of hot water.

The Sb side of the Crowsnest on board the Zaandam, when original. It varies considerably to the other two thirds of the room.

A little bit of Tea Trivia, when the S and R class was designed, the port side crow nest was configured for afternoon Tea by giving the place a little bit of a Colonial or Tropical feeling. It was never used as such because it was way too small for the number of guests who wanted to participate in Tea Time. Hence it is most of the time done in the Dining room or the Ocean Bar.

The ship sailed at 16.00 hrs. which is an hour later than when we go the other way, towards Fort Lauderdale. We have a bit more room in the schedule when going to our next port Grand Cayman and thus we can stay an hour longer. Our route calls for sailing down between the islands of the Bahama Bank, then crossing the Old Bahama Channel to sail into the Windward Passage and then sail southwest wards towards Grand Cayman.  The weather: not so great, there is a lot of wind coming in the next 24 hrs. but luckily it will be a following wind and that will make it not as uncomfortable on deck as it could have been. At least we were very lucky today.

After the passing of the Frontal System yesterday afternoon, the wind slowly but steadily turned to the North East and by this morning it had created a perfect weather situation for Half Moon Cay. North Easterly Winds from 3 to a (small) 4 and sunny skies. The Eurodam dropped anchor and 2 hrs. later, the ship was nearly empty, apart from a few repeat guests who said that they had already seen everything (and bought the T shirt) and were staying on board.

Children and ship wrecks always go well together. Playing Captain Hook and getting soaking wet will lay the foundation of future Holland America Cruise adults.

Normally that might be correct but the company keeps tinkering with the facilities at Half Moon Cay, although tinkering is maybe the wrong word where it concerns improvement and expansion. And we have just opened a new Half Moon Lagoon as recently as this week. It is basically a kiddies place where un-expected water jets spout up out of the wooden deck. 3900 sq. feet and 266 water nozzles to get all the kids squeaking and screaming.  For the children; but what I remember from my youth when we went on the yearly school outing and to a Fun park where they had one as well, then it was always full of adults. Often under the excuse of looking after little Johnny, they would be jumping all over the place. So I would not be surprised if this new attraction (which replaces an older and much smaller one) is going to be as popular with the adults as it will be with the children. The water is sea water and is freshly pumped on continuous rotation from the bay and will be the same as swimming in the sea itself.

The (sea) water is this time not only coming from the deck but also from lantern tops.

We were the only ship today and that makes the officers and sailors very happy as we do not have to use our own tenders then. Nothing wrong with those but it takes a lot of time and hard work and the capacity is only 90 per boat while the large shore tenders take up to 300 and are much easier to walk onto and off again. When we are with two ships, there is the pecking order that the largest ship gets the largest shore tenders and the smaller ship the smaller shore tenders and then has to run some of its own tenders to provide a continuous and adequate service. We have a lot of discussions going on, if more shore tenders would be feasible, but they would also need space to dock in the Marina and with the tours going on during the day (Glass Bottom, para sailing, etc.) the place is quite full. We always manage very well but a Holland America Line crew member does care about his/her guests, so we are always looking at a routine to see where we can be better.

We sailed at 15.00 hrs. and this always looks like a too early a time but we have to make Fort Lauderdale on schedule so the guests can disembark on time and make their flights. Also staying not much longer might have saved some guests from really getting sunburned as the gentle breeze today caused a very treacherous situation as it did not feel as warm as it really was.

We have to be on time for another reason as it will be rush hour with a traffic jam tomorrow. All the docks are full except 23 and 24 as they are still under construction. The harbor master has assigned a pecking order to make sure we all fit in and the parade will be led by the Carnival Conquest, followed by the Freedom of the Seas, followed by the Island Princess, followed by the Allure of the Seas, followed by the Eurodam and finally the Celebrity Silhouette. Especially the I.P has to get in first as she goes to 19, and the moment she is docked she will be blocked in by the Allure at the stern and the Eurodam at her bow.

The weather tomorrow is regulated by yet another cold front but this time it works in our favor as we will be in port the moment it goes from one dominant wind direction to another and as a result we will not have any wind at all. It will call for a cool day by Florida standards with the temperatures not climbing above the 73oF / 23oC. Perfect travel weather to come and go and that might make a very busy Ft. Lauderdale airport a bit more bearable hopefully.

Today we were back in Philipsburg on St.Maarten, which is located on the Southside of the island. The island is split in half. The northern side that belongs to France, is called St.Maarten and the main town there is Marigot.

