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.
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Topics: Captain's Log, Explorer's Scrapbook, Grand Voyages, ms Amsterdam, Postcards from..., Shore Excursions
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Stories from the sea, past and present
