Part Four: Creative Exploration. Quotes from the Captain

Ships are known for pampering and spoiling their pax. An over-abundance of food; a full “what’s happening” program of activity; heavily-promoted and tempting sales for those who shop (not us);  evening entertainments; casino; lectures, leisure around the Lido pool and for those who desire, a Spa. However all the time this activity unfolds, there is another reality taking place aboard ship:  the challenges of the elements faced by officers and crew on the Bridge. The Captain on our recent sailing, Master Albert Schoonderbeek, has his own Blog, sharing some of this other reality. Here are some excerpts:

 

 Henri with Captain Schoonderbeek

April 14 (at sea) “We got the full brunt of the Caribbean Sea winds. Normally called the Trade Winds but this went beyond what a Trade Wind is supposed to be.  Winds of 30 knots sometimes peaking at 40 knots are not Trade Winds. They are gales.  For the pax luckily the winds were mostly on the bow so it did not affect life o/b. The front superstructure of the ship is nicely shielding the winds from reaching the walk-around (promenade) decks.”

April 15 (Bonaire) “The wind kept pounding away and pushed the current up as well.”

April 16 (Willemstad, Curacao) “The port entrance, St. Anna Baai, is perpendicular on wind and current. If you head straight in on course line, you’d run aground.  Wind and current push you onto the west side of the Channel.  It is not one of the easiest ports.”

April 20 (at sea) “After a long but good day in the Panama Canal it was time for some relaxation. 

Flying Fish

We saw turtles paddling by, dolphins showing off, and a few flying fish trying to take off.  There was no wind and they fell back in the sea after a few feet.”

April 24 (Puerto Chiapas, Mexico)  “The rising of the sun was eagerly awaited by us on the bridge so that we could see the breakwater and how the swell was doing.  Sunrise was at 06h50 but we do not need the daylight to have a good look. 

"For the sailor, sunrise exists in three stages. First: NAUTICAL TWILIGHT, the moment you can still see the stars but also the horizon, so you can take star observations from your position fix.  Then there is CIVIL TWILIGHT, the moment the stars are too vague to still use the sextant. That period lasts until the sun comes above the horizon.  Each period lasts about 20 minutes.  By 06h30 when civil twilight started, we could already see enough of the breakwater to get a good estimate how the swell was running.  The breakwater was doing its job, breaking the water.  It was low tide, and that meant there would be no more than 12 feet (!) under the keel.”

April 30 (at sea)  “The highest winds we observed were around 15h00 when it breezed up to 43 knots.  That is a wind force 9 on Mr. Beaufort’s scale.  The 30-40 knots of wind slows the ship down and then the swell that comes with it (13-16 feet) will do the rest”.

May 2 (at sea) “Entering the North Pacific. No more wind. Very low hanging clouds and so thick that visibility was reduced to about 150 feet.  In the old Atlantic days they would call that a “one funnel fog”, you could only see the first of the three or four funnels.  The bridge went to battle stations, double manning, all watertight doors closed, and the foghorn blowing every 2 minutes so the whole world could hear that we were there, and that the Captain was on the bridge.”

We had a mix of sunny, hot weather, rolling seas, strong winds, fog, calm seas – all in three weeks.  When we reached Juan de Fuca Strait it was sunny, with the ocean like a mirror.  (Living in this region, we know how rare that is when sometimes major storm winds barrel down the Strait, which is also often shrouded in fog.) 

The ship arrived at the pilot station on schedule at 17h30, ready to dock an hour later at Ogden Point in Victoria.  From the sports deck, starboard, we sighted with binoculars the “White House” and two windows of our apartment.  Welcome home. Enjoy!

Henri van Bentum

Part Three Panama Canal voyage: Creative Exploration, Mexico

Hualtulco, Mexico (April 25)  29oC.  Not long ago, Hualtulco was a sleepy fishing village.  

Locals Can Buy Coconut To Quench Their Thirst

Now transformed into a major tourist resort.  Hualtulco was “created”, like Cancun, by FONATUR -  the Mexican government tourist agency.  The agency’s computers determined it to be a good spot, then they flew over the region, mapping out its design.  According to the local guides, this enterprise seems to have paid off. From late autumn through winter and spring, it’s packed.   

Relaxing in garden restaurant, Hualtulco

80% of its tourism is domestic because of limited air access. There are 9 bays and many small coves stretching over 26 kms of coast.  Dozens of beaches, with one just 5 minutes from the ship.  

Manzanillo next.   The movie “10” was filmed here. 

With local beauties at pier

It’s still a laid-back place, surprisingly, compared to Puerto Vallarta which also came alive after a movie was filmed on location (“The Night of the Iguana”  of Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and Ava Gardner fame.)   

With the mega Swordfish sculpture

The centre of town is dominated by a huge, blue sculpture of a swordfish, adopted as the symbol of Manzanillo which calls itself the “swordfish fishing capital of the world”.)  But this industry puts them under threat. One day this sculpture might be our sole memory.  

Puerto Vallarta - we know PV very well, having spent about a dozen winters there. The day of our arrival a major Triathlon was in full gear.  So we stayed around the pier and visited the nearby parrot rescue station. 

