Castine to Barcelona
Saturday, 13 May Day 16 Daily Log Voyage # 0106
CAPTAIN'S LOG Well...things are busy here this morning as we transit the Straits of Gibraltar. We have been picking up more and more vessels all night and into this morning. Now we have Spain to our North, Morrocco to our South, traffic in the outbound traffic lanes and more in the inbound traffic lanes and lots of of cross the Straits ferry traffic. All types and sizes of ships. VLCC oil tankers, handy size oil tankers, LNG carriers, Container ships of all sizes and shapes, General cargo ships, Bulk carriers etc. I am currently listening to radio traffic between Tarifa Traffic Control and a VLCC (Very Large Crude Carrier) who came from the Suez Canal and is headed to Galveston Texas with 275,000 metric tons of Crude Oil. Very modern double hulled ship built in 1999. The interesting part is the various speeds everyone is traveling at. Lots of 10 to 15 knot ships (we are passing those) some 18 to 25 knot container ships (they are passing us) and the High Speed Ferries crossing at 50 knots. The bridge has been a beehive of activity with all the traffic, radio, radar, ARPA, and ECDIS. We should pass Gibraltar right about noon. The Holiday yesterday was great and last night's Barbecue was super....THANK YOU DINING SERVICE. We will be advancing our clocks another hour tonight to be on Barcelona Time. Check out our Question and Answer page.
Daily Cruise Statistics
Position at 1200 Local Time (LT) Zone Description 0 hours Lat. 35-53.2 N Long. 012-28.4 W Noon to noon (or Departure to Noon or Noon to Arrival): Distance: 391.7 Nmiles Time run: 23 hrs 00 min Average Speed. 16.3 Kts Total passage distance: 2749.8 Nmiles (to date) Total passage Time: 07 Days 21 Hours 54 Minutes Total Average Speed: 16.5 Kts ETA Barcelona Spain 16 May 06 at 0700 Local time
Today's Activities
Training Company: Maintenance Company: Utility Company: Duty (Watch) Company:	Delta Alpha Charlie Bravo
Weather
Wind: NE'ly 20 knots Sea: Choppy NE'ly Swell: Nil Sky: Overcast Temperature: 63 Air 62 Sea Synopsis: High Pressure ridge into the Western Med


PHOTO's
The "Rock" is there but you have to look closely. Tangiers - Tarifa Fast Ferry Learning how to troubleshoot a controller and run a megger. Hoops are popular on Holidays. Can you tell which is the "big" brother? The 2nd and Chief beneath the "Harley"
Notes:
Barcelona Info: (Maine Boat Builders) Barcelona Weather site: http://www.bcn.es/temps/english/ MED Weather: http://www.eurometeo.com/english/meteomar/id_2 Barcelona Port Information (Fairplay) Gdynia Info: Cobh Info: (Info about U.S. $100 Bills) Portland Info: Portland/Castine Excursion: Portland to Castine the day we arrive back at our home berth has been designated as a possible "excursion day". The U.S. Coast Guard has been asked to grant us a permit to take extra persons on board above our vessels certification. To do this we have to have certain lifesaving procedures and equipment on board. Accordingly the numbers we can take are strictly limited. We, of necessity, have limited our guests to 2 persons per upper class student on cruise (immediate family members only) plus official MMA invitees and crew member guests. We can not offer more because we do not have the lifesaving capability. Also this is always a tentative adventure which because of weather, security, operational difficulties etc. may be cancelled up to the last moment. The security issue is becoming a big item in how we offer and execute these excursions, so for those who are planning to attend please be patient with the necessary procedures. Schooner BOWDOIN Summer Cruise Itinerary: 01 June Underway Castine 03 June Brown's Bank 06 June Sable Island (weather permitting, if not we may stop on the way back) 08 June Strait of Canso 09 June Charlottetown PEI 11 June Summerside, PEI 14 June Isle de Magdeline 17 June Bras D'Or Lakes, Beddeck, NS 24 June Lunenburg NS 30 June Castine
Tally
*Cruise mileages:* Castine to Barcelona Barcelona to Gdynia Gdynia to Cobh Cobh to Portland Portland to Castine TOTAL Cruise Mileage:		3500 Nautical Miles (Estimated) 2690 Nautical Miles (Estimated) 1375 Nautical Miles (Estimated) 2675 Nautical Miles (Estimated) 90 Nautical Miles (Estimated) 10,330 Nautical Miles (Estimated)