The map of St. Maarten. If it had been a cartographer or a Civil Servant then it both have been a straight line.

The story goes when it was decided between the two nations to split the island that a Dutch man (fortified by Dutch Genever) and a French man (fortified by French wine) set off from opposite sides of the island with the order to meet in the middle. If this is true, I doubt very much, but if you look at the way they border line moves off the island, then they were both drunk if it did happen. The Dutch got the South with the nice harbor and the French got the North with the better scenery. People say you go south for shopping and north for food and that is also in line with the ingrained outlook on life of the two countries. There was never a real border and now of course it does not matter at all as both countries are part of the European Union and there are no borders.  I think somewhere, somehow, some civil servants are very happy that the other half of the inland did not belong to the British (they live next door on Tortola) otherwise everybody would now be busy building borders & gates due to the Brexit decision.

The Dutch main town is called Philipsburg and dates back to 1763 when John Philips a Scottish captain in the Dutch Merchant Navy (The Dutch had very few real navy ships, they preferred heavily armed merchant ships that could pay their own way) took control of the island and decided to name it after himself. Those were the days, you could name a whole town after yourself and nobody blinked an eye. Now you run into problems if you even try to name a sidewalk after yourself. I once tried to have a rock named after myself in Alaska. Just with the request to rename it from Api rock (In Redwood Bay) to Appi rock (my nickname from long time ago) I almost succeeded but then somebody had a bright moment and Regulators and Chart Surveyors where less than impressed.

The two mega cruise piers. The one on the right where we docked this time, can handle four large cruise ships, the one on the left two.We docked next to the Regal Princess, as far inside as possible.  This photo was taken on arrival from the aft mooring deck where I was observing the safe work routines of the Officer in charge and his sailors.

But the good ship Eurodam arrived on time at the pilot station and found that both the Regal Princess (already docked) and the Eurodam were going to the East dock instead of the West dock. The considerable swell was curving around the eastern shore line under an angle just a bit more to the south and that meant that the east dock had less swell than the west dock. As the Regal was already in position, we have even less swell than otherwise would have been the case, and that free gift was most appreciated. We will come in 2^nd, anytime if needed here.

St.Maarten has been restored for a greater part since hurricane Irma with most shops open again. There is still a lot of repair work going on with the airport having a new constructed lounge in use until the main building has been repaired. Approx. 1200 of the 4000 hotel beds are back in use and the estimate is to have 2000 beds back in use by 2020. (As per local government figures). So they still have a long way to go but both the French and the Dutch Government have made relief funds available but it just takes time to get supplies to the islands.

Making an entry. The team leader is using an thermal imaging camera (cost $ 10,000) to try to find out where the fire is inside, before the team goes in with the hose. Behind the wooden panel door is another steel door closing off a large area where Housekeeping stores their equipment.

My day was spent with creating mayhem on board by means of fire and boat drills. This time I had the inspiration to simulate a burn down of the center section of deck 2 public room areas and see how the crew would react if they have to search and protect a large area of the ship instead of a small space or locker. Port days such as today are ideal to do this as 90% of the guests are off the ship and will not be inconvenienced when we close Fire screen doors and run fire hoses all over the place. As expected all went very well and we now have a very proud Housekeeping Lady walking around as she reported “the fire” and because of her call the fire alarm went off and suddenly 80 fire fighters and support teams showed up.

Tomorrow we will have a sea day and then we will be in Half Moon Cay. Our route back will be across the North Atlantic as there is no other option in this case. There are cold fronts playing around near Cuba but it looks like that we will just have a window of lesser wind (so lesser waves) tomorrow and during Half Moon Cay day.

At 09.00 hrs. entry into a port such as San Juan is not a bad thing. Everybody is up and about and can see the scenery while having breakfast or coffee or while being out on the open decks. We are sailing quite close by Morro Castle which dominates the entrance on the East or portside of the ship and then while turning towards the dock, the whole old town opens up in front of you. As we had perfect arrival weather, sunshine with a breeze to keep things cool, it was nice to be out there.  We were in port today with one other cruise ship, the Carnival Glory, which was sitting at berth 4 east while we were given berth 3 west. Then there is Pier 1 so in total 6 docks available for cruise ships. Pier 2 is the ferry pier which has a shuttle service across the bay that makes up the big port of San Juan.  When there are more ships in all the berths are filled up but with two ships, it makes sense to give each other a complete own pier as it keeps the crowds down a little bit.

