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Created on Tuesday, 30 August 2011 10:35

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We arrived at the pilot station exactly on time to pick up the Dutch pilot that will bring the ship to Amsterdam. So as early as three in the morning the ship was on her way heading to Spui Lock, the lock at Ijmuiden connecting the canal to the North Sea. The number of ships entering the lock is not that much compared to those locks in the Panama Canal so the inbound and outbound traffic in the canal is not a concern. Around four thirty in the morning the ship was out from the lock and started negotiating the 24 nautical miles stretch man made canal towards the port of Amsterdam. Few minutes ahead of schedule, Black Watch was securely alongside at PTA (Passenger Terminal Amsterdam), Amsterdam’s very modern cruise terminal. The terminal provides free WiFi access, a plus factor for cruise ship passengers and crew. Just ask for the password at the friendly and accommodating staff at the cruise terminal’s reception desk and information center. The internet speed is superb – real fast.

Weather forecast in Amsterdam days ahead was not favorable so I already expect showers or rains during our call. I went ashore to the city center in the morning but it was just a brief one as the wind was chilling with light showers pouring from time to time. I hate catching colds and cough, well, who else does? But that very short visit to the city center wasn’t in any case that dismal because I was able to take beautiful photos of the city’s old and colorful buildings despite the rain showers. I don’t know which area of the city I was strolling around but it was just somewhere close and around Victoria Hotel, the drop off and pick up point of the complimentary shuttle bus servicing to and from the cruise terminal. Obviously, my decision of getting back to the ship that quick was one of the correct decisions I made that day because just as the shuttle bus arrived at the cruise terminal, heavy rain followed then.

Actually, this was my second visit in Amsterdam; the first one was sometimes in December 2009. The ship visits Amsterdam not so very often, say ones in a year and unlike ship’s calls to other ports, Black Watch’s port time in Amsterdam was always so short. The ship left the port at 1PM or about 5 hours after arrival and started making her way out of the canal to the North Sea. Ship’s next port of call was Bremerhaven, Germany and that’s where we were yesterday.

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