Dear readers, my apologies for not contributing for several days. Towards the end of one’s contract, there never seem to be enough hours in a day. What with social functions, endless paperwork, (reports in various guises) and the everyday responsibilities of commanding a cruise ship, time to sit and write to you seems to be at a premium.

I write from the Atlantic, we are enroute towards Castries, St. Lucia, where we arrive tomorrow, Saturday. Since writing to you, we have called at Fortaleza and Belem, Brazil, and Devil’s Island, French Guyana. We have been blessed with relatively nice weather, being near the equator we have seen increasing humidity, temperatures and rain, nevertheless, our guests seem to have enjoyed it all.

Fortaleza is Brazil’s 11th most populated city in Brazil and lies on its north-eastern coast. Like many ports we call at, it is mainly commercial, however they are building a new cruise-ship berth which will be completed by 2014. The challenge with this port is the swell, it can roll into the harbour and make docking, or more to the point, staying alongside, difficult. Our pilot informs me that we are the first cruise ship to make it for some time, others having to cancel because of the conditions. Even so, with the swell we ranged up and down on the dock and moorings lines had to be tended all day. I spent the day on board, too much to do and hence the photos come from my ‘roving reporter’, Karen.

(more…)

Topics: Captain's Log, Grand Voyages, ms Amsterdam, South America | | 13 Comments

Since we left Fort Lauderdale in January, the Project Linus team has been hard at work. More than 170 blankets, not to mention countless hats and bears, have been made. That is twice as many as last year! (Thanks to Brad Elliott for some of the below photos.)

(more…)

Topics: Captain's Log, Good Deeds, Grand Voyages, ms Amsterdam | | 4 Comments

I know this island well, one might say ‘intimately’, for not only did I call here on the ‘Mail’ run, but I also spent over a week here, after abandoning my ship, along with 83 others, we were brought back here by the tanker which sighted our lifeboats and rescued us. Having nothing but a rather dirty-white uniform to my name, the Americans on the base were kind enough to donate clothing, mine being a Hawaiian shirt and a pair of bright blue and white striped trousers, one could see me coming a mile away .

I was concerned about the conditions at the anchorage, as I knew from past experience that there can be quite large South Atlantic swells, the area offering little protection from them. Unfortunately, so it came to be; having anchored in the pristine water, the swell looked deceptively low, although we were moving, even at anchor. Sending our tender ashore, the crew had enormous difficulty getting alongside the relatively short and exposed dock, it wasn’t really designed for ships’ tenders, rather the small boats that the islanders use and seldom do they try to tie up, preferring to get close and having the occupants ‘jump’ off. It soon became apparent that this was not going to work, the safety of our guests is paramount and damage to our tenders is to be avoided, these conditions were a harbinger of both factors.

Reluctantly, I had to cancel our call and recover our tenders, waiting in the anchorage while the Island merchandise was sold on board and at 1 p.m. weighed anchor for a scenic cruise of the island, before setting courses for Brazil. My guests were disappointed of course, as was I, however the majority were very understanding, there are always those who do not quite see it from my perspective though.

(more…)

Topics: Captain's Log, Explorer's Scrapbook, Grand Voyages, ms Amsterdam, Postcards from... | | 6 Comments

St. Helena

An island that I once called at regularly on the ‘Mail’ run, little seemed to have changed since my days of calling. Once again, an anchorage port and as we rounded the headlands on our approach, a ship was already there: the R.M.S. “St. Helena”, (the RMS being Royal Mail Ship). She replaced our Union-Castle ships when they were withdrawn from service.

Being a volcanic island, the sides steeply shelved into the abyss, so it was necessary to get in close, over the rocky bank, to be able to anchor. The weather was favourable for tendering and so, by 10 a.m. the first of our guests were making the short journey to the pier. Some had tours arranged, one of the main ones being to Longwood House, the building in which Napoleon Bonaparte had spent his last days after being exiled here by those pesky Brits. He was buried here, however his remains were exhumed and he now lies in his beloved France.

(more…)

Topics: Captain's Log, Grand Voyages, ms Amsterdam, Postcards from... | | 3 Comments

Another port I had visited during my early years, in those days on cargo ships and loading bags of fishmeal, now I was here on a magnificent cruise ship; I wonder what thoughts would have been passing through my mind, had I seen the Amsterdam arriving during my days as a cadet……

A gale was forecast for us, as we made our way north, paralleling the west-coast of South Africa and Namibia. This one was a ‘south-easter’ and was to reach gale-force 8, with 5 metre swells. Sure enough, the prediction was correct and we found ourselves ‘surfing’ the massive swell with a 50-knot wind coming from astern of us, however our stabilisers coped admirably and the movement of the Amsterdam was quite reasonable under the circumstances.

Walvis Bay caters mainly for cargo ships and the port was full, with 15 or so ships waiting outside at the anchorage, waiting their turn to dock. We had another ‘tight’ docking; squeezing in between a cargo ship ahead of us and a trawler, one of many here because of the rich fishing grounds to seaward; the Benguela current providing the nutrition for marine life.

