Rich’s Lecture Cruise
on ms Volendam, 30 Mar-9 Apr 2005

On Wed. morning, March 30, I flew in a small jet the two hours from Raleigh to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. I could see the cruise ship dock as we flew in. After a 15 minute ride to the dock, I began processing to board. A security officer took me directly onto the ship, the ms Volendam (shown below), part of fleet of the Holland America Line. Ten minutes later I had a cabin on the third promenade deck, furthest forward on the port (left) side. My luggage showed up some hours later.

I immediately began exploring the ship, so that I would know where I lectured the following day. As it turned out, most of my lectures occurred in the lovely, large Frans Hals theater just one deck above my room—very convenient. I gave lectures on Caribbean pirates, the cultural diversity of the Caribbean, a food origins quiz, and Latin American cowboys. Because we had a bad weather day at Half Moon Cay, I added an impromptu pirates extra lecture.

The ship can carry 1440 passengers, 647 crew (from 38 countries). It has 9 decks open to the public, plus a crew deck below. Length: 780 ft. (3.5 laps around the promenade deck equals one mile). Build in Italy in 1999, it can move along at 23 knots, although we mostly averaged 18-19 knots. A lovely three-story atrium (see colored lights in picture below) adorns the center of the Volendam from decks 3 through 5.

We sailed all night Wed., then all day Thur., and Fri.—very smooth. After covering 1083 nautical miles all the way across the Caribbean, we docked in Oranjestad, Aruba on Sat. morning at 7:25AM. I had scheduled snorkeling trips at every port, so off I went at 8:30AM to board a very nice 85-foot schooner (shown below). We snorkeled in two sites—the first near shore and with mostly juvenile fish. The second site, however, included a 450-foot wrecked German ship in 60 feet of water. Wonderful fish (biggest, fattest parrotfish I’ve ever seen) and interesting corals on the hull of the ship. After a good box lunch onboard, we returned to the Volendam after 5 hours out. 

Walked around Oranjestad for a couple of hours, shooting pictures, then at 6PM we sailed for Willemstad, Curacao, only 132 nautical miles to the east. I had already set up my daily schedule at sea: a breakfast of fruit, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, and coffee on the Lido (8^th deck) buffet, then some reading and walking on the promenade deck, a light lunch of fruit, salad, and coffee again on the Lido deck. The ship has two swimming pools, an outdoor aft pool as well as another on the Lido deck with a sliding roof overhead. I often grabbed a light snack in late afternoon, because I had the latest dinner seating at 8:30PM.

Very enjoyable dinner companions—two retired African American sisters (one ex-police, the other ex-teacher), a couple from Augusta, Georgia, celebrating their 50^th-wedding anniversary, and the ship’s priest, Father Jeff, a Canadian. Very good food every dinner—interesting appetizers, a good soup and/or salad, main course of fine beef, lamb, pork, fish, lobster, or other seafood, creative desserts and decaf coffee. We usually finished dinner about 10:15, just in time for the late evening entertainment. Good stage shows: 8 very talented, young singers and dancers from Canada, a John Denver impersonator, comedian, very good pianist, etc.  

Another snorkel outing in Curacao, this time above a sunken tugboat near shore. Again, very good fish and colorful coral, although patch coral rather than a true reef. Found a little 18 inch spotted eel that I showed to a little girl who was thrilled. The third snorkeling trip at Dominica, provided another great experience and the best coral reef so far. Dominica is a volcanic island, so at Champagne Bay, gases and hot water bubble up, hence the name. I saw two four-foot-long coronet fish, very rare. Johnny Depp is filming his second pirates movie somewhere on the island. Alas, in addition to great natural beauty, it suffers from great poverty. Below is a picture of the small village where we kayaked out and then snorkeled. The small church on the left is the second oldest on the island.

After Dominica, we headed to the British Virgin Islands. I snorkeled at the caves of Norman Island (where our family visited a few years ago.) The second site at Peter Island featured a wonderful reef, a green turtle, and rays. After Tortola, we sailed 745 miles west to our only disappointment—Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas. Very blustery weather canceled all shore trips. After a few hours, we gave up, and headed back to Ft. Lauderdale. I gave an extra pirate lecture to help pacify disappointed passengers. Overall then, we sailed nearly 3000 nautical miles (each equal to 1.15 land miles). I had Internet access from the ship (for a price), so I could keep in contact.

Back at Ft. Lauderdale, one of the world’s worst airports, cruise ship passengers got quickly pulled back to "reality," regrouped, and caught flights home. What a bureaucratic and logistical nightmare—the only plus is free wireless Internet access. Overall a great time—ready to go again soon! It seems that Holland America is ready for more pirates, etc., and so am I. In addition to the enjoyable shore visits, I really enjoyed talking to dozens of interesting travelers--when can we go again? Darn day job!