Captain’s Log: Mercer Back Cruising the Grand World Voyage

Jan. 4-5:
I joined the “Amsterdam” again, yesterday, yet another World Cruise beckons, a circumnavigation of the globe; 32,500 nautical miles, 38 ports of call and 113 days.

Many guests will do the entire cruise, whilst others will do ‘segments’; parts of the voyage which appeal to them, for example, Port Everglades, Florida to Sydney, Australia or Sydney to Hong Kong. In other words, one has choices.

The World cruise Captain does not change, so I will be doing the entire circumnavigation, a long time when one considers the work and the hours involved, however it is the epitome of the Navigator’s art, one uses all the experience gained over the years and then some; isolated islands and bustling ports always provide challenges.

We Captains do all our own ship-handling, probably the most rewarding of my many responsibilities and certainly the most enjoyable. Imparting knowledge to up-and-coming officers is always a satisfying experience. I have on occasion seen an officer handle a ship and realised that they are going to be a ‘natural’, they have a feel for the ship and how it will behave in varying conditions.

Read the rest of this post HERE.

Jan. 6: at Sea
A sunny morning and it’s 82⁰F/ 29⁰C, calm and all is well with the world. Making 16 knots towards Puerto Limon; the morning has been taken up with paperwork, (the bane of Captains). Every time I’ve been ‘out on deck’, I have been approached by past guests and engaged in endless conversations, it’s just as well that when I go to the Lido restaurant, my lunch is usually a salad, this has the benefit of not going cold while I talk. :)

This evening is our first formal night and for me, Introductions. This involves standing on stage and introducing my key staff. I used to dread public speaking when I first started on cruise ships, no amount of training helps, (not that training exists), however now it’s relatively straightforward and an excellent opportunity to set the ‘tone’ of the cruise. As most, if not all, of the key staff are returning personnel, names present no challenge, remembering their biographical information is quite another matter, so, just like the old school days, writing it several times seems to do the trick; I’ll find out in a few hours.

Read the rest of this post HERE.

Jan. 7: at sea
The ship went to dry dock in San Diego, just before Christmas and we had our underwater hull painted, all the weed, flaking paint being blasted off and fresh, new paint applied. I already notice the difference, she is certainly moving through the water faster than I am used to.

Introductions went well, my memorising the officer’s bio details paid dividends, 11 staff and no memory lapses, thank goodness.

It must be a record, I had my first question about whether we’ll make Easter Island today; the norm is to ask after we have been through the Panama Canal and thus in the Pacific. There’s something about that pesky island, it’s on the ‘bucket list’ and does not have the ability for us to dock, taking guests ashore in our own tenders is the only means of landing them. More about that after the 21st, our calling date. (On the other hand, for once it may be kind to me and all you will see are pretty photos). :)

Read the rest of this post HERE.

Jan. 8: Puerto Limon, Costa Rica
This small port nestles in a bay, it has only 2 jetties and a container wharf. Swell can be a challenge here, although today is was more northerly and the breakwater offered some lee from the worst of it. Nevertheless, I backed in, so that the swell, or what there was of it, came onto the bow, rather than the stern…

…I popped ashore briefly, to take some photos from the harbour and just outside the dock gates. Most guests did something ‘ecological’ be it zip-line or rain forest, Costa Rica is, of course, famous for it all.

Goodies arrived in the cabin last night, the 2014 World cruise bag and journals; each guest receives them, it’s part of the experience. (Goodies are regularly gifted during the voyage).

Read the rest of this post HERE.

Jan. 9: The Panama Canal

A long day, a call at 4 a.m. and up to the bridge by 4:30; we are 6 miles from the breakwaters of Cristobal, at the north entrance to the Panama Canal. The radios are constantly busy, vessels calling in for orders, others reporting positions.

We turn onto a southerly heading, aiming for the entrance between the red and green breakwater lights; there’s a strong current setting us east and the Officer of the watch has to allow 8⁰ of set in order to counter it.

Our orders are to be at the breakwater entrance at 5 a.m., we pass through them at 4:58, reducing speed sufficiently to allow agents, officials and pilot to board all the while continuing our route down the channel…

…The Canal, between entrances is 51 miles in length and has three sets of locks; Gatun, Pedro Miguel and Miraflores. Gatun has a flight of 3 locks and takes us ‘up’ approximately 80ft, or 26m. From here one enters Gatun Lake to Gamboa, 32 miles and then into the Culebra cut, this is 8 miles long and 150m wide, it can only be transited ‘one way’ at a time, so north and southbound vessels are timed in order that either all north or south have cleared it, prior to the ‘other way’ entering.

The Cut takes us to Pedro Miguel locks, which lower us 28ft, 9.4m into another small lake and thence to Miraflores locks, which lowers us the last 50 feet, 16m to sea level.

Read the rest of this post HERE.

Why One Shouldn’t Anchor in Gatun Lake:
While transiting the Canal yesterday, after our fly-by of the new Gatun lock, we passed many ships at anchor, waiting either for their exit to the Caribbean via Gatun; or their turn to transit southwards.

The pilot asked me if I wanted to anchor or preferred to slow steam until our Cut passage was ready. I replied that I would rather steam; “good idea, look at this” was his reply. Whipping out his phone, he proceeded to show me some photos and a video of a recent incident on a ship anchored in Gatun Lake.

To watch the video of what happened, click HERE. But the below photo is a hint :)

Jan. 13: at sea
A morning spent answering emails and participating in our Fire drill. All was going quietly until just after my ‘voice from the Bridge’.

The Officer of the watch called me and asked me if I could come to the Bridge. Upon my arrival, she pointed out a fishing boat away on our port side; the crew could be seen waving shirts and life jackets and they were obviously not doing it for fun.

We lowered a tender and off it set towards the boat. One of our Spanish-speaking ladies from the Front Office was aboard, it was unlikely that they would speak English. Once our tender was near the boat, communication began. It appeared they had a ‘broken’ propeller and that they had been there for 3 days. They had managed to get in contact with their owner and they expected a boat to come and tow them back home the next day.

Their dilemma was that they had almost run out of water and food, hence them trying to attract our attention. This was a relatively straightforward fix and so the tender came back to the ship and, having had water and provisions loaded, it set off back to the boat.

The fishermen were extremely grateful and once all provisions were loaded, the tender returned and once secure, we resumed our voyage.

Read the rest of this post HERE.

Jan. 14-15: Callao, Peru
We had low-lying fog again, however this is the norm for this area and one could see the larger vessels. Embarking 2 pilots, we made our way through the buoyed channel; pleasingly, they made no attempt to take the conn, instead electing to chat about this and that as we progressed.

Into the harbour and a swing off the berth, we are to back onto a pier which is 68 metres shorter than the Amsterdam, so I drop an anchor before proceeding astern. This to give us an additional option open should the wind increase from the north; our forward lines are all leading back to the end of the pier, we have nothing keep the bow alongside, should the wind come up, the anchor will assist if it does.

We ‘ring off’ our engines at 0700, (an old-fashioned term from when telegraphs were used). Our Guests are eager to disembark on tours of Lima, about 30 minute’s bus ride away and various nearby attractions; others leave for Machu Picchu.

I jumped on a bus, joining a tour of Lima, although I have been here before, I did not have anything I could post here, so camera at the ready, off I went.

Stay tuned for more posts.

Note: Captain Mercer began his own blog, and you can read each post and follow him on the Grand World Voyage at www.captainjonathan.com. Each date in this post also is linked to his blog.