Approaching the dock at Frederiksted is one of the simplest things there is in the world of cruise ports. It is basically putting the brakes on and not to overshoot. The pier is a long finger pier which can take mega liners and it sticks straight out into the open sea. Quite a long pier as the first part has to bridge the shallows before deep water is reached. We have a pilot here, simply because it is compulsory and he will bring some news about current, wind and also points out how far we can go. And that is all there is to it.

The initial approach. A bit to the south of the pier to compensate for the South Easterly Wind.

Still this over simplifies the whole thing and most cruise ship captains are a bit wary about St. Croix as the berth is not really sheltered. With a normal easterly wind, the island provides a lee but if the wind is a bit more to the South East or to the North East it might be different. Today we were the only ship in port so we could choose which side to dock to go alongside and thus used the wind as our friend. And that gave the chance to use the “blow to the dock maneuver”. We also have another one, the “blow away maneuver” if the wind is off the dock. That is even easier.  With the blow to the dock version, we approach from a safe distance, find the balance between the wind and the thrusters and then let the wind push us gently to the dock, while moving forward towards position, and stop the momentum with the thrusters just before we touch the dock.  The dock here has nice fenders so it can take a bump. But bumps do cause paint scratches and nobody wants the wraith of the Bo ‘sun. You never know if one day, suddenly paint is spilled from above at a location where you just happen to stand.

The blow to the dock maneuver, staying nicely away from the red lines and letj the wind do the work.

Cruise ships have been absent from St. Croix for a number of years, when things were not so safe here. For a while it was advised not to move beyond the first few blocks in the town and not to go ashore in the evenings if the ship made a late call. So the cruise ships dropped the port which was not good for the local economy and nearly everybody stayed away for a number of years. Now things are better and the ships are slowly returning as it is quite a nice island.

They suffered greatly here during the last hurricane and services are only now returning to normal. Blue Tarpaulin can still be seen on roofs and damage to private properties and shops has still not been repaired. One Guest reported today that a local grocery store had only one refrigerator in operation and could thus did not sell soda as the 2^nd fridge was full with beer. You have to set priorities I suppose. I did not have time to go ashore but I saw that the Danish Fort near the pier was in a very dilapidated state and I do not think that there will be any repairs affected in the near future. The locals still have other things on their mind.  I say Danish Fort as St Croix also was Danish in the past, same as St Thomas and it was part of the sale between Denmark and the USA.

The long pier leading into town. The red structure is the Danish fort built to keep the pirates out. It controlled the best anchor area of St.Croix. Hence they built the cruise dock over here was well.

We had an early departure here, A  as the island only has a limited number of attractions and B  because we have to make it to Half Moon Cay on time. This is the last call of our cruise before we return to Fort Lauderdale.  HMC for short has been selected time and time again as the best destination of Holland America in the Caribbean and it has also won several travel awards saying that it is the best private cruise company in the Caribbean Sea.  So we have to be there on time. Luckily wind and current will give us a push in the back and that will help use to gain time and achieve some plus. Tomorrow will be a day at sea, to either relax, or partake in all the on board activities.

I was busy to day with a whole series of refresher courses for the crew and introducing some new things for the officers who do the trainings on board. Things keep changing and new ideas bubble to the surface. Since we are getting our trainings coordinated by Carnival Corporation between all the brands, a lot of ideas are bubbling up and then have to be passed on and absorbed. Although the various companies’ retain their own identity, their own brand as marketing says; there is only one way to lower a lifeboat and is timely and safely and thus the best practices are collected from each Brand and rolled out over all the ships.

Tomorrow we sail all day in the North Atlantic and we will have some wind and swell but it will be from behind. How the weather develops remains to be seen as there is a lot of bad weather up north and if it does what it is supposed to do according to the weather guru’s it will not affect us but if it dips down just a little bit then a cold front over Cuba might intensify and then everything will change.

