Comments (Newest First):

 

Post 6954

  Del Styan, Norwich

Just out of interest, did you see any of the overnight meteor showers? Or are you tucked up in bed early at night, ready for your early sunrise shots?

Wednesday, 22 April 2020 - 23:09

 

Post 6953

  Mike J., Dover

After just missing some fabulous ‘pink’ light just after dawn on Tuesday I was out on the cliffs a little earlier on Wednesday,

A nice sunny morning,with the recent chilly winds gone but the pink light failed to appear of course.


The BURGUNDY has been on No.8 berth for several days & was still there Wednesday night.


Eastern Docks were very quiet after a flurry of freight as the SPIRIT OF FRANCE discharged & the DUNKERQUE SEAWAYS had sailed.

A sparse service on offer - P&O services could probably be covered by the two ‘Spirits’ alone unless there’s a surge in traffic.
It seems that tourist traffic is now being handled again.


An optimistic sign of better times hopefully to come.


I was talking to the one of the CANTERBURY crew yesterday & he said that the ship was running with 25 crew instead of well over 100 when in full passenger service,

The weatherbeaten bows of the ARCADIA who was berthing after another overnight ‘grey water cruise’ as I arrived on the cliffs.


Any exposed steel, however small, will always ‘weep’ rust at sea, particularly in bad weather.
Don’t forget that the ARCADIA came practically non-stop from Australia, stopping only briefly at Durban & the Canaries for stores & fuel when there would have been no time for 'prettifying' !

Maybe there’ll be some touching-up of the paint during the Dover lay-up but with their whole fleet laid-up with no money coming in & massive expenses to pay I’m sure that cosmetic work is pretty low down in Carnival’s priorities at the moment.


Wednesday, 22 April 2020 - 22:45

 

Post 6952

  Dave, Sandwich

It is a shame that Carnival (sorry, I mean P&O) cannot find a vacant, working dry dock as this would be the ideal time to give her a refit.
But, with 'most' of us sticking to the rules and only making essential journeys, would driving to work to splosh a bit of dulux on a boat be classed as essential?

Wednesday, 22 April 2020 - 08:12

 

Post 6951

  Sea News, Dover

This one above...Discovery.. was towed in to Port, having broken down, by tug Doughty in the wee small hours...Mike gave us that piece of info a few days ago. Well whatever the problem was it was fixed, and here she is blasting off again at good speed beyond the breakwater wall on Friday around 13.15. The scene was very misty so had to force the picture a tad but there she goes....

And now below a general selection of round-up shots of Arcadia taken at different times...leading with her at 'grain pier' WD4... I think it may be fair to say she is needing a bit of a touch-up with the oul Dulux .. but once done...well...



Arcadia


Well you know what they are like Del, they will eat anything that's going. However we just had to make sure it wasn't anything too hard, soft was the thing...we didn't want choking or digestive problems...



PaulB

Wednesday, 22 April 2020 - 06:35

 

Post 6950

  Del Styan, Norwich

Nothing to do with Dover really, but what did your gull get for breakfast?

Tuesday, 21 April 2020 - 23:07

 

Post 6949

  Sea News, Dover

The promised pictures of Arcadia now...we see her here as she moves across to exit the Port on Saturday at around midday. We have left the earlier shots in the sequence to one side, and just concentrated for now on her exiting in a slow gentle style with hardly a ripple.....calm calm all is calm...
The gentle giant moves off...





P&O cruise Ship...Arcadia


Yes they are real characters Del. I used to have one that came every morning here to the 'observation tower' ...always knocking on the window looking for his breakfast. Yes he actually knocked every day...then one day he didn't come no more...must have met his fate somewhere alas.

PaulB


Tuesday, 21 April 2020 - 07:03

 

Post 6948

  Del Styan, Norwich

Very adaptable those gulls. In addition to Mike J's post about the gulls atop of the car park, in the past I have watched them tapping for worms just outside the swimming pool on Maison Dieu Road, taking no notice of all the thundering lorries on the A26. They are very clever, and no doubt will nest in the areas we are leaving alone in these tricky times.
Hitchcock's The Birds movie may not seem so silly!

Monday, 20 April 2020 - 23:22

 

Post 6947

  Sea News, Dover

Some pictures above there of grain ship Panda as she leaves the Port last Friday the 17th. In the first couple of shots you can see the crew settle things down as she moves away from 'grain pier' WD4 . You can see her there late afternoon ...as she heads directly to the open sea with pilot boat in close attendance.

An earlier image below....loading at the grain pier.
'Amadeus, Amadeus...'


Nice collection below with lots of added info from Mike...don't miss

PaulB
ps: Will have some pictures next of the giant Arcadia as she gently glides across and heads out to sea.

