Comments (Newest First):

 

Post 6532

  Sea News, Dover

Yesterday (Sunday) was a hugely busy and impressive day at the Port of Dover. There were three fabulous cruise ships...Disney Magic, AIDAsol, and Boudicca all in Port and all at the same time. There were also two Reefer ships, one coming one going, and as an all round consequence lots of tug activity, then a bunker vessel, there were also Border Force vessels in action as it was another hugely busy day for them...and of course lots of smaller craft tooing and froing...
so here we go with some of the pictures...

AIDAsol arriving...


You can see that the new pier ( we're calling WD4 ) was brought into play above there again...
AIDAsol last one into Port settled there...
you can see her slowly manoeuvring into position in the pictures...

Yes indeed huge activity for Border Force yesterday with something like 56 migrants making the crossing on several small boats, we understand the small Calais camp was cleared out by the authorities there, so many had a go at the crossing.

Vigilant...vigilant by name and vigilant by nature...yes in the pic below we see Border Force Vigilant, first time we have seen Vigilant in a while, here she is patrolling yesterday and you can see the Spirit of Britain right behind her there...


Sorry to hear you haven't been well Vic but hopefully you are mending and getting much better. Glad you are enjoying all the ships on the Sea News pages...it gets ever busier. Always welcome Vic....

PaulB
ps: another fab three-cruise-ship day today at the Port of Dover...Costa Mediterranea, AIDAcara and Saga Sapphire...busy times..

Monday, 16 September 2019 - 06:22

 

Post 6531

  matcham, Dover

just to let you know I am still looking in,I have not been well and went away for a week,but your photos of the port and the ships that use it and still very good and I have now got upto date with what is going on in the port. vic.

Sunday, 15 September 2019 - 07:57

 

Post 6530

  Sea News, Dover

Just catching up above there with a couple of pictures of the Pullmantur Zenith setting off in the late evening glow a few days back. She is currently on an 8 day tour starting Malmo finishing today in Lisbon. She called in here to Dover as you can see, also to destinations like Cherbourg and Vigo.

Yours truly was away from his desk for Costa Pacifica...but here's one we did earlier

Fab ship indeed. Busy day today here at the Port of Dover...three cruise ships scheduled, more on that later...

Interesting pictures below there Patrick, great one of Maverick...very enjoyable
Thanks for all the info Mike. Great stuff! fascinating to see those Moby links...they do work. Just 'copy and paste'.

PaulB

Sunday, 15 September 2019 - 06:03

 

Post 6529

  Patrick, Marine Parade

'Maverick' *a good drying day in the outer harbour*


Dutch Inland Pleasure Craft ' NOORDERZON' leaves Dover after a short stay heading for overnight mooring at Harty Ferry




Friday, 13 September 2019 - 23:01

 

Post 6528

  Mike J., Dover

Re post 6526 & the spectacular Moby Line painthobs -

When they started operations in the late 50s with small ferries running between Italy & Italian offshore islands they were one of the pioneers with hull advertising, starting off with a cute & cuddly whale.

They initially used secondhand ferries including some from the Dover Straits & cross-channel routes including Sealink’s EARL GODWIN & Townsend’s FREE ENTERPRISE 2.

For a view of FE2 as the MOBY BLU with the whale try googling 'MOBY BLU FERRY PHOTO'

Oddly the 'cut & paste' method that worked fine in my last post seems to have stopped working.
.



Back in the 90s a chartered Italian freightship operated out of Dover for a while -
I don't remember her name, but she advertised a mineral water & ‘ACQUA MINERALE’ was painted large on her hull.

It was amusing to hear her being called by other ships who thought that ‘ACQUA MINERALE’ was her name . . . . .


Friday, 13 September 2019 - 13:34

 

Post 6527

  Sea News, Dover

Atlantic Reefer


Some pictures above there of Atlantic Reefer arriving with us here at the Port of Dover on Sunday. Instead of coming across the bay as it were, she cut out all that usual manoeuvring, and cannily nipped directly in towards the cargo terminal as you can see above... not ideal from yours truly's picture-taking point of view but got a few shots nonetheless...and there they are above taken in the bright light of Sunday morning.
As mentioned previously I missed the departure of NKT Victoria, had head buried in Windows 10..just got the rough oul long shot above which doesn't do her justice. See Mike's earlier post 6523 for up close pix...also see 6519.

...Nice post below Mike, great round up pix as usual. Great shot of Cullins Yard one of yours truly's favourite places. The links to MOBY are amazing. Quite a sizzling colour-shock to the eyeballs...as we can see from the DFDS artists impression (6524), they will do a much better job with the design.