Sailing in the Carib is sometimes a bit confusing as there are more ports or islands with the same names. There are two Basseterre’s, there are two St. Johns, then there are the US Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands, etc. etc. Then some of the islands are Dutch or French or British, or independent or semi-independent so you have to keep a close eye on where you are going and what the status of each island exactly is.  Most islands have their own flag, even if they are considered an extended part of the mother country and they do get annoyed if we do not follow the flag protocol that they want.  Occasional we do get it wrong, if we do not pay close attention to what the quartermaster is doing, or we get the wrong flag sent to the ship. The British make it really complicated, as they have white, red and blue versions of their flag and occasionally we get the wrong ones on board. (White ensign = navy, Red Ensign = country, Red ensign = merchant fleet) Some of the British or British affiliated islands do the same and if we then get a Red Ensign for Grand Cayman instead of the Blue one, then we are in trouble.

What is even more complicated is the rule that the House flag should never be larger than the flag of the Nation that we visit and should also not be bigger than the national flag of the country of registration (in our case the Dutch flag) As we cannot always control what is sent to us, as a company flag, it is sometimes hard to comply with that rule. And when I looked at the flags of our neighbour today, I also saw that they were breaking the rules most likely because they did not have any other flags available. Procurement goes by computer and what goes in the computer comes out of it again, sometimes in quite a startling way…………………. And changing what is in the computer………………….

The flag of Antigua and Barbuda.

So today we were in St. John’s, Antigua. Or officially it is Antigua and Barbuda as the two largest islands together form the official name of the country. They used to be British but went independent in 1981. They had the wisdom to create a completely original flag so at least with this country we do not get confused. And I think it is a very nice one, I quote:   The 7 point golden sun of the Antigua & Barbuda flag represents the dawn of a new era. The colour red, the life blood of slave forefathers and the dynamism of the people. Blue represents hope, black, the soil and African heritage and gold blue & white Antigua’s and Barbuda’s tourist attractions sun, sea and sand.

Docking with the nose in downtown. If you are here in the evening then it takes exactly 3 minutes from the gangway to the nearest bar with draft beer. Can’t understand why we have to sail at 17.00 hrs.

St. John’s is a very nice place to visit; it has a good and long dock to park at, even today with 4 ships in port we all had a good dock and good access to the town. It is full of shopping malls and shops for those who want to invest in the local economy and the people are amazingly friendly, taking into account that they have to deal with these large invasions of tourists every day. (Today the four ships put about 10,000 passengers ashore not counting the crew) A major attraction are the very white and vast beaches on the west side of the island and a long time ago, I was educated in the local version of “Chicken in the Basket” with local herbs and spices and that tasted a lot better than in any other restaurant outside the islands.

The docks in St. John’s are far inside the island and a long dredged channel leads to it. That channel is a mixed blessing, the good part is, it brings you to a very nice and sheltered port where the ship docks almost in down town, the bad part can be, when the Trade Wind is very strong and a bit off angle. Then you drift sideways in the channel which is not so wide. Then it can be very difficult for the big boys to get in. The same as we had wind issues and drifting in Cienfuegos last cruise, the “Apartments of the Seas” would have it here, while the small Veendam would probably make it.

The long way in. The depths in the channel vary from 30 to 35 feet (very minimum depth) as we draw about 28 feet, there is normally about 7 to 8 feet under the keel.

From St. Johns we sail tonight back north towards the Virgin Islands and we will go to St. Croix, the 3^rd island of the US Virgin Islands (St. Thomas, St Johns, St. Croix) Here we arrive at 08.00 hrs. and we are supposed to be all by ourselves.  The main town on the island is Frederiksted and that is also were we are going to. It will be a warm day with temperatures in the town reaching 82oF or 28oC. Hopefully the Trade Wind will bring some cool winds but not too much otherwise we will have issues docking at the pier.

The nice of thing about Castries is that it has a very nice sheltered harbor from the predominant Easterly winds. So even if the Trade Winds reach their maximum velocity, Castries is normally a safe bet for a safe docking and a good day in port. As such it was this morning when we approached at 07.00 hrs. outside there was about 20 to 25 knots of wind but inside it hovered around 15 knots. No worries about not getting in.  As the wind was scheduled to reduce in velocity later in the day, the captain opted to dock nose in. That was a good idea anyway as the dock were we were going to, ends up in the rocks and that is not good for the propellers if you get to close.

