Silver Wind's position is now about 20 miles east of Morocco, proceeding due north at a blistering 18 knots to arrive in Casablanca tomorrow morning "alongside" at 8 am as scheduled. We will take a morning tour of the city sights, something I've not done despite having been to Casablanca twice before. I hope to report on the visit in a day or two.
Also, I hope to report on the definitive explanation of what occurred on M/v Silver Wind about an hour after we sailed this afternoon from Agadir. The Captain came on the PA to make a rare afternoon announcement that due to "technical problems" both main engines will be shut down immediately and the ship would stop at sea. He also said that he would keep us informed. That was it. In a few seconds we were dead in the water and bobbing a bit in the pretty calm but still "middle of the ocean" off the coast of Morocco. But the air conditioning, all electricity, and all hotel services on Silver Wind use a separate electrical generator system. This system is backed up by an emergency generator as well. So I continued to compose an e-mail to a friend and watch the pool volleyball proceed a few decks above. The pool bar, however, did get a bit busy all of a sudden. Something about, "these things come in threes", and some guests mentioning another Italian officer run cruise line with two recent incidents.
In about (a long) half hour, I felt a little vibration over sound of the ventilation system in the suite and noticed that the GPS display was indicating 11 knots. The Captain came on, and sounding a bit less serious said that the starboard engine was back on-line and that the port propulsion system would be starting up "a-soon". Sure enough, a few minutes later I saw the GPS display go to 17.5 knots and the Captain came on again, sounding quite gleeful, and announced that we have proceeded apace towards tomorrow's scheduled stop without any modification to the schedule. He even mentioned that purposes were visible on the port side of the ship.
We are booked for dinner tonight in the Italian restaurant upstairs. I wonder what the topic of this evening's dinner conversations will be. By the way, we were in sight of Agadir when this all happened. Our two tenders could have taken all the guests and crew to a nice restaurant in town had such a thing been necessary. You gotta love these little cruise ships.
As of 6 pm, we haven't gotten any further explanation as to what the problem was. It is very unusual to voluntarily shut down both main propulsion systems when a ship is underway. You stop going anywhere except where current and wind take you, and also without motion and stabilizers the ship turns into a cork. Fortunately, the swell and waves were moderate and almost calm respectively and the delay was short.
However, I think that I might have caused today's "emergency at sea". (In quotes 'cause it wasn't an emergency by any means. I got a pina colada as I watched the volleyball game. And I believe that the smaller size power plant can power the ship's motors at a lower speed of course if needed to reach a port.) Well, Barbara and I have noticed a sound coming on and off very frequently for the last couple of nights, what you might imagine your lawn's irrigation system "short cycling" might sound like. We would hear the sound of perhaps water flowing for 10 seconds or so and then the sound of a flapper valve click shut. Then the sound would stop only to repeat the cycle only 10 seconds later. The Deck 4 suites are identical in their interior to the upper floor veranda suites, but you are nearer to the works of the ship as you get lower down. And there are lots of works, such as ballast pumps, steam lines, fuel delivery systems, etc. The sound in our cabin was very soft, actually not a problem to sleep through if this presumed pump stayed on continuously. But otherwise the room is very quiet; so you notice anything.
Well I know the Chief Engineer on this ship. We've sailed with him twice before, had dinner at his table on two different formal nights, and I see him at the espresso machine in the Observation Lounge each morning. At lunch today I figured when he said good afternoon that I would make a discrete inquiry about that sound. Sure enough, when we got back to our suite after lunch it was clear that someone was working on the pump. It was coming on for a second or two but at random intervals as if it were being tested. Then it stopped entirely and I announced to Barbara, "Look, I got that sound fixed." This was about 5 minutes before the Captain's announcement that we were to be dead in the water for an indefinite length of time.
At any rate, all is well now. I will report when and if any officer talks to me again.
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