We were indeed alone and it turned out to be a very beautiful day. There was a small frontal system looming north of the Yucatan but it only made it down to Costa Maya by 15.30. Then it caused a bit of rain but as the ship sailed at 1600 hrs. it only caught those…   read more of “28 November 2008,…”

Well, we did not have fog on arrival but there was a haze hanging over the rain forest that borders the terminal. For Santo Tomas standards it was a chilly day, with noon temperatures about 10oF lower than what is normal for the time of the year. Most guests were quite happy with it as…   read more of “27 November 2008,…”

With the Cold front slowly dissipating behind us we arrived at our regular time at the pilot station of Belize. By 5 am. the pilot was onboard and we started the two hour long journey winding our way through the reefs towards the anchorage. One hour behind us was the Norwegian Pearl and by the…   read more of “26 November 2008,…”

We sailed with following winds and seas from Key West, crossing the Straits of Florida on a South Westerly course. The almost constant North Westerly wind from the past days had its effect on the Gulf Stream, which was located much more to the south than in the previous weeks. Thus while sailing above Cuba…   read more of “25 November 2008,…”

It is always a very tight run to Key West and I need a Northerly wind and a bit of Gulf Stream to get there before another cruise ship comes in. This time we were all by ourselves and that meant I could arrive at the pilot station with an ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival)…   read more of “24 November 2008,…”

For once we were the lucky ones and the wind was getting less and less while we approached the Tampa sea buoy and compared to the 50 knots of last Sunday, the 25 knots that we now had at the pilot station was a piece of cake. By the time that we docked the wind…   read more of “23 November 2008,…”

With a near gale force wind on the bow we pushed towards Tampa. Luckily wind and waves were from the same direction and so the ship did not roll but only slightly pitched in combination with an occasional shudder when the bow hit a wave on a strange angle. Thus we had still a good…   read more of “22 November 2008,…”

It was another windy day. The cold fronts from the North are not letting up at all. At the moment the next one is forming in the Gulf of Mexico and will pass over us while we are approaching Tampa. Similar to last Sunday. The result is a continuous pattern of strong winds over the…   read more of “21 November 2008,…”