Castries harbor. As you see it is a straight line all the way in. The small white triangle is the AIS from a small ship coming in. (AIS = Automatic Identification Signal)

Today we docked at the Elizabeth Pier, or berth 3 & 4 right with the nose in the middle of Castries. There are also two dedicated cruise berths, Seraphine 1 and 2, which are the normal docks for the cruise ships, but when there is no cargo ship in port they put one cruise ship in down town. Today we were the lucky one, while the Aida Vita went to the cruise terminal, Seraphine 1. The 3^rd ship the Star Dream never showed up, unless it was a very futuristic looking private yacht in black and mocha colors that docked at the general cargo pier. But I could not read the name.

The leading lights towering over the warehouses. As you can see the beacons are not yet in line. The ship has just swung around and still has to line up for sailing out.

Sailing into Castries is fairly simple, it is a straight course until you pass the first cruise dock on the portside and then you adjust for your own way of approaching the dock. To make it easier to sail that straight course, there is a leading light system set up on the downtown dock and if you keep both lights or both day marks in line, then you are perfectly in the middle of the channel. The only thing we are concerned about here is the airport. It lies in a hidden corner behind a rock when coming in, and when going out. You can only see the landing strip once you start passing it. Why is it a concern, because we cannot see if a plane is arriving or departing. Can it cause a problem, yes, as time is flexible in St. Lucia. The pilot on the ship always confers with the control tower to find out if there is air traffic expected and most of the time the answer is correct. But not always. Either the Control tower does not care about the ships or the approach times given are not correct. Time is flexible, also in the air.

Overview of the port with the airport prominently visible. The rocks with the trees on it on either side are just high enough to obscure any plane approaching or leaving.

Most cruise ships captains eventually have the experience that an aircraft comes buzzing by, while the all clear was given with an ETA, well before or well passed our passing time. Most of the aircraft here are of smaller size as St. Lucia has a bigger airport to the South.  Is this a concern? If we could be sure that they would fly in at a good height, than it would not be.  But on occasion we have a sky-jock who wants to put their wheels down on the first inch of tarmac when he or she gets there and that means their fly path in the descent is at our bridge level. Although a steel ship will always win it from an aluminum tin can, the idea of a collision is not appealing. I had this experience once when a local 16 or 32 seater plane came in and went for the early touch down. It passed about 100 meters in front of our bow. I was outbound and then 100 meters is not much as you are in the process of speeding up from maneuvering speed to about 10 knots. I do not know how the pilot in the plane reacted when he saw 60,000 tons of momentum coming at him but I was not a happy camper. Explanation from the Control Tower was that this plane was supposed to come in 10 minutes later but arrived early. (Maybe the pilot found a short cut somewhere and wanted to be in before cocktail time)

The Pitons, as seen in 2014 from my own ship the Statendam. With volcanoes things do not change much in 4 years, so it all still looks the same.

We sailed at 15.00 hrs. which is on the early side but we also had sightseeing on the program. 15 miles to the south are the Pitons (= which means spike) at the south side of St. Lucia. These are over 700 meter high volcano cones. The outside of the volcano crater has eroded away, being lighter lava and the inside of being of much harder material has remained and is now a free standing pinnacle mountain. This is a UNSCO world heritage site due to its outstanding beauty. So we are going to have a look.

From there we put the pedal to the metal to get to St. Johns Antigua on time, where we are supposed to dock at 08.00 hrs. at one of the down town piers. It is going to be a full house if all the ships are showing up that are scheduled, with the Azure of P&O, the Adventure of the Seas of RCI and the Seabourn Odyssey, of our daughter company Seabourn. Everybody is coming in at the same time, so it will be an ocean liner parade.