Walvis Bay lies on the edge of the Namib desert, as does Swarkopmund, a town to the north, which many of our guests visit. Both places have a strong German influence, particularly Swarkopmund, as this was settled by the Germans long ago and there was a large influx of them after WW2. The tours cater for treks into the ‘badlands’, National parks of inhospitable desert country and the vast shifting sand dunes that line the coast; here quad-bikes are the norm and many tour them on these vehicles.

(more…)

Topics: Captain's Log, Explorer's Scrapbook, Grand Voyages, ms Amsterdam, Shore Excursions | | 2 Comments

Our voyage towards this beautiful city paralleled the South African coast and as we made our way south-west we passed some of the ports I used to call at during the days of my early career. I used to visit South Africa regularly, when I was a junior officer with the Union-Castle line and grew to love the country and its people. I knew the seas well and its idiosyncrasies, its currents and where not to go in the ‘south-westers’, gales which come roaring up the coast. Just off the 100 fathom line was not a place to be in these gales, for here, the Agulhas current, moving south down the coast, would collide with the gales and would result in enormous waves; ships had disappeared without trace in these conditions and many ships had limped in to harbour with decks smashed and, in one case, broken backs. Such was the case with a ‘Ben line’ ship that limped into Durban while I was an apprentice; she was fortunate to survive, for she, having encountered a rogue wave, had broken her back and looked more like a banana, both her bow and her stern low in the water, her amidships section higher.

I digress, for no such gales were in our vicinity and I concentrated on finding the Agulhas current, if I could we would get a ‘ride’ south and thus save fuel. We found it further to the east than I expected and sure enough, we were propelled along nicely and, at one point were making 20.5 knots with just 2 diesel-generators on line; a current of 6 knots in our favour. Such was the massive effect of the Agulhas, that we saved almost 200 metric tonnes of fuel by finding and riding it.

Dawn was breaking as rounded the Cape, the mountains silhouetted against the rising sun; we were rolling despite our stabilisers being out, this due to the ‘Cape rollers’, a large swell for which this area is renown. Turning into Table Bay, past Robben Island and in towards the pilot station, Table Mountain ahead of us and our decks packed with guests enjoying the breathtaking vista.

(more…)

Topics: Captain's Log, Grand Voyages | | 2 Comments

Richard’s Bay, South Africa

When I left you, we were heading south towards this port on the Natal coast of South Africa. I had last been here on a bulk-carrier, loading 100,000 tonnes of coal for Europe, now I was appearing on a luxury cruise liner, how times change. The good news is that we found that current, once we hit it, we started flying along and were able to reduce the number of diesel generators we needed. That was the good news; the bad news was that the ‘south-wester’ I mentioned came up the coast like a bat out of hell and the early morning found us in 35 to 40 knot winds and driving rain showers; unfortunate, because the direction of channel leading into the harbour resulted in this wind being on the beam as we went in. Hmmmnnn…

There were 20 or so ships at anchor outside, all waiting for a ‘slot’ to berth, all riding awkwardly in the rough sea and wind. I hove-to off the port while we assessed the situation and also waited for the pilot. Distances inside the harbour were checked and re-checked again, speed going in was crucial, speed would offset some of the wind’s effect, but being able to stop, once in, had to be taken into account too.

The pilot boards by helicopter here and soon it appeared out of the rain, it circled once and then the pilot brought it in, hovering over the foredeck, winched the pilot down and was gone in a thrice; neat work in such conditions.

(more…)

Topics: Captain's Log, Explorer's Scrapbook, Grand Voyages, ms Amsterdam, Postcards from..., Shore Excursions | | 6 Comments

Maputo, Mozambique

Maputo lies on the East African coast and I last visited there during my ‘general cargo ship’ days of the 1970’s; then it was called Lourenco Marques and was under Portuguese administration. As a cadet, one could use bars of soap as currency, this came in handy because I only earned $15 or £10 per month. I advised the guests not to try it this call though!

Access to the port is complicated, for it lies 30 some miles from the open ocean and the navigable channel twists and turns between sandbanks. The channel has buoys, or at least it is meant to, however we found that some were out of position and others were unlit, as it was dark on arrival at 0430, it was matter of resorting to ‘electronic’ navigation, our charts and GPS. It is also shallow, so I had timed our arrival at the sea-buoy so that we could reduce speed, thus avoiding ‘squat’; I have mentioned this before, it is a hydraulic effect which results in a ship lower in the water because the water it is displacing cannot be replaced fast enough.

It was a hot and humid day as we berthed and I chose to hitch a ride (for my photos) to the market. On the way we passed buildings of its colonial past, not least of which was the Railway station …

(more…)

Topics: Captain's Log, Grand Voyages, ms Amsterdam | | 1 Comment