On April 28, the ms Volendam was in Glacier Bay, Alaska. She is the first HAL ship and the second cruise ship to enter Glacier Bay this season.

The day started with snow storms in the early morning and strong winds. It can be seen that the ice is on the window wipers on the bridge and on the various outside decks.

After that it cleared and we had a spectacular day as can be seen in the pictures.

Glacier Bay, Alaska

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Topics: Alaska, Captain's Log, ms Volendam | | 18 Comments

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.

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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.)

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

The oldest passenger I have sailed with so far.

Born 1903. Her name is Florence Boggs and she made her first trip in 1922 from Hoboken to Oregon to study. After 4 years and finishing her study she traveled back, followed by a man who she met in college and married.

After his retirement they moved to California and she still lives in California. Since her husband passed away she still likes to go on cruises with her daughter. The daughter Joanne is traveling to Vancouver to stay with “the love of her life” who she met on a Holland America Line cruise a few years ago Mrs. Boggs is traveling with her. In about 6 weeks’ time they plan to travel back to California. Unfortunately none of our ships will be traveling in that direction at that time. In November Mrs. Boggs hopes to celebrate another crown year 110, her 105th was on a Holland America Line ship who knows she may be back for her birthday.

Florence Boggs and Captain Peter J. van Maurik

Peter J. van Maurik is Zaandam’s captain.

Topics: Captain's Log, ms Zaandam | | 2 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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