Hybrid Powered Cruise Ship

Last week MS Fridtjof Nansen arrived in Stornoway. I believe that she was on her maiden voyage. Stornoway is a popular destination for cruise liners and many of them are specialist 'explorer' cruises. By any standards her accommodation looks luxurious. What made her stand out in Stornoway apart from her striking shape and colours was the fact that she is a hybrid ship. 

The residents of Scotland in general, and Scottish Islands in particular, are well used to hearing about hybrid ferry vessels. They were commissioned by Calmac for Island ferry services some years ago and are now running several years late and millions over budget. It may be several years before they are in service and in the meantime the existing fleet is struggling.

Hybrid power is particularly suitable for ferries and, as many operate in densely populated areas (eg Hong Kong) the less (fewer?) the diesel emissions the better. 

The reason that I mentioned her explorer cruises was that on the morning I was having coffee with friends in The Woodlands when we saw a posse of cruisers going up the path past the café with a leader, placard identifier held high. When a second group went past we realised that this placard business was for real and was obviously so that the groups (of 20 or so) wouldn't get lost amongst the hordes of natives. This was a first for Lewis we believe.

Small World, Big Ship

On my way into Stornoway today I saw the towering presence of MS Queen Victoria.

The last time I saw her was in Sydney. The first time I saw her was in Napier on the 1 March 2008. 

Launched in 2007 she is a fairly impressive 294 metres long although the current largest cruise ship, Symphony of The Seas is 361 metres. 

It made me realise, yet again, just how small a world we live in. I've tried to find out how many nautical miles she must have travelled in her life so far but I've not been successful. Nevertheless it is a slightly strange feeling to have seen this ship as far away from my present home as she could have been.

Coincidentally on this day 10 years ago I also posted about a cruise ship far from home here.

A Good Day For Boats

Today has been a good day for boats.  If one can call the cruise ship Queen Mary II a boat.  She's on a cruise around the British Isles at the moment.  The little sailing boat, on the other hand, was just out for a wee sail in the sun.

A Long Way From Home

The Tahitian Princess passed by the house this evening on her way to the Faroe Isles. It's not a particularly large cruise liner but it seemed quite big compared with the usual fishing boat that plies this side of The Minch. The many large tankers and so on that go up and down The Minch rarely come over this side (the defined shipping lane for tankers is away from the Island). Anyway I thought it was worth a photo and mention because she is a long way from home and her usual haunts in the warmer climes of the Pacific. The mountains in the background are the Scottish Highlands.

MV Mona Lisa

If ever there was a vessel which couldn't decide what it wanted to be called this is it: MV Mona Lisa. She was built in 1965 as the combined ocean liner / cruise ship MV Kungsholm. She was later furbished as a full-time cruise ship. She has also sailed under the names MV Sea Princess, MV Victoria and MV Oceanic II. Currently, the ship is at 28,891 GRT and 201 metres (660 feet) long with a breadth of 26.5 metres.

The 790-passenger vessel has 397 passenger cabins (292 outside, 105 inside), 8 passenger decks, 4 passenger elevators, 2 outdoor and 1 indoor swimming pool, a sauna and a massage parlor. She has 3 restaurants, 4 lounges, 4 indoor bars, 1 outdoor bar and a 300-passenger capacity theater. There is also a full-service fitness center, hair salon and a fully equipped hospital.

Just think: all that was floating past the bottom of my garden yesterday afternoon. Amazing.

I Spy

I have posted before on views of the goings on on the Minch through my spotter scope. Most of the ships and boats that ply the waters are fairly mundane even though some are pretty huge like the cruise liner at the end of this posting. I did manage to get a photo of what I take to be a schooner a few days ago.

Having said that the photo which I took with the Olympus might have less detail but it has a lot of atmosphere

and can be enlarged to achieve quite a reasonable degree of detail:

This cruise liner was, however, too far away to be captured by the Olympus in any real detail: