Whoa.... WHoa.......WHOA.... that Ship is Gonna HIT US

We thought of heading back into town but the wind and cold are taking their toll and opt to stay aboard for the afternoon and relax. We settle into the stateroom where I again battle the internet and its slow as molasses connection while Joan reads her book. We have drapes open and observe the ship traffic in this busy harbor. It becomes clear that we are located where ships coming int the harbor from the river need no make a sharp turn right to head up the channel for delivery of their goods.  We watch in amazement as ship after ship battle the strong winds to make the turn.

I then notice a river cruise ship trying to set up to cross the bridge and canal into the safe harbor. Seems like an unwise choice and I give Joan a running play by play.

It looks like he may make it when out of nowhere a massive 70 mph gust strikes and the captain loses all control of his bow. He is headed for a crash into the bridge and has his engine in full reverse. Without the forward momentum the ship has no control and the wind from the north is moving the ship straight toward us.

It is clear to me he has no control and is going to hit us. I tell Joan to brace for impact. The boat surprisingly simply nudges us and then is stuck to our side like a suckling pig. Joan waves at the ladies in the stateroom outside our stateroom. They stand up and close the curtains. So much for crash room partners.

I run up topsides to find the two crews shaking hands and trying to figure out what to do next.

After a lot of deliberating they turn on their aft and bow thrusters against us and likewise we turn ours on facing them. This pushes them off enough to try to power up and get out. Our captain instantly telss the to jetison the lines and  and quickly makes a move to get us away from these debilitating broadside winds. He takes us across the harbor to the grain elevator loading dock and carefully ties up there with our bow heading straight into the wind.

So that was the on ship excursion. The trip to Brussells wasn't nearly as exciting and now Junte and her team not only have to find everyone, but get them back to a totally new location in the port of Antwerp.