Monday, 20 April 2020 - 05:20

 

Post 6946

  Mike J., Dover

The P&O threesome at Western Docks didn’t last very long & the AURORA sailed from CT2 about 1030 Sunday morning on another ‘grey water cruise’ heading northwest.
However by 1900 Sunday she was already back in Dover on CT2 again.
So if you missed them on Sunday you can catch them again on Monday, unless anyone else slips away to sea.
.

When I was going thru the pix of the three cruise ships I realised that I had inadvertently included the the LIAMERE on WD5 together with her rockery - I had quite forgotten that she was there.
Her accommodation had blended into the OCEANA’s stern & even her port holes were in line with portholes on the OCEANA !
Here she is, highly-cropped.


Here’s a few more pix of the EAGLE last Wednesday heading down the Wick after a day's diving on No.7 berth.



Also the NEW ROSS 1 on 19th.April.


As Paul suspected she is of Irish origin & used to work at the small Irish port of New Ross, near Waterford on the southeast Irish coast.
Built by the wellknown & very busy 'Damen' shipyard, a Dutch company who produce many different types of vessels in their many yards scattered worldwide, she is a standard small tug/workboat design that has been in production for many years & is of the splendidly-named 'Pushycat' class.


I was amused by Paul's very close encounter with a gull in his recent post & wonder whether perhaps some are nesting atop his observation tower.

Gulls get very aggressive during the nesting season & I’ve been several times hit by glancing blows of wings or feet [knocked my hat off once] when on the cliff path from the clifftops down to Athol Terrace at the entrance to Eastern Docks.
The gulls nest on the cliffs above the path.

Back in the days when the ferry crews used to park in the now-closed multi-storey car park in Eastern Docks seagulls used to nest on the open top level of the park.
DHB did not approve of this & used to destroy the nests before the eggs hatched & i understand that this was a 2-man operation, one man to destroy the nest & the second man to protect him from the outraged gulls.



Monday, 20 April 2020 - 02:42

 

Post 6945

  Sea News, Dover

The barge towing goes on, in fact yesterday another barge was being towed... the pictures above were taken recently and they show current lead barge towee...if there is such a term...Sarah Grey, in action at the head of the pack heading westward. The top shot conveniently taking in the background and showing the breakwater lighthouse and a DFDS ferry winding its way to Calais...

While the barge towing was going on, larger workboat Eagle powered by, heading back to the western end of the harbour after a long day... and here she comes ..



Now back to the rear end of the barge convoy and you can just see New Ross 1 bringing up the rear...picture taken moments before I almost had a collision with an at-speed seagull as you can see below...strewth!! nearly bashed me camera!



Ah yes re grey water Del...well its all been happening here with the P&O Cruise Ships. Oceana went out again last night for a shorter run this time...and has just come back as I write at 06.20. But to my surprise also back in the dead of night after a run...Arcadia...now surprisingly over at the 'grain pier' WD4...didn't think she would fit there, but life is full of surprises ..as she is a bit of a whopper... will have pix in due course.

PB

Sunday, 19 April 2020 - 06:36

 

Post 6944

  Del Styan, Norwich

Ahh, now I know what grey water is!

Saturday, 18 April 2020 - 23:13

 

Post 6943

  Sea News, Dover

Some pictures now from the 15th which was...ermmm....Wednesday.. yes Wednesday evening in fact...time of first shot 18.32 and we see Aurora off on another 'grey water' run. We see her moving out of Port stern first in the first pic below. She returned the next morning, so had a much shorter 'gallivant' than her stablemate Oceana...


Off she goes....

Mike mentioned Smit Dee a short while ago.( see 6811 and 6924 )...had this picture from her recent visit but completely forgot to upload the thing, but here we are now.


Yes interesting picture of Panda below there Mike
I have some pictures of her departure and her offloading...still in camera alas
will get round to it all but up next a small group that includes workboat Sarah Grey, barge, Eagle etc etc ..

PB

Saturday, 18 April 2020 - 06:09

 

Post 6942

  Mike J., Dover

Dutch coaster PANDA sailed late Friday afternoon from WD4 after loading grain for Rotterdam.


At about midnight Friday night the DOUGHTY towed in the windcat DISCOVERY who had broken down off St,Margarets Bay whilst n passage from Newlyn to Ramsgate,’

Sarurday 1100 the ARCADIA is expected to sail from the Eastern Arm on a short 'grey water cruise'



Saturday, 18 April 2020 - 01:52

 

Post 6941

  Sea News, Dover

Mike mentions Merita and here she is now from yours trulys angle...she came to deliver a huge quantity of timber...trucks streaming away fully loaded for a couple of days now. Three pictures here taken at various times, the one below shows her fully loaded early morning soon after arrival. She left the port yesterday.
Just to add...that's Aurora in the background there...



