An early morning call, still dark as I went to the Bridge and although my eyes had yet to accustom to the darkness, the wind was apparent, whistling on the angular sections of the superstructure.

We were the first of 3 arrivals, we being #1.  The Navigator was allowing for the wind, trying to stay on our track and steering 15°  higher to compensate.  The pilot had been ordered for 7 a.m. and as we approached the narrow entrance in the now early-morning light, he asked for boarding speed of 5 knots, around 6 mph.  There was no way we could board him and increase enough speed to get through the entrance, (the ship would ‘crab’ sideways and take up too much width) and so we kept our speed , knowing that the pilot could board in the harbour.  Right at the entrance, a gust of 40 knots, (44 mph), as if we needed reminding. 

Through into the channel and a slight decrease in wind, a slight reduction in speed, however still making 9 knots.  With the dock approaching fast, the advantage of azipods came to the fore, onto ‘joystick’ and turned them to full astern while controlling the drift sideways due to the wind.  Our speed fell off  sufficiently for the pilot to board as we made our way to the berth.; a pier which was only 49m long (about 150 feet), so we ‘balanced’ alongside while we sent our mooring lines ashore, some of them going to a mooring buoy.

I was concentrating so much that I forgot to turn the Go Pro on, my apologies, however, here’s a snapshot of the harbour and our ‘track’, the black line.

It remained windy all day, so I was reluctant to venture ashore, however managed a few photos of Castries from the Bridge.

The “Freedom of the Seas”  docked astern of us.

The Ladies however ventured to the east side of the island.  Taking transport from the dock to a water-taxi terminal, they then went to an island hotel for the day.

One of our 2nd Navigating officers took her out and by way of recompense I remembered to turn the GP on……………

I write as we make our way towards Devil’s Island in French Guiana, the infamous French Penal colony. We arrive there tomorrow  morning having sailed through a ‘bit of a blow’, strong winds and rough seas; never mind, it’s slowly improving……..