Zadar, Croatia

Thursday 22 August 2024. Today we are in Zadar. We've been here before but I totally fail to recognise the port. We must have been moored either somewhere else or perhaps somewhere so hideous that I've blocked it from memory... I do know that, like today, shuttle buses had to be taken to get into the city and that we had done it and enjoyed the city. Today we decided not to bother and spent the day again on the ship.

The view off the side of the ship was particularly pleasing with a harbour with twin piers directly opposite and berths and more piers to the rear of the ship from where a steady stream of ferries all bearing the company name Jadrolinija passed us by on their way either into or out of the port.

All day cars and vans were forming lines, waiting to board the next ferry and none of them seemed to have to wait long as another ferry sailed in well before the outgoing vessel had disapeared.

I once again got out the sketchpad and today used pastel pencils to produce a coloured sketch of the harbour opposite. The red roofs added to the mix of colours. I left any large boats and ships out but added a few very basic shapes to represent the small yachts and pleasure boats lined up against the harbour wall.

Miss Franny told me afterwards that I had several onlookers as they passed our table on Deck 12. I was mostly oblivious, looking out over the side as I was, but one or two stopped to talk and made nice comments.

A closer look at Miss Franny's bracelet which was made for her by our granddaughter, Grace especially for the cruise. It wouldn't be Grace if there weren't a few Disney motifs included!

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Random Ship Spotting - Part 4

The fourth in a series of articles looking at ships we have seen either at home or whilst on holiday.

MSC Musica, photographed in 2009 from one of Venice's water buses. We were low down on the water and she is towering above us! Built in 2006 by Chantiers de l'Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire, France, she had capacity to carry over 2,500 passengers with a crew of just over 1,000. She was the first of her class - the Musica Class - to be followed by Magnifica, Orchestra and Poesia. Refurbished in November 2019, she has 13 decks and can cruise at an average of 23 knots.

The MS Regatta, was also built at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire in 1998 as an R-class cruise ship for Renaissance Cruises. The second of her class she was imaginatively named R-Two. Renaissance Cruises were an American-owned company and finances affected by the Gulf War were finally disastrously run down after the 911 terrorist attack and the company went bankrupt, the ship being sold to Cruiseinvest and sailing as Insignia after a full year of being laid up. In 2003 she transferred to Oceania Cruises and was renamed as Regatta under which name and owner she still sails. A relatively small ship, for these days, she carries upto 824 passengers with 386 crew.

The ro-ro car and passenger ferry Metamauco, built in 1998 by the family-owned Cantiere Navale Visentini shipyard in Italy and operating in the Venetian Lagoon by Actv. This firm, the Company of the Venetian Transport Consortium runs all forms of public transport around the Venetian Lagoon and islands, including ferries, waterbuses, wheeled buses and trams.

Actv waterbus (vaporetto) Actv 87 on the main southern route from Venice towards the cruise port.

Two Blue Star ferries seen in Rhodes in 2010. Blue Star 1 on the left was built in the Netherlands in 2000 and carried upto 1600 passengers and 640 vehicles. In 2007 she had 15 new cabins added on an extension to deck 9. From 2021 she completed a two-year charter with Irish Ferries sailing between Pembroke and Rosslare. She kept her name throughout this charter and in 2023 returned to Blue Star and currently sails between Piraeus and Chania.

On the right is Blue Star's Diagoras, built in 1990 as the New Tosa in Japan for the Osaka-Kōchi route. She was bought after nine years on that route by Greek company, Dodekanisos Seaways, who shortly afterwards sold her on to DANE Sea line who renamed her Lindos. After some conversion work, she sailed between islands in the Dodecanese group in 2001 and was renamed again as Diagoras. DANE Sea line went bankrupt in 2004 and she spent the next two years laid up in Piraeus before Blue Star bought her in 2006. She operated on a variety of routes mainly in the Dodecanese group until being sold to a Moroccan company, Africa Morocco Link, in 2016, operating between Spain and Morocco. She was bought back by Blue Star in 2018 for whom she still sails.