Del …

PaulB



Friday, 13 September 2019 - 05:06

 

Post 6526

  Mike J., Dover

Thanks anyway, Del !

Dover arrivals noticed on Wednesday.

The CWIND FULMAR was on the Crosswall quay pontoon but on Thursday AIS showed her in the Wellington Dock with her destination given as Ipswich.


The interesting Dutch motor yacht NOORDERZON came in on Monday from Nieuwpoort & may be here for a while.
Very little on the internet about her, perhaps someone knows a little more !




A little different is the impressive model of RMS CULLINS YARD which is here to stay & has been permanently moored at the entrance to CULLINS YARD pub & restaurant on the edge of Wellington Dock for about a year [I don’t get out much].
An impressive model altho’ the builder seemed to have lost interest aft of the funnel.


I’m trying to think what ship she reminds me of & may have to go in for a pint to find out – a tough assignment indeed . . . .



Re Paul’s DFDS press release earlier today about DFDS & Moby line swapping two ferries I’m sure that the first thing DFDS will do is to paint over Moby Line’s amazing ‘Looney Tunes’ paintjobs.

Cut & paste these links & be amazed, they make the ‘exotic’ paintjobs on some Dover cruise ships look quite restrained !

https://www.mobylines.com/the-company/fleet/moby-wonder/


https://www.mobylines.com/the-company/fleet/moby-aki/


Friday, 13 September 2019 - 00:34

 

Post 6525

  Del Styan, Norwich

I wish I could help with the Harwich to Felixstowe ferry origins, but as someone once said - I know nothing. And my parents used to live in Felixstowe. I'm defeated and deflated.

Thursday, 12 September 2019 - 23:21

 

Post 6524

  Sea News, Dover

DFDS ANNOUNCE TWO NEW SHIPS TO JOIN THEIR NEWCASTLE-AMSTERDAM ROUTE THIS YEAR
______________________________________________________________________________

Moby Wonder and Moby Aki will join the fleet in October 2019, sailing in early 2020

(Artist Impression)

DFDS has entered into an agreement with Italian ferry company Moby to exchange two passenger ferries, with the focus of raising the onboard customer experience and capacity, for both passengers and freight customers.

Moby will acquire the two passenger ferries currently operating on the Newcastle to Amsterdam route — King Seaways and Princess Seaways, built in 1987 and 1986, respectively.

At the same time, DFDS will acquire two passenger ferries currently operated by Moby — Moby Wonder and Moby Aki, built in 2001 and 2005, respectively. The ships will be renamed when they join the fleet. The names are yet to be decided.

The ferries are expected to be delivered in the second half of October 2019 and will undergo significant refurbishment, including commercial and technical investments on board as well as port investments.

DFDS will subsequently bareboat-charter King Seaways and Princess Seaways until January and February 2020.

Kasper Moos, Vice President & Head of BU Short Routes & Passengers at DFDS said: "The new ferries are ideally suited to our Newcastle to Amsterdam route. They will provide our passengers with modern onboard facilities and with more car-deck capacity, the new tonnage will allow DFDS to increase passenger revenue by fulfilling the growing demand for high yield car passengers. To freight customers, we will be able to offer increased capacity that can remain constant throughout the entire year"

DFDS’s freight capacity is expected to increase around 40%* on a full-year basis and car capacity increasing around 5% on a full-year basis.

-Ends-


Although outside our general remit area we were delighted to hear of the new ships above there and very happy to include the info.
Many thanks once again to DFDS. Exciting times - one way or another.

* *

Big numbers of migrants making the Channel crossing in the past couple of days...these following pictures were taken right in the midst of all the increased activity two days ago...

Border Force Seeker morning and evening...



Evening...
Border Force Seeker.

* *

Well done Mike with those pix below..right on the spot. Must have been chilly down there yesterday in all the gloom....those pictures are very enjoyable. I missed the ship leaving...that's what you get when head is stuck in computers. Got a long range pic...will have a look later to see if any good.


PaulB
ps: Spirit of Discovery arriving...





Thursday, 12 September 2019 - 06:48

 

Post 6523

  Mike J., Dover

Cable ship NKT VICTORIA sailed 1600 Wednesday.



A rapid swing after coming off Cruise-1 showed her maneuverability before she left, heading across to the northeast lane & her eventual destination of Karlskrona.





A but lumpy outside & the pilot disembarked before the VICTORIA passed thru the Western entrance.
Sid the Seagull kept an eye on proceedings.




