We are in the Caribbean as I write, seas are calm and the sun is shining, a far cry from the previous 2 days after our departure from Port Everglades.
I suppose that I should start this post at the beginning of our 2016 Grand World Voyage, the 5th of January. A cold front had swept over Florida on the previous day, although I’m sure that many of you reading this would have been grateful for the low 70° temperatures that it brought. As I walked up the gangway at 7:30 am, the wind was howling across the dock and the nearby palm trees bending under the strain.
A turn-around for a Grand World Voyage is always hectic. Logistically, masses of stores, fuel, provisions are being loaded, not to mention the vast amount of guest luggage. Crew change is going on too, almost 120 crew are being exchanged and replaced. As a consequence, the pier was a scene of what, to the uninitiated, would would appear to be chaos; it was in fact a ballet of organisation.
Up the gangway and to my cabin, exchanging greetings with Fred (Eversen), the Captain I was relieving and then down to business; Handover paperwork and discussions concerning pertinent matters, the time flew by and before I knew it, it was time to get into uniform and prepare to meet and greet our VIP guests who were waiting to embark. (Thrown into this group was Karen, who was joining with a friend, (another ‘Karen’) and who, between them, had 16 pieces of luggage). I had arranged for this to be moved from the rental (truck/van?) to the ship by a kindly porter. He took one look at the mass of suitcases and went back for a very large baggage cage 🙂
Don’t be fooled, these are all like Russian dolls; suitcases with suitcases inside 🙂
Early morning, our off-going Chief Engineer, Hans Bloks, was leaving the Amsterdam for the last time. After 50 years with HAL, it was time for him to ‘swallow the anchor’ and retire. A limo was waiting at the gangway, the decks were lined with crew and the ship’s whistles had a good workout as Hans left us, no doubt with a heavy heart and moist eyes.
Hans, escorted by our incumbent Chief Engineer, Piet, bids farewell.
The remainder of the day was spent catching up with all that was occurring, interspersed with visits to the dock, to greet VVIPs who were sailing with us. During all this, I was keeping a wary eye on that pesky wind, it had shown no signs of abating, in fact it had increased since my arrival and in the early evening I decided to order the assistance of a tug for our departure, not am auspicious start to our voyage.
We prepared for our departure at 11 pm by going to our ‘red’ manning at 10:45 pm, going through our procedures and intended maneuver for exiting the narrow waterway and channel for the open sea. Pilot on board and a whacking great tug made fast on the starboard bow, we let go our lines and made our way up the waterway, all the while pushing the Amsterdam up against the 30+ kt wind; we made the turn for the main channel, let-go our tug and then rapidly increased speed. (As many of you know by now, ‘speed’ is crucial in strong winds and confined waters). Out past the condos, (no whistle-blowing at this time of night), we encountered the first of the swell, gently pitching as we made our way toward the sea-buoy.
The pilots wanted to disembark as soon as they could, conditions were such that they needed to. They made their way from the Bridge and we commenced a hard turn to the south, putting the wind and seas on our port side in order to give them shelter on the starboard, the side on which the ladder lay. Successfully completed, we set courses down the Straits of Florida, making for the western tip of Cuba, which we passed early this morning.
Puerto Limon, Costa Rica, is our first port on Saturday morning, thence through the Panama Canal on Sunday. If I receive it in time, I will post the lock schedule, you may be able to watch us ‘live’ on the Canal CCTV system.