San Juan old port. To the far left Morro Castle; in the middle the USCG Station, to the right Pier 1 with a big USCG cutter alongside.

All three Cruise piers are right across from the old town so it does not matter that much at which berth you are. If it is a very busy day, then cargo docks, further to the East are also pressed in service and then it becomes a long walk to the old town and the Castle. It makes the Taxi drivers happy I suppose but not the guests and the crew. Adding more berths to the West is not possible as the corner of the downtown port is taking up by the USCG station and they are not going anywhere. I wouldn’t either if you can walk straight off the boat into the pub across the street. Often USCG stations are a bit more remotely located but this one has a Class A+ location.

I have blogged about this before in the past but San Juan has the peculiar approach that you charge into the port, then go full into the brakes, the put the rudder full over and stop shortly after. All to do with the fact that the port is so close to the sea, it is just separated by a strip of land on which the Castle and the old town stands.

We sail into the harbor entrance with quite a bit of speed to prevent the ship from drifting. The Easterly (90o) Trade winds are fully perpendicular on the entrance course (181o) and the more you slow down, the more effect they have on the ship, especially on a ship with a lot of balconies. Wind likes balconies as it gives a good grip while a smooth steel surface can deflect quite a bit of wind. So we enter the harbor entrance with about 12 knots and as soon as we are behind Morro Castle and in the lee of the town, we take speed back quite quickly. Also quite quickly a turn to the South East (132o) comes up and by that time we want to be down to about six knots. The there is a course change to 090o and then, especially for Pier 1 and Pier 3 you have to make a quick 90o turn to a northerly heading. All captains like to be down to thruster speed by that time (3 knots or so) so they can control the bow in case it falls off, as now the ship comes under the influence of the Trade Wind again which blows freely through the port. Nicely helped by the City airport which is located in the middle of the port and which makes the surrounding area even flatter than it already is.

San Juan as on the Electronic chart. you can see the track of the ship while coming into the port. The area further to the right is part of the cargo port but is used for cruise ships as well during congested days. The airport is located where the two little lighthouses are in the lower right hand part of the screen shot.

The trick with docking here is, is to stay as close to the pier as possible so the ropes can be given ashore. While that is going on, there might be moments of reduced maneuverability as the ropes are near the propellers and if you start out close then you can allow for some drift when the wind gets hold of the ship.

We were docked by 10 am., our official arrival time and we had the gangways out even before that time as we do not need all the ropes ashore to be safely alongside. A number of ropes go out as insurance in case the wind suddenly increases. So while the guests were already streaming into town, we were still adding ropes to the bollards for the “in case off” situation.

Tomorrow we are in Philipsburg, St.Maarten and we will be there with one other ship, the Regal Princess. Philipsburg has two cruise docks and as there seems to be some swell running, both ships are at the West dock which is the one furthest away from the corner. The captain is also going to dock nose out so that the –sharp- bow will ride the swell, instead of the –blunt- stern and that should help a lot.

Weather for tomorrow: More of the same. Sunny, warm and breezy.

Note: For those of you who are interested, I have uploaded the Biography of Captain Eric Barhorst under  the section Current Captains.

Amber Cove from the Bridge.

With beautiful weather and hardly any wind or swell we arrived at Amber Cove, located on the north side of the Dominican Republic. Yours truly was on the forward mooring deck mentoring a young 3^rd officer and from the diving board we had a very nice view coming into the port. (The diving board is that little walk way that opens up from the bow so the officer and Bo ‘sun can stand outside the ship to direct the ropes and or observe the anchor)

Amber Cove is a man-made harbor, constructed with the help of Carnival Corporation. So it is similar to Grand Turk Island, Roatan in Honduras and Costa Maya in Mexico. A nice long pier with sufficient bollards for the mooring lines. At the end of the Pier a nice Resort for those guests to spend the day ashore who are not going on tour. Next to it is a small resort with some hotels which also takes advantage of the bay and the surrounding area. For the rest there is only jungle and forest.

The Radar/chart picture. Open sea is to the North. The ship sails in, turns in the turning basin and then goes astern to an L shaped pier. We docked portside alongside on the inside of the pier.

Amber Cove had a natural bay and thus it needed only a bit of dredging to make an approach channel and a turning basin and then a new dock, large enough for two mega liners. Thus the resort should be able to accommodate approx. 7000 guests. We were only there with 2000 and a large number on various tours, so nice and quiet, but the shopping square can take a lot of people if needed. There is a very nice pool area and sufficient things to do to keep children and young adults active and away from boredom.

