August 9, 2023 Sea Day #9

   Overnight clocks were turned back one hour. People are much more awake this morning. Morning temperature was 15° C, mainly sunny sky but some cloud, northeast wind was 9 m/hr as Zuiderdam cruised in the English Channel. We met someone who was walking on Deck 3 around 7 a.m. this morning and saw the white cliffs of Dover on the starboard side while in the Dover Strait. Just before going to the Rolling Stone Lounge, Zuiderdam was just south of Brighton, England and north of Le Havre, France, quite close to the 0° meridian.

   We skipped breakfast in favour of Coffee with Tjalling in the Rolling Stone Lounge at 9 a.m. There was coffee and cookies available. Three members of the Navigation team were interviewed and answered questions. The Safety Officer was Pim who ranks under the Staff Captain. He lives in Rotterdam. The third Officer was Amber who lives in Belgium and the cadet, Ties from the Netherlands, is onboard for six months training as part of a four year program. Pim explained that there is a Traffic Separation Scheme for ships in the English Channel, to which are expected to adhere. It is similar to a highway with separate lanes for inbound and outbound traffic. Amber explained that in marine school students are taught how to use sextants and other manual tools so that if the electronic systems fails they can still calculate their position. Pim commented that for Greenland they still use paper charts and have the ice pilot on board too. For Amber’s shifts, she has five hours on (8 a.m. to 1 p.m.) three hours off then another five hours on (4 p.m. to 11 p.m.) every day. Ties just has a six hour shift and two hours of online classes. The ice pilots stay on the ship from the port before Greenland to the port after Greenland. The morning coordinates at 10:30 a.m. traveling on a WSW course were North 50°17’49” and West 1°14’ 31”, we had already crossed the Greenwich meridian.

    Then at 10 a.m. in the Rolling Stone Lounge, it was questions about the ports of Cobh, Belfast and Stornoway. We chatted with Lisa and Lanny about Cork before the session. The port of Cobh (pronounced cove) was the last port before the Titanic sailed for New York in 1912. It has a population of about 13,000. Originally for Stornoway, Zuiderdam was to be docked but it is now scheduled to be a tendered port.

     In the World Stage at 11 a.m., Tom Goltz presented Shackleton and the Endurance, An Irishman’s Polar Odyssey about Ernest Shackleton’s expedition to Antarctica in 1917.

     Captain Vaartjes noon announcement he said that we had traveled over 4,700 nautical miles (nm) from Boston and 209 nm from Rotterdam. There was still 309 nm to get to Cobh. We would be passing the Isle of Wright after lunch and Land’s End in southwest England after 9 p.m.

     We had a later lunch in the dining room with Helen and Andy who had just embarked yesterday in Rotterdam. They have two more cruises booked for this year. We walked on the Deck 3 without jackets in the afternoon. The swells were less than one meter and one side was warmer in the sunshine. We counted a dozen ships at varying distances from us and could see the distance shore England’s south coast.

    There was nothing on the afternoon program that interested us. We read after walking. Around 2:30 p.m. we noticed that we were in fog and the visibility was about half a kilometre. If we listened very carefully we could just make out the blowing of the fog horn every two minutes. There was still fog after 9 p.m.

    We met the waiter for our table, Lelono. Last evening we met his assistant, Yudo. The four of us all ordered the cod with onions rings as our main course this evening, but had four different desserts.

     Tonight’s show in the World Stage was the Lincoln Center Presents, a quintet of classical musicians playing some of the 35 classical pieces that Holland America Lines has commissioned. There was a pianist, cello player, violinist, guitarist and the fifth man played clarinet and flute. After their performance we quickly went to the Rolling Stone Lounge for their Ballroom Dance Hour, which was only 50 minutes since the following game show “Secret Identities” needed time to be set up. The selection of dance tunes was good. 

    The ship is right on schedule even after the two hour delay leaving Rotterdam yesterday. About 9:30 p.m. the ship’s course changed to north west as she swung around Land’s End to cross the Irish Sea to go to Cobh.

    Total steps. 13031.

English Coast