Cyclone OMA watch

[GUT2407]

24 minutes ago, MicCanberra said:

Lots of unhappy passengers any way you look at it, tis the hazards of cruising in cyclone season.

Hazard of cruising any season, we missed two ports on our cruise that hit Cyclone Monica, Port Douglas, (they bussed us from Cairns) and Cooktown, missed at least one on half of our other cruises that were outside Cyclone Season, it really is a lottery.

[hkcrazee]

1 minute ago, GUT2407 said:

Hazard of cruising any season, we missed two ports on our cruise that hit Cyclone Monica, Port Douglas, (they bussed us from Cairns) and Cooktown, missed at least one on half of our other cruises that were outside Cyclone Season, it really is a lottery.

We hit the jackpot this time of the year 5 years ago for our first cruise. The weather was PERFECT! So save up again and we miss the whole of the south island of NZ because of a cyclone - yas takes yas chances 🙂 

 

[GUT2407]

And to be fair on average something like 10 Cyclones occur each year in waters off Australia, and the BOM say cyclone season is 1 Nov to 30 April, and when is peak cruise season???

 

[SeaDog-46]

Brisbane Pilots have managed to get 3 vessels to sea this afternoon. 2 are going to have a hard time going south.

Ports web page has :

Pacific Dawn - 02:15 pilot 26th berthing at GRAIN 05:45.  Dep. 15:00 26th.

Sea Princess 10:15 pilot 26th to Portside 14:30.  Dep. 12:00  27th.

They also list Arcadia for Grain & Pacific Explorer for Mooloolaba anchorage.

 

 

[MicCanberra]

4 hours ago, SeaDog-46 said:

Sure right Mic.

 

Good News :-  3 vessels are outbound in Moreton Bay. 

Tanker loaded with product for Gladstone - coastal cargo by overseas ship.

LPG tanker & Bulk Carrier for Newcastle.

Hopefully the pilots get off.

Good news indeed, the cruises may be able to get some normally back to their schedules.

[MicCanberra]

4 hours ago, GUT2407 said:

Hazard of cruising any season, we missed two ports on our cruise that hit Cyclone Monica, Port Douglas, (they bussed us from Cairns) and Cooktown, missed at least one on half of our other cruises that were outside Cyclone Season, it really is a lottery.

True, weather can affect travel plans at any time but February is usually cyclone season for the South Pacific.

[MicCanberra]

2 hours ago, SeaDog-46 said:

Brisbane Pilots have managed to get 3 vessels to sea this afternoon. 2 are going to have a hard time going south.

Ports web page has :

Pacific Dawn - 02:15 pilot 26th berthing at GRAIN 05:45.  Dep. 15:00 26th.

Sea Princess 10:15 pilot 26th to Portside 14:30.  Dep. 12:00  27th.

They also list Arcadia for Grain & Pacific Explorer for Mooloolaba anchorage.

 

 

More good news, they would have to be getting out while they can I suppose.

[Aus Traveller]

2 hours ago, SeaDog-46 said:

Brisbane Pilots have managed to get 3 vessels to sea this afternoon. 2 are going to have a hard time going south.

Ports web page has :

Pacific Dawn - 02:15 pilot 26th berthing at GRAIN 05:45.  Dep. 15:00 26th.

Sea Princess 10:15 pilot 26th to Portside 14:30.  Dep. 12:00  27th.

They also list Arcadia for Grain & Pacific Explorer for Mooloolaba anchorage.

 

 

Interesting. They are bringing Pacific Dawn into the Grain terminal. I wonder if that is because it is in the morning. Sea Princess is at Portside in the afternoon when it is likely the cyclone will be further away.

[SeaDog-46]

More likely is that PD is a bit of a cow to steer at low speeds & with all this wind,  they may prefer to put Sea P. through the bridge.

[Aus Traveller]

17 minutes ago, SeaDog-46 said:

More likely is that PD is a bit of a cow to steer at low speeds & with all this wind,  they may prefer to put Sea P. through the bridge.

Ahh yes. I can see that. A few years ago the Pacific Dawn nearly collided with the bridge. She was travelling at slow speed and had a few problems. This information was from a very authoritative source on the ship.

[MicCanberra]

1 hour ago, SeaDog-46 said:

More likely is that PD is a bit of a cow to steer at low speeds & with all this wind,  they may prefer to put Sea P. through the bridge.

