The weather remained glorious for the day and night and this is going to be a great call. We are here for the weekend and that helps for getting the tours going around Lisbon. Work traffic on the roads is a lot less than on a week day. Especially in the port areas there can…   read more of “13 September 2009,…”

It is a long way in to Lisbon and thus arrival tends to be early. In order to be docked by 7am, you have to start approaching the port by going up the river by about 5.15am and that means that by 4am the initial preparations are being made already. It was very busy this…   read more of “12 September 2009,…”

So with a good weather forecast on my mind, I went to bed while the ship sailed down the coast to our next port of call Leixoes. While I was dreaming about my upcoming vacation and seeing my wife again, I was woken up by the ships whistle just before 3 am. Followed up about…   read more of “11 September 2009,…”

Thus with a large swell on my mind we approached the pilot station of La Coruna, also known as A Coruna. Indeed a large swell was running, pushed up by the shallow waters of the entrance bay to the port. Ahead of me were the MSC Orchestra and the Aida Luna. I could not follow…   read more of “10 September 2009,…”

For once my voyage planning was not sent helter skelter by un-expectedly changing weather. It did what the weather forecast said it would do. We crossed the English Channel and the tide, read the ebb current, kicked in when expected and so we gained about two knots for free for a four hour period. Then…   read more of “09 September 2009,…”

It has been a long time since I saw a flat surfaced sea but that is what we had during the night and morning while we approached the port. It is nearing full moon and that moon hung as a big Dutch cheese in the sky with the bottom part cut out. The pilot station…   read more of “08 September 2009,…”

All our guests made it safely onboard during the embarkation day yesterday. This morning they had the option to explore Greenwich and it’s surroundings but the majority stayed onboard. Trying to get over their jet leg I assume as until 11 am it was rather quiet in the ship. I was involved in two meetings…   read more of “07 September 2009,…”

The tide dictated that this was going to be a midnight affair and so we prepared accordingly. Going up the river during the night is quite nice. The first part up to the Thames barrier is boring with passing only the car factories at Dagenham and the occasional power plant but after the Thames barrier…   read more of “06 September 2009,…”