Today all was well in the world. The weather was good, the sun shone and the local pilot was so excited about our visit that he even came out earlier than scheduled. Later on we realized that it had most likely to do with the fact that the other ship, the Silver Wind, never showed up and our earlier arrival maybe gave him the day off. But whatever the reason was, we were docked by 07.45 and docked with the nose out as we swung on arrival. Thus when we leave tonight at 20.00 hrs. it is a matter of minutes before we are outside again. Ships which sail at 17.00 or 1800 hrs., normally dock sb. side alongside, nose in, and then swing in the harbor when there is still day light. Day light is important as the inner bay is full of anchored yachts and not all of them switch on their anchor lights after dark. They should but there is nobody to police it and yachtie’s are very concerned about conserving power.

St Thomas on a “normal” day with all the docks full and even a ship on the anchorage. Behind the island in the middle lies Crown Bay which can also take two big ships.

Thus we had Charlotte Amalie, the town and the Havensight Shopping Mall all to ourselves. Also St. Thomas suffered from the strong hurricanes of last year and the roof of one of the warehouses, the one right under the bridge, had not been repaired yet and we could see all the liquor still stacked inside. The packaging had faded and deteriorated in the torrential rains and followed by the beating sun but the bottles were still in good shape. I suppose it must still be caught up in insurance negotiations so repairs have not been affected, as the liquor shops should be wealthy enough to be able to absorb the cost. A roof is not so expensive and duty free liquor is dirt cheap. Although it looked like that the top shelves also had two pallets with Johnny Walker Black and Blue label and that might be more expensive. I wonder what they will do with the liquor? Sell it for a discount as “hurricane stained” or have it go down the drain. …………….. that would make Scotland cry!!!

All that booze exposed to the sun. If our bridge wing had just been a little bit longer than we could have just fished it out.

Charlotte Amalie is bit of a strange name for a US port and that has to do with the fact that it is not really a US port or island it all. It used to be Danish in times gone by and named after the wife of the King of Denmark in 1691. Before that it was known as Taphus, which was derived from the Dutch word Tappen or pouring beer. So even 300 years ago the island already made its money from alcohol. In 1917 it was bought by the USA but very little changed as the town remained a free port. It started to become a tourist attraction when Cuba closed in 1961 and American Tourists needed another main focus point for their vacations not too far from home.

Savor the view. All by ourselves at the Pier. All to ourselves the town, the shopping mall and the beaches.

I have mentioned liquor a few times but nowadays it is less important than in the 80’s and 90’s. Then the Holland America ships in port used to run a complete tender service to get all the liquor on board that was bought by the guests. Now the emphasis is more on jewelry and electronics. Holland America has been coming to St. Thomas since March 1928 when the good old Veendam nbr. II (Capt. Watze Krol, voyage 44B) made the maiden call during a 14 day West Indies cruise from New York. That is now exactly 90 years ago. A pity it is not a 100 years, as that would have been a real milestone.  ………… Maybe that is why we are in port all by ourselves; as a birthday present.

Tonight we will leave at 20.00 hrs. and that is not really an evening call. The company is not that interested in scheduling an evening call here as late at night the place is still not very safe, although it has improved greatly in the last few years. But sailing away after dark is very nice with all the houses against the hill lit up, Blue beards Castle clearly visible and then at the entrance the Morning Star Beach Hotel giving a nice final view of the port.

During the night we will slowly sail towards Gustavia on Saint Barthelemy which is part of France. Thus tomorrow we are in Euro country although they take dollars as well. We have to anchor here and run a tender service as the port is very small.  Last time I was there was with the Prinsendam, on arrival it turned out that Mr. Abramovich had parked his yacht on my anchor spot (his yacht had about the same length as the Prinsendam) and just stayed there. The harbor master was quite happy with that as the Prinsendam paid $ 15,000 for the port call and our Russian friend had already guaranteed $ 100,000. It was Boxing Day and he was having breakfast with the rest of the Jet Set. I was not going to pay that much for breakfast, even with 700 guests. So I sailed on to Antigua and made the shop owners happy there. We will see what happens tomorrow as I have no idea where our friend Bram is at the moment.

