Comments (Newest First):

 

Post 4970

  Ed Connell, Dover Strait

Royal Klipper at the DCT this evening. Conditions placid after a rough old day out on the Dover Strait which saw the Pride of Kent in a bit of bother in Calais.



Sunday, 10 December 2017 - 23:29

 

Post 4969

  Sea News, Dover

Cracking weather pictures below Ed..Brrrrrrr Dunkerque West.

Sunday, 10 December 2017 - 10:27

 

Post 4968

  Ed Connell, Dover Strait

Overnight snow in Dunkerque West.






Sunday, 10 December 2017 - 09:41

 

Post 4967

  Sea News, Dover

Some very rough weather is expected in the channel and along the south coast today sunday, with the Shipping Forecast suggesting that winds of up to Violent Storm 11 will give us a pasting. So ..be aware...



Sunday, 10 December 2017 - 06:32

 

Post 4966

  Sea News, Dover

A couple of shots below of occasional visitor the fishing boat Cornelis Vrolijk. I always have trouble spelling that one...cant think why! The vessel comes in periodically for what looks like a crew change. The first shot is from last Thursday, the rough oul stormy day...the second one is from a previous visit. Always good to see Cornelis....



Well done with that collection below Ed. Cracking stuff out there in the rough seas! Great to see that warship.
And...Good to have you back.

PB.

Saturday, 9 December 2017 - 04:52

 

Post 4965

  Ed Connell, Dover Strait

French warship La Motte-Picquet passing Dover this afternoon.





Friday, 8 December 2017 - 19:03

 

Post 4964

  Sea News, Dover

We had some rough oul weather yesterday. It looks like we got the tail end of the storm again..this time it was Caroline. Not quite a 'Sweet Caroline' but nevertheless all ferries seemed to cope relatively well with the stormy weather once again. The top shot above shows one of our regular favourites the Trinity House Vessel...Alert. You can see the crew clearly as they wait in the harbour for a ferry to arrive before they head on out into that rough ol' sea. There must be a modicum of trepidation as they look at it before pushing off.

The Lighthouse on the breakwater below at roughly the same time...the operative word being roughly. Time of pictures..3pm approx.



Great set of pictures below Sarah once again. Great stuff indeed! The Christmassy atmosphere looks terrific over there in Ramsgate, with loads of boats taking part. The nice night time camerawork once again too captures it all. I wonder if there are any boats dressed up like that in Dover. Must take myself up to Cullins Yard shortly to check it out...

PaulB.

Friday, 8 December 2017 - 06:52

 

Post 4963

  Sarah, Ramsgate

Thank you Paul & Jacqui for your very kind comments. A few photos of the general display in the harbour.











Thursday, 7 December 2017 - 10:59

 

Post 4962

  Sea News, Dover

The first two pictures below show the pilot alighting from Deep Helder on Tuesday morning as the vessel moved away. They are, as you can see, long range pictures and alas alas the quality is a bit poor...but probably still worth showing as you can see the pilot climbing off Deep Helder a few miles out in the channel. This manoeuvre always looks a bit precarious but these guys do it all the time.



The picture below gives a proper view of Deep Helder a week or so ago...
You can see more Deep Helder pictures via our Search Engine just above...

Thanks Jacqui, that moon shot went down well. It will be on show for one more day and then we will move on..glad you like it.

Great work with the Christmas Lifeboat below Sarah. Those pictures look a bit hard to do as night shots are always tricky but those ones came out great. It is terrific that they do that with the lifeboat.
I bet those pix have put everyone in the Christmassy mood for sure...
I have now written a note to that Sanity Claus guy..


PaulB

Thursday, 7 December 2017 - 07:25

 

Post 4961

  Jacqui, Dover

What a fantastic photo of the super moon Paul - as someone else commented, worthy of an award for sure.

Also thank you Sarah for the lovely Christmassy photos of the lifeboat all lit up for the season. That would make a lovely Christmas card you know, ever thought of trying it - I'd love to receive one


Happy Christmas everyone xxxxx

Thursday, 7 December 2017 - 06:34

 

Post 4960

  Sarah, Ramsgate

As promised Paul some night time photos of the lifeboat (Relief Lifeboat - Lady of Hilbre) looking all Christmassy











Wednesday, 6 December 2017 - 20:53

 

Post 4959

  Sea News, Dover

P&O FERRIES IS NAMED BRITAIN'S FAVOURITE FERRY COMPANY BY TRAVELLING PUBLIC FOR TENTH YEAR RUNNING
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Release time: immediate


P&O FERRIES won the Best Ferry/Minicruise Operator category for a record-breaking tenth consecutive year at last week's highly prestigious British Travel Awards.

The awards, which were presented at Evolution in London's Battersea, are the most sought after accolades in the travel industry on account of being voted for exclusively by consumers.

On a successful evening, P&O Ferries also won the category for Best Ferry Booking Website.

The integrated ferry and logistics company, which is this year celebrating the 180th anniversary of the founding of P&O in 1837, prides itself on the mantra that the holiday begins as soon as you set foot on the ship.

Sarah Rosier, Head of Sales and Marketing at P&O Ferries, said: "The British Travel Awards are the only purely consumer-voted awards in the travel industry, so they provide a good measure of how the travelling public views a company. We are therefore delighted to have won Best Ferry Operator for a tenth consecutive year."

"We believe that the service on board our ships has to be great in every way and we are relentlessly working to better understand what our customers want so that we can exceed their expectations. This year we've introduced better dining, better food, a better shopping experience and better cabins which we hope will help us to be Britain's favourite ferry company for another ten years."


To ensure integrity and transparency, the British Travel Awards are verified by the leading accountancy firm Deloitte. The voting process is completely transparent with the winners determined solely by the number of votes they receive from the public.

P&O Ferries is a leading pan-European ferry and logistics company, sailing 27,000 times a year on eight major routes between Britain, France, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Holland and Belgium. It operates more than 20 vessels which carry 10 million passengers and 2.2 million freight units annually.

Together with its logistics division, P&O Ferrymasters, the company also operates integrated road and rail links to countries across the continent including Italy, Poland, Germany, Spain and Romania. P&O Ferrymasters also owns a rail terminal in the Romanian city of Oradea, which facilitates the onward movement of goods to Britain from Asian countries via the Silk Road.

ENDS


Congratulations to P&O Ferries. A big win there. Many thanks once again guys for sending through the info.
The featured ship in the pictures is the Spirit of France.


* *

I originally put up 4 pix of the Lombok Strait yesterday but one didn't look right and had to be taken down...to make up for that loss here are a couple of extra shots taken as the ship moves off through the western exit and heads for Hamburg.




Thanks to Del and Patrick for the comments below there. Glad you like the moon shot guys.
What with supermoons, red moons, pale moons etc etc...we've all gone a tad lunar mad!!
PaulB.






Wednesday, 6 December 2017 - 07:00

 

Post 4958

  Del Styan, Norwich

Wow - what a moon shot. Well done PB.

Tuesday, 5 December 2017 - 22:52

 

Post 4957

  Patrick, Marine Parade

Great photo of the Super Moon Paul. Worth a photo award in anybody's book.

Tuesday, 5 December 2017 - 10:55

 

Post 4956

  Sea News, Dover

Some pictures above there of our old friend the Lombok Strait moving away through the western exit yesterday at 3pm. Pictures are not classics as the sun was very low and slanting across the harbour, one side of the ship ultra bright, the other side dark....but there she is anyway...heading off to Hamburg in Germany. Another ship, Emerald, was soon in to take up the vacant slot at the Cargo Terminal.

Yes indeed Jan re Christmas Port festivities...its great fun down there



Tuesday, 5 December 2017 - 07:12

 

Post 4955

  JanT, Dover

Great piece about Cruise Terminal Christmas Fair, well worth a visit, and ideal for the kids, the ice rink looked so much fun.
Well done Port of Dover.

Monday, 4 December 2017 - 10:11

 

Post 4954

  Sea News, Dover

PORT CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

The principal contractor for the Port's Dover Western Docks Revival (DWDR) development is proudly sponsoring an even bigger and better real ice-rink at the Port of Dover's hugely successful White Cliffs Christmas, which is back by popular demand.


Awaiting within the Port’s historic Cruise Terminal 1 from 25th November to 1st January, the undercover ice skating rink measures a fantastic 400 sq m making it 100 sq m bigger than last year.

