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What the seamen look for when coming to Mazatlan... that light house
on top of the mountain, at the left side of the port.
(Photo by Segur)
"Coming
into Port at Mazatlan early morning. We did not get off the ship"
(Photo by
Gately)
When coming into a
port, you look for the lights on each side of the entry. The one we
need now is that little green tower on the right of the picture.
There is a green light at the top that is visible at sea. On the
other side of the ship is a red light, similar to this one. The
'rule' is "Red Right Return". You make sure the red light is on your
right side when you return to port. From that, we can tell that we
are on the left or port side of the ship we are on in this picture,
and it is moving toward the right.
"Sky
line of Mazatlan" (Photo by
Gately)
"Parallel Park Her Right Over There,
Cap'n, In Front Of Th' Eurodam". And he did. This is where
those side thrusters come into play. The Captain turned the Grand
where we are standing, a full 180°, then slipped sideways right up
to that dock we can see. Wish our car could do that. Like most
cruise ships, our ship has three side thrusters in the bow and three
more in the stern. They are props in six foot diameter tubes through
the hull that can propel the ship sideways. It eliminates the use of
tugs most of the time. Tugs are expensive, and may not be available
in smaller foreign ports. That ship is the Holland
America Eurodam. Their ships are all that color combination, and
they have funny names, like Rotterdam, and Zaandam and Volendam and
Oosterdam and Veendam... I suppose those don't sound funny if you
live in Holland. LOL. We see these ships a lot when we cruise.
One was playing tag with us on our 55th class reunion cruise to
Alaska. Cruisers refer to them as "one of those 'dam' ships".
(Photo by Smith)
Up against the dock, from the Lido
deck, we can see a whole bunch of brand new Nissan cars and trucks
that someone just delivered. During lunch we watched six car-carrier
trucks drive in and each leave with eleven of these vehicles. Trucks
were back in a half hour, so they did not have to take these too far
to drop them off. Someone said they saw a few Ford cars in the lot
when they drove past going to an excursion.
(Photo by Smith)
Turning a little to the right we see these
many containers coming in and going out. The white crane in the
center is taking a container from the top, and after the crane (and
container) back up, that truck that already has a red container on
its trailer will back up, in front of the crane and under the new
container, so the crane can set it on the front container, and then
the truck will be on its way. The crane was busy each time we looked out there.
We usually berth over on the south side of the bay. We have never
been on this side before. We also know that for a few years we did
not stop here due to crime activity. Maybe this berth is more
regulated and guarded. Who knows.
(Photo by Smith)
Lookoing up, we see
the skyline, looking north.
(Photo by Segur)
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