For us as sailors there is only one but, (And being a sailor, you are always cynical and look at the negative side, as that saves lives) and the but is, that it is fully exposed to the ocean. Wind and Swell from the NNW, the North and the NNE can freely blow and roll in. The Eurodam had this problem 14 days ago when there was this nasty storm blowing off the US Eastern Seaboard and a high and very long swell was rolling down all the way to the Dominican Republic. There it hit land; it built up and then crashed ashore. As a result the Eurodam could not get in and dock because the swells running in were too high. Breaking ropes and maybe even touching bottom were the obvious dangers. Then the next port of the ship was San Juan and there was 30 feet of swell in the harbor entrance and thus the Harbor Master had wisely closed the port. That left them only with St.Maarten and although the port there is on the south side, the high swell came around the rocks at the South East side and the Captain had to keep the engines going to press the ship against the dock to minimize the swell. It is not fun for the guests to navigate a gangway which moves one to two feet every 30 seconds. If it is not the wind, then swell can still make your life miserable if it comes in under the wrong angle.

Today was a glorious although very hot day and there were no issues what so ever. The Eurodam sailed in, spinned around in position and then backed up to the dock. As wise captains do when possible, always dock with the nose to open water. In case something happens then it is a matter of letting go the ropes and charge to open sea. Having a plan B always make you feel a lot better than only having a plan A.

For those who are concerned to walk the long distance from gangway to the Resort, Holland America has a very nice and environmentally friendly solution: The Bike Taxi

From here we continue tonight to San Juan which is located more to the east on the next island. The Dominican Republic is located on the east part of the island of Hispaniola and the west side is taken up by the country we know as Haiti. San Juan is located on Puerto Rico which is a much smaller island but not split up. To get there we have sail to the east and cross the Mona Passage. This passage is not as well-known with cruise guests as the Windward Passage, as not many cruise ships sail through it. But it is the gateway for all ships leaving the Panama Canal and going to Europe. So it can be quite busy there. The passage is named after the Island of Mona which is located right in the middle of it.

We are scheduled to be docked in San Juan at 10.00 hrs. and to stay there until 20.00 hrs. Our place at Amber Cove will be taken by the ms Koningsdam which is coming from Grand Turk Island just to the north. We will be together with the Carnival Glory in San Juan which will arrive ahead of us but also leave earlier.

Weather for tomorrow: sunny with 87oF / 31 oC. and very little wind in the port. It is going to be a very warm day again.

It was a glorious day, whatever was happening further up North with the weather did not have any chance today to make our life miserable here further down to the south it was a great day. And so it will be tomorrow as the weather seems to be holding for the coming days. We were together with the ms Nieuw Amsterdam but the island is big enough to absorb over 7000 guests at the same time and our 1200 together with the 2200 from the Nieuw Amsterdam did not come even close to that 7000.

The island is on a permanent lease hold purchase from the Bahamian Government and this is our 22^nd year of calling at HMC since its opening. There is the agreement that part of the island; the area around the lake will be treated as a permanent nature reserve. Guests are allowed to go there but just for a walk, not for anything else. Thus the company has concentrated its efforts for the guests around the crescent curved beach on the east side. There is not much beach on the North and East side and being there is not very pleasant as you are constantly buffeted by the Trade Winds or the occasional cold front.  There is some beach on the south west side but it is difficult to get there and we do no encourage guests to go scaling up and down a rock out cropping in order to find another beach.  The main beach is nice enough as it is and there is ample space. Either in the area where all the beach stretchers are or if you wish for a very quiet experience, you can make the hike, all the way to the North West end, where very few people go.

The sand of the beach is pure sea sand. It is built up by the sea and sometimes removed by the sea. Somewhere in the autumn of 2004 or 2005 I arrived here with this Veendam and we found the beach completely gone, apart from a small strip just beyond the vegetation perimeter. A few days before a hurricane had come through and wind and a change of current has washed all the sand away. As we were by ourselves we still had enough beach left for the 1200 guests but the water was murky and the skipper of the glass bottom boat had to keep himself busy with something else.  But the Island Manager explained that this was normal and said, Captain when you came back next week, half of the beach is back and in another week and everything will be back to normal. And he was right, in 14 days’ time all the sand was back. That sand gets there because there is a small current running to the North West through the bay. It curves with the beach and then under the influence of Ebb and Flood it deposits sand.  I do not know where that sand is coming from, maybe from an island or sand bank nearby.