Thursday, 12 September 2019 - 01:31

 

Post 6522

  Sea News, Dover

Some pictures to add here now of the MPI Adventure going down the Channel this morning in the gloom...



An impressive beast for sure. The second picture is a crop of the first as it was difficult to get a useable shot in the conditions. We have also featured other MPI platform vessels in the past...put MPI Discovery or MPI Enterprise in the Search Engine to see more. This mornings vessel, MPI Adventure, did not have a particular destination listed...

PB

Wednesday, 11 September 2019 - 15:57

 

Post 6521

  Sea News, Dover

Pullmantur Zenith arriving at dawn yesterday....


It was a mixture of dark and bright as Pullmantur Zenith made its colourful way across the harbour yesterday morning very early. A second camera ( the little one ) was used below as a back up as the pictures in camera one appeared to be too dark...but all was well...or wellish as you can see. She made her way over to Cruise Terminal 2 in elegant style. She left Dover for Cherbourg last night..... currently on a 7 day cruise from Malmo in Sweden to Vigo in Spain. Yes it was a colourful arrival as you can see...no such colours this morning, all is slate grey out there as we speak.



Very interesting collection below Mike from further afield...some familiar guys there for sure...
Yes a busy day for the Border Force yesterday...the highest number of migrants in one single day made the attempt at crossing. The number was 86 we understand.

PaulB

Wednesday, 11 September 2019 - 06:53

 

Post 6520

  Mike J., Dover

Considerably outside our local area but I thought that three familiar vessels that I met on Monday whilst returning to Dover from Lowestoft might be of interest.

At Lowestoft Holyhead Towing’s AFON CEFNI was looking very smart as usual & the Border Agency cutter SEARCHER was nearby.



SEARCHER was moored at the SMS shiprepair yard & drydock & the DHB tugs have visited the same yard for refit work in the past.

At Harwich International was the COSTA MEDITERRANEA with the bunker barge ANUKET SAPPHIRE alongside.





Nothing to do with Dover but I can’t resist a snap of the tiny Harwich/Felixstowe/Shotley foot-ferry dwarfed by the MAERSK MCKINLEY MOLLER as she was arriving Landguard Fort, Felixstowe where she beaches to load & unload passengers using the odd-looking-but-safe structure on her bows.


As she had no passengers for Felixstowe & no-one was waiting to board she got discouraged & didn’t beach, turning round & plodding off to Shotley.

I believe that ferry boat was originally a passenger tender on a P&O cruise ship, maybe Del will know . . . . .
Harwich to Felixstowe as the seagull flies is 1.5 miles, by road 33 miles . . . .

More info ? Google ‘Harwich Harbour Ferry’ for their excellent website.



I hear that one of today’s ‘incidents’ was right off Dover with a Border Agency cutter & one of their Dover-based patrol craft in attendance.


Wednesday, 11 September 2019 - 01:11

 

Post 6519

  Sea News, Dover

Yet again the swimmers appear to be compromised, this time with a small yacht right in their path at the weekend and inside the exclusion area. Fortunately on this occasion the Harbour Patrol arrived to move it on. I wrote to the Port Media re the previous pictures (SEE 6507) which showed the swimmers in potential harm...but heard zippo back...although maybe they passed on the info and vigilance has been increased. We don't want any accidents.

A couple of pix below now of the passing Blue Clipper. Its always a delight to see a sailing ship and one always hopes for full sail...partial success here. The small boat is Altered Ego from Dover..its a small fishing boat if I'm remembering correctly off top of head .. pictures from Sunday...



Just caught NKT Victoria yesterday morning before she nipped 'round the bend' to Cruise Terminal One. She is still here.... an award winning cable laying vessel we understand. Striking ship for sure. Hope to get some better shots in due course.


Del many thanks, glad you like all things lunar and this time the mention of the Indian story too...great stuff!

Jan yes great to see the Rock Choir, imagine being surprised by them onboard a DFDS ferry...that would be an enjoyable shock/surprise.

PaulB
ps:Pullmantur cruise ship Zenith in Port today.

Tuesday, 10 September 2019 - 06:58

 

Post 6518

  Del Styan, Norwich

Wow - what a moon shot. Well done! Reminds me of the recent moon landings reminiscences. And well done for mentioning the Indian space exploration attempts - woefully under reported in our press.

Monday, 9 September 2019 - 23:13

 

Post 6517

  JanT , Dover

Wow Rock on DFDS how amazing was that,I hope the Rock Choir did well, would be interesting to find out if anyone at DFDS knows.