 "Sorry, I don't have a cracker"

Great fun.  They make a racket.  A fellow aboard ship told us he used to work at an animal rescue centre where there were macaws and parrots.  One of the parrots learned to mimic the sound of a neighbouring dog that happened to be a Rottweiler.  As he did his chores, sometimes he would hear growling, but was never sure whether it was the parrot, or the dog! He said it was a bit unnerving.  

Natasha aboard ship  Bahia de Banderas in background, Puerto Vallarta

In San Diego a group of birdwatchers embark on the ship. The next 3 days they were on deck all the time, morning to night.  With very expensive camera and telephoto lens equipment. 

Passionate Birdwatchers

However Natasha was the only one who spotted the black-footed albatross, just with her eyes. Coming up the coast of California and Oregon, we had stormy weather with a Beaufort 9 reading one afternoon. Boiling seas, perfect for the "storm bird". 

Albatross enjoying the 'breeze' on its endless journey

Overall we noticed once again how sea life is becomes less and less visible.  The odd family of dolphins, a whale here and there, flying fish (especially in the Caribbean). I spotted a large sea turtle paddling away all by itself close to the ship, and a couple of swordfish. May 4 we arrived in Victoria, BC.  Our home port. And for the first time we disembarked right at our doorstep.  A great way to come home.

Henri van Bentum

 

Part Two, Creative Exploration: Panama, Central America

Panama Canal (April 19) – this was our fourth time going through this amazing engineering feat with its series of locks that make it possible for ships to get from one ocean to the next.  The Panama Canal is actually a “bridge of water”.   

Kuna woman of San Blas (Panama)

We found a good spot in the cool Crow’s Nest on Deck 12.  It took us about seven hours to get through all the locks, nine if you count the time the pilot is on board. Before entering the Panama Canal, we presented the Captain with a photo taken of the Panama Canal from the International Space Station at 375 kms. above the Earth by my fellow Circumnavigator Club member, Commander and Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield. 

Foto of west entrance Panama Canal from space (tiny dots are ships waiting their turn), taken by 

Commander and Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield aboard International Space Station.

In turn Captain Albert Schoonderbeek invited us for “cocktails”.  I put cocktails in quotes, because during his tenure he doesn’t drink.  

Captain Albert Schoonderbeek with Henri and Natasha

The Captain said there is a ½ hour leeway for latecomers when we asked how often he has to leave passengers behind at the dock. If departure is stated as “16h30 all aboard”, he can wait until 17h00.  He’d only stay longer if one of the shore excursion groups was late. Otherwise the gangway is lifted, ropes are untied and any late passengers are left behind. But it happens only rarely. Later in another blog post, we will include some quotes from the Captain’s own blog.

Henri enjoys comfort of a typical Costa Rican artisan chair

Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica (April 21) –  31o C.  We opted for a folklore tour, travelling through lush countryside for a couple of hours.  Costa Rica is very green in more ways than one, with an awareness and keen focus on the environment.

 Guatemalan Textiles

Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala (April 23) 32 o C.  We travelled to Antigua, the UNESCO World Heritage city of Mayan origin.  On the way to our bus we were blinded by the psychedelic colours of the woven textiles, rainbows of colour everywhere. 

Antigua, Guatemala, a UNESCO World Heritage site

Antigua is a cobblestone city.  They recently re-discovered jade nearby.  Royal jade was the noble stone of Mayan kings and queens.  We visited the Jade Museum in Antigua.   

The nobles were buried covered in Jade

Puerto Chiapas, Mexico (April 24) – 30o C.  You can see the connection with Mayan culture here in Chiapas and links with Guatemala. Many pyramids to visit, more evidence of the Mayan era.

Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico

Henri van Bentum

Creative Exploration Part One: "ABC" Isles of Netherlands Antilles

We’re back from our memorable 3 week voyage of Creative Exploration from Florida to Victoria. First port of call out of Ft. Lauderdale was Bonaire, one of the “ABC” isles in the Netherlands Antilles.  They are: Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao.   But actually, from a geographical point of view, they are either “BCA” or from the other direction “ACB” islands.   In Bonaire, we visited the volcanic formations of this island that is covered with Aloe cacti.

We came across this amusing sign in Bonaire

Next up:  Curacao, and its capital of Willemstad, with its amazing moving pedestrian bridge that lets tugboats and other boats go through. One button is pushed to close the bridge for pedestrians, the other button is pushed to move the bridge diagonally. Imagine this:  it moves the whole bridge sideways.  Curacao is famous of course for its orange liqueur and Willemstad for its pastel-coloured houses.  We were there 2006, but now we’ve visited all 3 islands.

Henri on the pedestrian bridge that moves sideways, Willemstad, Curacao

Last of the three islands was Aruba.  We visited a “Flutterby” sanctuary where dozens and dozens of tropical Mariposas, Papillons, fluttered around us in a lush garden. 

 Their amazing life cycle from egg, larvae, caterpillar, pupa, crysallis to the wondrous flutterers, was there for all to see. 

Next installment: Panama Canal, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

Henri van Bentum 

Ahoy - if you've been wondering the "no-show" lately on our blog, it's not because we have nothing to submit.  Au contraire.  We've just returned from a memorable Creative Exploration voyage including the ABC islands in the Netherlands Antilles (Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao), Panama Canal transit, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Chiapas, Hualtulco and had the pleasure of stepping off the ship right at our doorstep in Victoria.  A ten-minute walk from ship to home.  Signing off for now, Henri