The good ship ms Nieuw Amsterdam, just to the north of us, with a HMC tender under its bow.

We, as sailors, do not like that current very much as it means that the ship, when not at anchor, will drift slowly to the North West. With the Ebb, it goes North West to open sea, with the Flood; it goes North West towards the beach. With two ships in the bay that can be quite interesting as the current is not the same everywhere in the bay and thus one ship can drift faster than the other. Hence we keep a good distance.

The Rock at the entrance. If you anchor you have to go where you can just see the white was of another boat. If you stay on the engines you can sit right in front of the entrance.

Today both ships stayed on the engines, to be able to be as close to the harbor entrance as possible. The normal anchor spot is about 3 cables (1800 feet) from the entrance rock to the West and if one ship is there, the other one has to go another 1800 feet to the north and is then almost 4000 feet away from HMC port. Thus the captains had arranged to stay on the engines and then both could float close to the port because when staying in deep water you can sit right behind the rock. And that is what we did today. The Veendam floated right behind the rock, and the Nieuw Amsterdam hovered a little bit more to the North. Both had roughly the same distance to the port entrance and all was well in the world.

Tomorrow we will be back in Ft. Lauderdale; together with the Nieuw Amsterdam as she is nearing the end of her cruise as well. For me that is the wrong ship, as I will transfer to her sister the Eurodam. Thus there will be no blog tomorrow as I will be inspecting a Ft. Lauderdale hotel for one night and then join the Eurodam on Sunday. She is sort of alternating between the East Carib and West Carib on 7 day cruises with the Nieuw Amsterdam doing the opposite.

Our route to Half Moon Cay.

Today we are at sea, covering the distance between St. Croix and Half Moon Cay. We are now in the North Atlantic on a North Westerly course towards the Bahama Bank. Sometime tonight, we will enter between the islands and then sail up to Half Moon Cay or Little San Salvador Island as it is officially called.  As we are now in the open ocean, we can feel “the motion of the ocean”. And we are looking at what we call confused seas. This means that there are swells and waves rolling in from various directions and they mix and match all around us.

Waves are modulated water masses which means they roll over the deeper ocean surface as a wave movement. Deeper down the water also flows but then it looks more like a pressure wave. Or if you would line up a number of bricks behind each other and then start pushing the last one. They all move forward but not up and down or sideways. Move like a train. Now if those bricks would be on the surface, they would go up and down as a wave. If now two of those “trains would meet, sometimes some bricks would push each other up and sometimes they would push each other down. That is what we call confused seas because there is sometimes an extra high (waves enhancing each other) or an extra low wave or an almost flat sea moment (waves cancelling each other out)  As the pattern is not standard it makes the sailor confused and thus Confused Seas, although we should really say confused Swell.  Then the wind that blows over it can also enhance the waves or makes them flatter. More confusion. Thus today the navigators were looking out of the window and they saw all sorts of confusion around them.

I have no idea who painted or posted this but it gives a very good impression of confused seas. A thank you to whoever you are.

The ship moves on the swell, whatever the stabilizers are trying to prevent. Stabilizers deal with regular motion and their fins move on the signal of a gyroscope which figures out the angle of the ship in comparison with a true horizontal. The more reliable and constant the ocean swell is, the easier the gyroscope can predict the angles needed and give a signal to the stabilizers to counter act it. With confused swell that is not so easy and as a result the gyroscope cannot keep up on the time. (Confused Gyroscope??) As a result the ship is sometimes as steady as a rock and sometimes it makes an un-expected movement, when the stabilizers cannot handle the “two bricks” on top of each other.

Another good rendering although a bit over the top. Main thing is you cannot see a regular wave pattern.

One of the two swells is the regular swell caused by the ever blowing Trade Wind from the South East. The other swell is caused by bad weather on the eastern USA seaboard and that weather sends out waves and swell all the way down to the islands which make up the Caribbean rim. As we are not yet in the shelter of the Bahama Bank we also get that swell. The more we come under the influence from the bad weather up north, the more dominant the swell from that area will become and eventually the confusion will be gone.  We will not see that as we will already be in the shelter of the Bahamanian Islands by then.

How much or how little we will be under the influence of the bad weather up north, I do not know. By lunch time it pushed the first weather front over us, so we had some rain on deck by noon time, and now we wait and see. Thus far the local weather forecast does not look that bad but it seldom takes heavy squalls into account and thus we wait and see until we have Half Moon Cay right in front of us without any nasty black clouds hanging above and around it.