Also in Rhodes in 2010 we came across the Delphin Voyager. Now this is a ship of many names. Built in Tokyo, Japan as Orient Venus for Japan Cruise Line in 1990, she spent fifteen years sailing in the Japanese cruise marketplace. In 2005 she was sold to First Cruise Line in 2005 and became Cruise One (how do they think of these names?) Chartered in 2007 to German company Delphin Kreuzfahrten as Delphin Voyager as seen above. The company became insolvent just six months after we saw her and she was taken to Perama a few miles from Piraeus in Greece until she was chartered for a five-month period in early 2011 to Hainan Cruises in China. She became the Hainan Express for that period to May 2011.

Then followed a charter to Quail/Happy Cruises under the name Happy Dolphin. She wasn't happy for long as Quail/Happy Cruises quickly went bankrupt in the same year. Another charter in 2012 took her to Turkey for the summer season crusing from Izmir under the name Aegean Paradise. In 2016 she was sold to a company and spent some time as a floating casino off Indonesia. She is apprarently still cruising as Aegean Paradise and 16 minutes ago as I now write, she was heading for Penang in Malaysia.

Costa Victoria pictured in Piraeus, Greece, in April 2010 with what appears to be a very determined Miss Franny walking along in her "danger flag" pants, keeping an eye on the workmen standing on a floating pontoon or raft doing something important to the side of the ship. I think the circles with the cross in them are safe targets for tugboats rather than "drill here" markings, but who knows... She was built in 1995 at Bremen in Germany, the first of two Victoria-class ships. The second was earmarked to become Costa Olympia but instead was sold to Norwegian Cruise Line, becoming Norwegian Sky. Meanwhile Costa Victoria started cruising with Costa Cruises in 1996, Costa's last new ship before the firm was taken over by Carnival Corporation in 1997.

Refits were undertaken in 2004 and 2013 to add balconies and remodel staterooms and public rooms to look "more Italian". In March 2020 a woman who had disembarked in Crete was found to be COVID positive and 726 passengers were subjected to quarantine. Her last scheduled stop of that cruise in Venice was cancelled and passengers eventually left the ship in Civitavechhia, Italy, after their quarantine period. She never carried passengers again. Three months later in June 2020 she was sold to an Italian firm for possible conversion to worker accomodation for shipyard workers in Genoa, but this never came to pass either. She was transferred to a subsidiary company and sent to Piombino from where she was towed to Aliağa, Turkey, for shipbreaking which took place in 2021.

A row of four ferries seen in Piraeus, Greece in 2010, belonging to the firm G.A. Ferries. On the left and laid up at the time is the Marina or to give it its full name,: Anthi Marina. She had been built as one of three ships for Townsend Thorensen and was originally the Spirit of Free Enterprise. One of her sister ships was the ill-fated Herald of Free Enterprise that capsized in the English Channel off Zeebrugge in 1987. Following this P&O bought out the company and all three ships were renamed, with Spirit... becoming Pride of Kent. In 1991 she was cut in half and an extension of 102 feet (31 metres) fitted into the centre of the ship.

In 1998 she became P&OSL Kent with the merger of P&O and Stena Line. This was shortened to P O Kent following the buyout of Stena Line's shares. She was sold to G.A. Ferries in 2003 and named Anthi Marina for whom she operated until being laid up in 2009 and was eventually scrapped in 2012.

Second in line is the Romilda with a similar background. Built in 1974 as Free Enterprise VIII and renamed in 1987 as Pride of Canterbury, she was transferred to G.A. Ferries in 1993, the second of their ferries to be named Romilda. She was sold to be scrapped in Turkey in 2011.

Third in line is the Rodanthi, built in 1974 in Japan for the Shin Higashi Nippon Ferry. She was bought by G.A. Ferries in 1989, chartered to CoTuNav (Tunisia Ferries) in 1995 then returned to Greece later the same year being laid up in Piraeus in 2009 and eventually scrapped in 2012

Finally, nearest the camera, we have Daliana another ship built for the Japanese domestic market as Ferry Pearl in 1970. She was bought by G.A. Ferries in 1988 and laid up with the others in 2009 - there were financial problems behind the laying up of ships. She was sold for scrapping in 2011.

Ships and Boats Index

Random Ship Spotting - Part 3

The third in a series of articles looking at ships we have seen either at home or whilst on holiday.

