Bridge privilege

The big girl pants moment

It was a Glass House type of evening last night. Well, we hadn’t had our fix of the lovely Janice for a few days and she’s always a delight to interact with. Then off to dinner in the restaurant where, yet again, there was a commotion on our arrival. Not due to what either of us was wearing, (on this occasion) but a fantastic display from 10 or so Commersons dolphins leaping around not far from the ship. No one cared that their dinner was going cold, we simply couldn’t miss this bit of nature. No evening entertainment interested us, so a “quiet” night in was planned. But before that, after a fairly bland meal (for me), we decided to give Raffles a go, as it has to be said, I rather fancied another glass whilst watching the night finally close in. Book reading and series-watching features when we’re not doing the late-night entertainment. If you haven’t seen it, we’ve now finished watching Bad Sisters. It’s dark humour and gleefully murderous. So our quiet nights in now are watching the series This is Going to Hurt.

This morning we woke to brilliant bright skies and not a cloud around and a very lovely 17.5 degrees. It was something of a slow start. After breakfast we returned to our cabin, realising we were a tad nervous, again. Then the knock on the door and the delightful Tracy (she of the Wedding Planning fame) collected us for our Bridge tour. However, before she took us up there, she presented us with a pair of beautifully cut glass Champagne glasses for our Wedding Anniversary. As we walked to the Bridge, Tracy greeted a passenger by name. Impressive Tracy, do you know everyone’s name on board. Apparently not, just those she is having dealings with. The gentleman in question will be scattering his wife’s ashes whilst on this trip. As Tracy said, she has the privilege of facilitating the pleasurable events, like our 25th, but she also facilitates the more sombre events too.

The spacious Bridge area

We thoroughly recognised what a privilege this visit was going to be and had some questions lined up for Captain Love. What surprised me was how spacious, quiet and devoid of staff the Bridge was. Craig, the second officer was in overall charge and navigating and Luke, the third officer, his deputy. In addition, there were two lookouts. The 2 lookouts are watching specifically for whales and very small boats. The ship won’t divert for dolphins, as they are lithe enough to move out of the way, but the ship will alter its course for a whale or small vessel.

A paper chart with part of our course already drawn in by one of the junior staff

The Captain demonstrates navigation equipment

I wanted to understand the role of the Pilot when they come on board as the ship approaches port or when we went around the Horn. If you weren’t aware, it’s for two reasons. The Pilot is more knowledgeable about the Port in question and will have everyday experience of the changing currents, however, the Captain has in-depth knowledge of the ship, so the job is carried out jointly with the Captain in overall charge.

Part of the equipment with Gabrielle's big red button top left

I also wanted to know if there were any negotiations that only a Captain would do because they were too technically challenging. Captain Love said that if it was a negotiation he’d not done before, he’d want to do it, if he’d done it before, he’d give the task to his deputy and oversee the task. The big question was, who will take charge through the Panama Canal? It was obvious this was an enjoyable and challenging feat, but he admitted he and his deputy would both see us through this area together.

Not for the first time on this trip, I metaphorically put on my big girl’s pants and braced myself for standing on the glass floor and actually walked on it. As Tracy said, it’d be a soft landing if it did break! There are two areas of glass flooring on either side of the Bridge so that the Captain can physically see the port side when he is docking. The docking process happens at 0.2knots. We asked about the red and green flags which we’d noticed being operated when we come into a port. Captain Love was amused that we had noticed these. Green flag says the ship is close enough to the port to put the walkways in place, and red says it’s not safe for the walkways. Genius. In this day of modern technology, a couple of flags still win.

Communications flags and, on the right, country courtesy flags, flown at each port

Headwear and some goodies from the kitchen

Talking of flags, we saw the rows and rows of all the country courtesy flags they will hoist whenever they arrive in a new port. We were shown the navigation system and the charts showing the direction of the currents. This chart was being worked on by a cadet who had marked up our route to date. 

Gabrielle takes the wheel. Is the Captain laughing or screaming inside?

There is, of course, a wheel. It was fairly titchy and is no longer used, but it provided a great photo opportunity. 

Captain Love delivers the midday address

Captain Love had timed our visit to the Bridge specifically so that we would be there at the mid-day address. 

Gabrielle sounds the ship's whistle (we have a video!)

“Would you like to sound the ship’s whistle?” Hell yeah. Don’t ask me twice. Then the countdown began. The captain’s ting-ting happened just before midday and I then sounded the whistle 4 times…which is actually the horn. The power! We did muse later that the rest of the guests may have wondered why, specifically today, the horn was sounded. Honoured guests, obvs.

Captain Love was desperately trying not to laugh when he made his mid-day address, as I was evidently very excited about hooting the horn. 

Third Officer Luke does the fun facts

We then experienced the daily fun facts face to face with Luke, whereas normally we only hear his beautifully soft Irish accent. Since mid-day yesterday to mid-day today we have steamed 386 nautical miles at an average speed of 16.3 knots, leaving us 286 nautical miles until we reach San Antonio tomorrow morning. Our water depth was 2000 metres with the water temperature 16 degrees.

The view over the crew deck from the Bridge

The oldest resident of the bridge - a stag's head that was mounted there when the ship was commissioned

As we concluded our tour, Captain Love asked us politely not to mention our Bridge visit to other guests as they receive many requests for this tour. Mum’s the word Cap’n. When we got back to our cabin, Steeven our ever-fastidious steward asked if everything was ok. He was most concerned that he had seen us with the reception manager, AKA Tracy. Being concerned that we shouldn’t mention where we’d been, we had to reassure him that everything was more than perfect and that Tracy had brought a gift for our wedding anniversary. Steeven seemed visibly relieved. I’m not sure why, as he is looking after our every need amazingly, often pre-empting what we may need in our cabin.

After a quick breather and a consideration of what we’d experienced this morning, it was off to another interesting talk from Tristram Elmhirst, our resident forensic expert. More tales of blood, guts and gore and all cases we remember from in the news. 

It's an early start tomorrow as we land and take our first trip from the port of San Antonio.