When you say like a cow, do you mean a dugong ?

[SeaDog-46]

Even more years ago when still Regal Princess she went aground leaving Cairns harbour in a bit of a blow.

Since then she is not allowed into Cairns whereas the Sun class are - even though they are bigger.

I think Pacific Dawn has only 1 rudder & twin scews & the Sun class have twin rudders & twin screws.

The near collision in Brisbane with the bridge was caused by a power blackout - another thing she is prone to.

[SinbadThePorter]

1 hour ago, MicCanberra said:

When you say like a cow, do you mean a dugong ?

 

Like a seacow, as abbreviated to "scow".

 

Anyway, thanks to SeaDog for the excellent updates.

[MicCanberra]

19 minutes ago, SinbadThePorter said:

 

Like a seacow, as abbreviated to "scow".

 

Anyway, thanks to SeaDog for the excellent updates.

They have been very informative.

[NSWP]

Just checked Pacific Dawn's bridge cam, the  vessel is in some heavy seas.  She still has a couple of days to go to Brisvegas, does she not? 

Live! P&O Australia Pacific Dawn Webcam.html

Edited February 23, 2019 by NSWP

[Kiwi Kruzer]

4 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Just checked Pacific Dawn's bridge cam, the  vessel is in some heavy seas.  She still has a couple of days to go to Brisvegas, does she not? 

 

Yeah ....I had a look earlier and thought she was rock'n an roll'n a bit ...

 

[Aus Traveller]

11 hours ago, SeaDog-46 said:

The near collision in Brisbane with the bridge was caused by a power blackout - another thing she is prone to.

I remember that bit now. Thanks for that.

 

We had a power blackout on the Pacific Dawn several years ago when we were on the way back from the islands. It happened as we were just finishing dinner.

[NSWP]

I still remember the 12 metre seas we were in off southern NZ on her when she was Regal Princess in 2007.  PD can handle Cyclone Oma's rough seas, no worries.

[SeaDog-46]

Thanks for the Pacific Dawn bridge cam - but that is not so bad as the wind & swell looks to be coming from the port quarter.

She maybe corkscrewing a bit but it could be a lot worse.  They have gone around the south of the low & would not have taken much of a pounding.  Yes Les - nothing like your experience on her years back.

Two of the vessels that left Brisbane yesterday to go south had only made it to Cape Moreton six hours after dropping the pilot.

[SeaDog-46]

Sun Princess seems to be going to bypass Brisbane - is east of Taree doing 12 knots with AIS saying bound for Airlie Beach.  No longer on Brisbane Ports schedule.

Arcadia is off Newcastle doing 16 knots & bound for Rabaul, but Brisbane Ports are still expecting her.

Brisbane Pilots not moving much today even though several waiting offshore.

Meanwhile Orange River the 30,000 gt bulk carrier in ballast that departed Brisbane yesterday for Newcastle is well off the Gold Coast but only doing 4 knots into the southerly weather.

No AIS on Sea Princess or Pacific Dawn.

[MicCanberra]

They would all be doing heavy work in those seas but at least the weather is improving for them all.

[NSWP]

Does Pacific Dawn get into Brisvegas this arvo or tomorrow morning ? I checked ship tracker and they are doing 1 knot.

Edited February 25, 2019 by NSWP

[MicCanberra]

Looking at that, (currently 240kms off) I would think tomorrow morning.

[Aus Traveller]

28 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Does Pacific Dawn get into Brisvegas this arvo or tomorrow morning ? I checked ship tracker and they are doing 1 knot.

Pacific Dawn is due at the Grain Terminal at 5.45 am tomorrow. Looks like she has heavy going.

[Aus Traveller]

On 2/24/2019 at 8:17 AM, NSWP said:

I still remember the 12 metre seas we were in off southern NZ on her when she was Regal Princess in 2007.  PD can handle Cyclone Oma's rough seas, no worries.

Pacific Dawn had 14 metre seas in June 2012 on their way into Brisbane. She did sustain some damage in that event.

 

At the same time, we were on the Pacific Pearl (only around 60,000 tons) and we had 12 metre seas on our way from Luganville to Sydney. We were able to skirt the worst of the bad weather and Captain Paoletti handled it magnificently. We got into Sydney in the afternoon instead of early morning, but at least we got there.