The Shamrock Enterprise was photographed in Glasson Dock, near Lancaster in the UK in May 1985. She was a general cargo ship, built in 1982 and launched on the 13th March of that year in the Netherlands. In 1985 she was sold to Lazard Leasing Service Ltd. and leased to Shamrock Shipping Company. She was to sail subsequently under the names Silverthorn in 1990, Fir in 2002 and finally Temptation upon being sold to a Colombian company. Whilst carrying over 1400 tons of cargo in heavy seas in the Caribbean, she sank on 20 December 2015, eighty miles from San Andres Island. Her crew were rescued.

The TSS (Turbine Steam Ship) Manxman, photographed in Preston Docks in 1986 acting as a floating nightclub after a career of almost 30 years with the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company. Built at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead in 1955, she was the final of six sister ships built for the company. Her last sailing between the Isle of Man and Birkenhead was in September 1982. She appeared as a location in the Barbra Streisand film Yentl during this period. She was sold as a planned centrepiece for a new leisure complex at Preston Dock, sailing there under her own steam on 3 October with passengers paying 1955 prices for beer at 10 pence per pint.

When the Preston Docks area was redeveloped in 1991 she was towed back to Liverpool where she spent another period as floating nightclub. In 1993 she moved to Hull where she remained whilst a company was formed with the intention of preserving her. Unfortunately a fire destroyed much of her internal woodwork and the preservation campaign fell through. She was moved to Sunderland to be dismantled and was scrapped in 2012.

Buffalo was one of three ships based on the same design, the others being Bison (see below) and Puma. She was built in Hamburg in 1975 for Pandoro Ltd. She was a Roll On-Roll Off ferry and a regular visitor to Fleetwood, seen here in 1986. In 1998 she became the European Leader, as Pandoro was rebranded as P&O Irish Sea. In 2004 Stena Line bought the Irish Sea route and she was renamed again as Stena Leader. Stena closed the route from Fleetwood in 2010 and the ferry was sold to Anrustrans being renamed as Anna Marine. She was scrapped in Turkey in 2014.

Bison seen at Fleetwood a little later, in May 1987. She was also built in Hamburg in 1975 but in order to cope with an increase in traffic between Fleetwood and Larne she was lengthened in 1980 in Tyneside where she was cut in two and an extra 15-metre length added. In 1989 she was chartered to B&I and returned in 1993 whereon she had to have extensions added to her side to comply with Safety Of Life At Sea (SOLAS) regulations. This made her less seaworthy and to compensate she had an extra vehicle deck added to the stern to add weight. In 1998 with the rebranding of Pandoro she became the European Pioneer and with her transfer to Stena she became Stena Pioneer. Sold to a Russian company in 2011 and renamed ANT 1. She was scrapped alongside her two sister ships in Turkey in 2014.

Motor Trawler Resolute sailing into Fleetwood, decorated as part of Fleetwood Lifeboat Day celebrations in June 1988. Built in 1970 in Aberdeen, she was renamed Boy Anthony III in 1979 and sold to a new owner in Maryport the following year. In 1985 she returned to Fleetwood as the Janmar under new ownership again and once more became the Resolute in 1987. In 2006, whilst docked in North Shields, she suffered serious fire damage to her crew accomodation and was scrapped two years later.

Ships and Boats Index

Ships and Boats Index

Welcome to this transport series of articles on ships, boats and all things that float. Although ships and boats mainly cover it as I've never been on a seaplane, flying boat or a hovercraft... In general these are pages dealing exclusively with the ships themselves. Links on some of the cruise ship articles will lead you to the relevant cruise index which may have some isolated shots of the ship's interior or exterior on further pages.

Clicking or tapping the photos below will take you to each of the articles. A link on each page will bring you back here.

Wendron Forge and Falmouth

Monday 7 August 1989. Again, a word of explanation for any readers who are coming to these articles in order of posting rather than in the eventual sequence that will appear in the relevant index page. I'm currently re-editing this 1989 holiday's entries and this article is a new insertion - it wasn't included in 2009 when I originally created most of the articles. In those days there wasn't a limitless amount of storage space for a Blogger account. Hence I was more selective and the photographs tended to be smaller. But having got that over with... let's go!