This was one of those days, that did not look very good, but the ship made it work and it turned out well later. The Veendam sailed with a slow speed from the pilot station of Cienfuegos around the west point of Grand Cayman and then approached the anchorage of Georgetown. It was a whole parade as the 3 other ships were following behind us.  We could see as soon as it started to get light that we had two challenges: 1. The wind was from the wrong direction and we could not anchor. All the ships would veer the wrong way and come too close to each other or to the reefs or both. So the whole happy club had to stay on the engines and drift, but drift so little that they still would not come too close to each other. 2. This wrong wind, caused by the same system which made us stay away from Cienfuegos yesterday, brought a large band of nasty looking clouds over the island. And nasty looking clouds come with lots of nasty wind.  Extra wind pushes up the waves and that causes challenges for the safe tender service.

All ships drifting off the port. You can clearly see the prop wash of the Norwegian Escape, just behind the tenders.

Luckily the regular wind pushed those clouds away and by 09.00 hrs. we had regular Grand Cayman weather, sunny with nice small bands of white Cumulus clouds. Only the wind itself was still from the wrong direction. But for that we have the Captain and his navigation team and they played all day with the ship to keep it in position. Newer ships have D.P. or dynamic positioning. The GPS (Global Positioning System) is connected directly to the propellers and bow thrusters and it keeps the ship in the same spot, give or take a few feet. A navigator has only to sit behind the screen and make sure that it keeps doing what it is supposed to do. The Veendam is from an older generation. Although it has all the maneuvering gadgets, they are not connected to any automatic system, you cannot push a button and let it goe by itself. The captain has to push his own button and do it all by himself. (Or delegate to the Staff Captain on other Senior Officer)

When the wind is right. All ships with the bow on the shallow part and the stern still in the deep part. (Thank you Google Earth)

To drop the anchor we need a steady North Easterly wind and not a Northerly wind as we had today. What we do then, is we sail towards the reef outside Georgetown harbor. Grand Cayman is nothing but the top of a mountain pinnacle which rises up for a 1000 feet from the sea bottom. So we anchor on the ledge where the water is about 30 feet deep. That is where the anchor is and that is where the bow is. The stern is still floating over the 1000 feet depth. As all 4 ships anchor nicely in a row, they all get a little area assigned where they can drop the hook. To make sure that this goes right, the pilot boat comes out and parks itself above the exact location and then the captain brings the ship, read the anchor, exactly above the pilot boat. If he over shoots, the bow will hit the shallows, if he stays too far out, the anchor will miss the reef. Once in position the pilot boat moves away and the ship can drop the anchor.  Thus far no anchor has hit the pilot boat yet but there have been a few close calls where a too eager officer on the bow did not wait long enough for the pilot boat to be completely away. The anchor goes down and then the ship goes sideways so that the anchor chain is laid out over a section of the reef and the pilot in his boat advises if things are going well.

A view from the electronic chart, with the bow exactly on the edge of the 20 meter depth line and the anchor just outside the 10 meter depth line.

He does this with all four ships in a row and if they all do the same thing then each ship ends up 180 meters, or one cable, or 1/10 th. of a mile away from each other. That is not much but as the wind blows against all the ships in the same way, they all are being pushed to deep water and line up behind their anchor, which is hooked into the reef and keeps the ship in position. But that only works if the wind is exactly north east. Which it normally is, as that is the direction of the Trade Winds. Except when a weather front further north causes the wind to come from a different direction as was the case today.

With four ships in, out guests had to share downtown, and the tours and the beaches with 12000 other guests and that made for a busy day. Still it can be worse. On the 20^th of March the Nieuw Amsterdam is in with some really big boys and together they will put 20,000 guests ashore. Not much can be done about it, cruising is becoming more and more popular and with ships on the 7 day circuit, so they are all in the same ports on the same day at the same time as they depart and return to Florida each weekend.

From Grand Cayman we will sail back to Fort Lauderdale with a day at sea tomorrow and then in Fort Lauderdale we will start a cruise to the East Caribbean. By tomorrow the wind should be in the south east as it is still under the influence of the weather front up north. That wind will remain a challenge for the coming days.

All that nasty pink stuff up in North America causes the wind patterns to change in the Northern part of the Caribbean Sea.