A lone shot of Elvira after leaving port...its just a little black and white number this time. We were hampered by miserable mist at times.


The three cruise ships in Port as we speak...Arcadia, Oceana, and Aurora, all blew there magical whistles in support of the NHS carers last night Thursday at 8pm. Applause rang out across the seafront here in Dover...there were claps, cheers ...bells were rung, saucepans bashed with spoons ….. a big well done to the NHS and all carers, food deliverers, and all those keeping the system going....



Nice further collection below Mike..enjoyable shots there

PaulB

Friday, 17 April 2020 - 06:20

 

Post 6940

  Mike J., Dover

A few more ARCADIAs as she she berthed on the Eastern Arm without tug assistance.



Also a sunnier view of the MERITA on Wedensday, riding high with discharge almost completed.

She sailed the same evening for Seljestocken [Norway] & has been replaced by the Dutchman PANDA.

Friday, 17 April 2020 - 02:43

 

Post 6939

  Sea News, Dover

Just jumping back to Tuesday now and we see Oceana approaching the Port once again after another one of her channel runs...time of first pic 07.18... and here we go... we lose the yellow sky the closer to Port she gets...



Oceana approaching the Port of Dover.

On to yesterday now and we see Arcadia. So glad Mike got the pictures in the post below as this one is fairly poor....shooting into dazzling light through a white mist...which we have again today. I asked the computer to help out in this case, but it made it worse...anyway there we are... and here we are..
Yours truly is hoping for better shots of this one in due course...

Great work from Mike below...DONT MISS that collection of Arcadia approaching and arriving. Very busy Port as you can see....
Well done Mike

PaulB

ps: Aurora went out last evenng too...conveniently blowing her horn so that yours truly didnt miss the picture...

Thursday, 16 April 2020 - 07:08

 

Post 6938

  Mike J., Dover

Arrival of ARCADIA from Southampton on Wednesday morning.

She went over tg the western part of the bay to wait for two ferries to berth & then backed to her berth on the Eastern Arm, with her stern very close to the derelict No.1 berth, which I hear is soon to demolished.



Three of a kind . . . . .

A busy harbour this morning.

After Sid the Seagull & Percy the Pigeon getting the way in pix, we now have Cyril the Crow [or possibly Robby the Raven] trying for his moment of fame as the ARCADIA backs down to the Eastern Arm & the COTE DES FLANDRES heads for the Western Entrance.

Quite noisy up on the cliffs with nesting seagulls squawking away & I was pestered by outraged gulls swooping down on me - the things I do for 'Sea News' . . . .


Thursday, 16 April 2020 - 02:15

 

Post 6937

  Sea News, Dover

Further pictures of MSC Regulus now which came in close to Port on Easter Monday in the difficult conditions...these to accompany the picture currently at top of page.... the conditions suddenly went very bracing after all the warm weekend weather and you can see it here... 'one had to hold on to one's hat' as we say in Windsor...
The Returning Pilot.

You will notice pic 3 is the same as the one currently and temporarily atop page...included here to remain in files. Presumably the 142,000 ton MSC Regulus came in close to Port to let the pilot pff...as noted previously with other ships. She was enroute to Rotterdam.

Good to see those pictures Mike. yes although Merita is relatively small she is carrying a huge amount of timber...impressive to see...

Mark Del Mike..glad you are all enjoying or have enjoyed Bill Bryson's books...excellent during confinement in these grim times.

Well said Vic...get it right say the port or 'walk the plank'

PaulB
Lots more to come...much catching up to do.

Wednesday, 15 April 2020 - 06:18

 

Post 6936

  Del Styan, Norwich

Love Bill Bryson's books. I agree completely with the previous comments. I re-read them and still laugh. Must be my age.

Tuesday, 14 April 2020 - 23:25

 

Post 6935

  Mike J., Dover

Sandwich or bust !

A biomass lorry heads-up Jubilee Way en route for the mini-power station at Pfizer's old site.

The MERITA started discharging on WD4 Tuesday morning after spending most of Easter anchored off Margate & by mid-morning unloading was well underway with most of her deck cargo either on lorries or being stockpiled on the quay.
OCEANA in the background.

Looking forward to Paul's MERITA pix from his lookout post.

ARCADIA left Southampton Tuesday evening & is giving her ETA as 0715 & will be going on the Eastern Arm.

Mark - I like Bill Bryson as well - about the only author who can make me laugh out loud even when re-reading & knowing when the jokes are coming up !
Remember Mrs.Smeg the Dover landlady ?
Not just comedy - writes interesting stuff between the jokes.

Tuesday, 14 April 2020 - 23:03