Monday dawned overcast and a little wet. We set out in the cars for a day at Wendron Forge, also known as Poldark Mine. Poldark had been a much-loved TV series based on the books by Winston Graham, airing between 1975 and 1977.

Wendron Forge did indeed have a forge and landscaped gardens and cafeterias and some old industrial machinery.

But it also had a genuine tin mine. You could go down this. Adults had to wear a hard hat as the ceilings were quite low at certain points. Small children were exempt from wearing hats due to their size and the fact that in those days parents were not so stupid as to hoist their kids to carry them around the mine underground on their shoulders... I wouldn't put it past them these days.

There were several weird looking steam engines displayed along with the more familiar shape of a saddle tank locomotive - so called because the water tank sits over the boiler like a saddle on a horse.

We left Wendron and headed out in the car for a ride. It was quite cold for spending the entire day walking about. We ended up in Falmouth as it was starting to go dark. A welcoming sight awaited!

Shops were either closed or on the verge of closing, but Chattels had so many shopping bags and other stuff displayed outside it was going to take the staff a while to get them all taken in before locking up for the night.

We ventured onto the pier. There was not much to do on it except get on or watch the ferries arriving and departing and at this hour, they had long since stopped operations for the night.

Falmouth is the nearest large harbour to the western entrance to the English Channel and is the third deepest natural harbour in the world and the deepest in western Europe at 3-4 metres. It has been a naval base for several hundred years and the start or end point for round-the-world record-breaking voyages including Robin Knox-Johnston who made the first solo non-stop circumnavigation in 1969.

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Weymouth and Maiden Castle

Thursday 22 Feb 1996. We left Poole and drove to Weymouth where the sun came out for a while to cheer us up.

By the time we got to Weymouth it was dinnertime and the town was surprisingly crowded. We even had to queue to park the car. The cafe we had visited on a previous visit was full and we ended up with a somewhat disappointing sandwich in a dockside pub that was crammed full to bursting.

Once twin towns of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis, to either side of Weymouth Harbour, they were rivals for the use of the harbour to such an extent that Queen Elizabeth I got so tired of the steady streams of complaints and petitions by one against the other, she united them as a single borough through an Act of Parliament in 1571. Despite Melcombe Regis being the main centre, the new borough became known as Weymouth. In the 18th century the town was patronised by King George III. There is a statue of him in the town and at Osmington, four miles to the north east, is a chalk cut hill figure of the king riding a horse. Perhaps unfortunately for the town, it shows the king riding away from Weymouth.

The harbour was a major embarkation point for some half million Allied troops to board for the beaches of Normandy on D-Day in World War II. At the time we visited it was the port for ferry crossings to the Channel Isles.

Havelet is a roll-on roll-off car ferry. She started life as the Cornouailles with Brittany Ferries in 1977 and later transferred to British Channel Islands Ferries as Havelet operating for them between 1989 and 2000 between Weymouth (later Poole) and the Channel Islands. A bit unstable, she had aft sponsons added in 1990 at which time her rear deck was extended towards the stern, making a longer ship. In 1992 travelling out of Cork and bound for Roscoff in Brittany, she was struck by a large wave and in danger of sinking, but managed to right herself and return to Cork for repairs and reports. The only damage found was to the cars she was carrying. In 1994 she transferred to Condor travelling between Weymouth and the Channel Islands in which role she is pictured. Subsequently she was sold to Prekookeanska Plovidbla, the parent company of Montenegro Lines in 2000 and operated between Bar and Bari being renamed Sveti Stefan before being scrapped in 2013.

The sunshine was somewhat illusory - the cold drove us back to the car and the car drove us seven miles to a hill just outside the county town of Dorchester. Maiden Castle is one of the largest and certainly one of the most impressive iron age hill forts in England. Despite a complex system of zig-zag paths that attackers had to negotiate to reach the gates whilst the defenders threw all sorts of nasties at them, the Romans succeeded in storming the place after bombarding it with rocks with their siege engines.

It was windy and bitterly cold. Miss Franny opted to stay in the car whilst I trudged uphill, bent almost double against the wind and cold. I found the ramparts guarded now as they would have been when the fort was still inhabited - by companies of highly trained 'battle sheep', more commonly known as 'battering rams'.

Get back in the car you silly old fool! Hey - less of the old. I was only a silly middle aged fool then...

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