Monday, 9 September 2019 - 12:35

 

Post 6516

  Sea News, Dover

Surprise singing at sea!
_____________________

An 86 member Rock Choir surprised passengers on a DFDS ferry to France



Passengers sailing from Dover to Calais with DFDS were surprised recently when they were entertained by an 86 member "Rock choir" in the middle of the English Channel.

On this occasion the choir were travelling to Paris to perform on Saturday 24th August in the public park, Parc Montsouris and on Sunday 25th to perform on Videopolis auditorium stage in Disneyland Paris but broke into song after leaving the port of Dover.

The choir sung the hits "Don’t stop me now" by the legendary Queen and "Shut up and dance" by American rock band, Walk the Moon and were joined by members of the public and some of the crew in the Horizon restaurant aboard the Côtes des Dunes.

The Rock Choir were from the Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire area and comprise of 3 different choirs led by professional singer and conductor Lizzie Deane.

Lizzie said: "We do flash mobs to give the members another new experience, the buzz of performing to an unsuspecting public, and to ‘spread some joy’. It’s great fun for members and public alike. It’s also a great way of promoting singing to those who have perhaps never tried it before. This was the first flash mob performance that these choirs have performed together and it was a brilliant ice-breaker.

"The Rock Choir groups around the UK offer a glamorous inclusive experience with no auditions and no requirement to read music. Anyone joining need not have any previous singing or musical experience and it offers all ages an alternative experience to the traditional classical or community choir introducing members to feel-good pop, rock and contemporary chart songs."

Naomi Harper, PR Manager at DFDS said "We were delighted to be able to offer passengers sailing with us this special exclusive performance. The atmosphere when the choir started singing was electric and unexpectedly emotional. It was lovely to see passengers of all ages joining in, from toddlers bopping to adults singing along and cheering!".

To join a rock choir please visit rockchoir.com and enter a postcode or nearest town and a free taster session can be booked.

To view a video of the event follow this link https://youtu.be/dqYAIf9-flk



ENDS

And speaking of Disney above...here we are with a couple of pictures from last evening (Sunday). First shot shows the magnificent Disney Magic having left the Port of Dover and turning towards her destination ...The Irish Sea and first stop Dublin. You can see the two patrol boats in attendance...in fact in the pic they are beginning their return to base as the ship magically sets off...job done!




The second pic below shows the aforementioned boats...Harbour Patrol Boat (pilot) and Police Patrol Boat having a conflab below yours trulys 'Observation Tower' prior to the Disney departure...


PaulB
ps: Pacific Princess in Port today.

Many thanks once again to the Team at DFDS for the information....rock'n'roll….





Monday, 9 September 2019 - 07:23

 

Post 6515

  Sea News, Dover

Boudicca joins the charge south in the pic above. Photographed just outside the Port on Friday as she sets off at pace for the French Rivers and the towns of Rouen, La Rochelle and Bordeaux etc. Lots of nice wine to taste down there on her 9 day round trip. The picture was taken through the western exit and you can see how calm the sea is inside the harbour, while beyond... a wee bit choppy for sure. Hope all are having a good trip.

"The Dark Side of the Moon"
The picture of the quarter/half moon is from the middle of the week and this is how it looked over the harbour on...just checking.. yes wednesday. When you see it sectionalised like that it always looks so strange. We are hearing on the news bulletins that an Indian moon lander has been lost on the dark side....not surprised when you see the above...

PaulB
ps: the Disney Magic back in port today...very early arrival.

Sunday, 8 September 2019 - 06:28

 

Post 6514

  Sea News, Dover

The Spirit of Discovery heads to the Fjords on thursday evening with the French Cliffs in the distance...
The PEDAL to PARIS Royal British Legion Event above and below...very exciting colourful event passing through Dover from London. We had pictures last year as well. These current shots were taken on Thursday. Pausing above there, champing at the bit, just like the start of the Tour de France...and then below...they're off !! Whooosh!!


Below you can see them relaxing earlier and note all the accompanying vehicles...an exciting event for sure...one was almost tempted to don the lycra, although yours truly probably said that last year as well...


Thanks to Del and Jan below there for the Goofy comments...
or perhaps I better put it another way...thanks for the comments on Goofy...

PaulB


Saturday, 7 September 2019 - 06:03

 

Post 6513

  Del Styan, Norwich

I don't have much time for the corporate Disney brand, but I must admit that Goofy pic is a cracker!

Friday, 6 September 2019 - 22:57