"VSBW are delighted to be playing a small part in giving back to the local Dover and East Kent Community" stated Paul de Jong, Managing Director of Boskalis Westminster Ltd.

As well as a bigger and better ice rink, this year’s Christmas Market will include more fair ground rides for the children and a wider range of market stalls and concessions serving a variety of food and drinks. The Bohemian Pub from Deal will also be operating a pop-up Bar called the Bo-Ho-Ho and there will be live music to add to the atmosphere. And of course no Christmas is complete without Father Christmas and his friendly elves who will take up residence in Santa’s grotto.

Stuart Eckersley, Project Director for VolkerStevin, said: "It is a real honour to be involved in such a fun and festive event for the whole family within the local community."

Tim Waggott, Chief Executive from the Port of Dover, said: "Over the past year, together with VSBW, we have been working hard to deliver a bigger and better Western Docks with a bigger and better waterfront while providing a lasting community legacy through apprenticeships, employment for local people and work with local schools and charities.

"It is great to see how such a project can also lead to bigger and better community events, celebrating the very best of Dover to bring us all together at this seasonal time of year."

ENDS
Picture above courtesy of the Port
Taken by Kent Clickers

These pictures were taken earlier in the day on Saturday before many people had arrived, but you can see the wide variety of exciting Christmas stalls all ready for a terrific day and ...the ice rink is just plain FAB.
Life amongst the Christmas stalls...lots of crafts and skills and entertainments abound.
You don't have to be mad to work around here but it sure helps!
Yours truly stands in front of the camera for a change. Caught unawares while pondering how a chap might do the triple back flip somersault on the ice, while retaining a modicum of cool dignity....well.. I had been in the Bar, run by the Bohemian of Deal and very it is nice too.
Former Mayor of Dover Jan Tranter hadn't been to the event before " Its just fab" said she.. and is bringing the family down.
The Ice got very busy a short time later as you can imagine.
The local Transport Museum were there in force...nice vehicles to see.
All jolly nice... see LIVE LINK at top of page for full info.



Well done below Sarah...ace set of pictures below there once again.
Ah very good re the Lifeboat. Its looking good Paul.



Monday, 4 December 2017 - 06:14

 

Post 4953

  Sarah, Ramsgate

Survey vessel Titan Discovery back in Ramsgate, we seem to have seen quite a lot of her during the year.








Our first sight of our festively lit up relief lifeboat, I will get you a night time photo Paul, I just took this whilst catching Titan Discovery.



Sunday, 3 December 2017 - 18:25

 

Post 4952

  Sea News, Dover

The Deluge: The good people of Boulogne, the Boulonnais, experienced this Armageddon-like rainstorm a few days ago (on December the 1st). It looked mercilessly horrendous over there... I was expecting a tornado like waterspout any minute...but no, not this time.

It looks like all the ships in the channel have scarpered - not a single one in view. That in itself is unusual.

This is what Boulogne looks like on a good day from Dover.


Nice collection below and nice info once more Mike..well done with all that. Great stuff!

Ah good one Patrick, very unsporting of the guys not to turn the hot water on..

Glad the night pic went down well guys - still practising the technique.

PaulB.

Sunday, 3 December 2017 - 08:05

 

Post 4951

  Mike J., Dover

Certainly echo Patrick's comments on Paul's photo of the EASTERN BAY - for me the picture is 'made' by the lights of the ships out in the Dover Straits.

Saturday afternoon & the Dutch PEAK BREMEN was discharging sheet piles onto lorries.
She’s operated by the Swedish company PEAK PROJECT CARRIERS & had brought the cargo from Dintelnoord.
She sailed for Belfast about 2100 the same evening.




First time I’ve noticed this ‘stone yard’ in Wellington Dock - from the lamp posts in some the larger blocks [higher quality pix show they have labels on them & other posts are stacked nearby] I assume that they are ‘salvage’ from the reduction in height of the Prince of Wales Pier.

Perhaps DHB are going to build a rockery in memory of the much-missed pier ?

That’s the SAINT DAVID moored by the yard, probably the only vessel in Dover to have flown the Swastika.
For more details do a search for her in the ‘Sea News’ search box.


Sunday, 3 December 2017 - 00:59