NAVIGATION-Cruising and Maritime Themes

                                            KONINGIN BEATRIX                                       MODEL OF THE STENA SEMASTER STENA LINE's Ferry terminal at Hook Van Holland has excellent facilities for passengers, beautiful model ships of the fleet, a shopping store and a Japanese Restaurant. Photos 30.5.2016

"It's shorter by water", is the GOSPORT FERRY Motto, the Ferries take only three minutes to cross from Gosport to Portsmouth, by land, the voyage could take 45 minutes to do 14 miles, the HARBOUR SPIRIT resting at Gosport, photos 22.5.2016

RFA "WAVE KNIGHT" is a Wave-Class tanker built by VSE in Barrow-in-Furness, construction started in 1998 and the ship came into service in 2003, she is like a "Supermarket" at sea, she has the task of providing fuel, food and fresh water, she has a sister ship, the WAVE RULER. Photos at Portsmouth 22.5.2016

HMS "ENDURANCE" has reportedly being sold for scrap and she will be towed to Turkey soon, she seems to be ready looking at these photos taken recently at Portsmouth, the ship was built in 1990 in Norway as the POLAR CIRCLE, she was chartered one year later by the Royal navy and purchased in 1992 when she was renamed "ENDURANCE", history tells us that, due to an error during maintenance, she was flooded in such a bad way that she's been out of service since 2008, the cost to repair the ship is so high that she is no longer viable. Photos taken 22.5.2016

M.S. "VOYAGER" is a small cruise ship at 15.396 G.T., she was built in 1988 and has capacity for 540 passengers, the ship is operated by VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY...... "For life's adventure" is the company motto, "VOYAGER" sails her guests straight into smaller ports, like Portsmouth on the photos above, offering a true sense of adventure, the ship is registered in the Bahamas, photos 22.5.2016

Portsmouth was once again my selected Port for my next trip by sea, I am writing this "post" in France after another trip on BRITTANY FERRIES "MONT ST MICHEL", my selected sailing the 22.45pm to Ouistreham ( Caen ), prior to embark plenty of time to wonder once again with the many ship spotting options on offer, two cruise ships in Port , the SERENISSIMA and the VOYAGER, BRITTANY FERRIES ships were the BRETAGNE, NORMANDIE, ETRETAT, CAP FINISTERE, NORMANDIE EXPRESS and my "own" MONT ST MICHEL, various war ships and cargo vessels completed the choices. Portsmouth Waterfront never ceases to amaze me, it is an exciting place for ships enthusiasts that are kept busy on daily basis, it makes me think every time, that..... I was born for this..... to follow, detailed entries of this memorable day. Photos 22.5.2016

Tomorrow, 22.5.2016, I am back on MONT ST MICHEL, my second trip of this year on the ship, these photos were taken in February of 2015 at Portsmouth after just arrived from Saint-Malo on board the ARMORIQUE, weather permitting before boarding the ship tomorrow it will be a busy day ship spotting, two cruise ships are in port, the VOYAGER and the SERENISSIMA and NORMANDIE and BRETAGNE will also call for their afternoon and evening departures to France, respectively Ouistreham ( Caen ) and Saint-Malo, stay connected for new entries on the blog.

When you don't like what's on TV on a Friday night, you dig deep on your archives and you find some relics, here's the "GRAND VOYAGER" entering the Portuguese Port of Portimao back in July of 2011, the ship was built in 2000 as the OLYMPIC VOYAGER, soon after this photo was taken, the ship joined COSTA CRUISES, in 2014 she was sold to BOHAI FERRY COMPANY and renamed CHINESE TAISHAN

Tribute to the past of the Iconic age of the Ocean Liners, postcards in my collection

"MARCO POLO" is a strikingly beautiful ocean liner built in 1965, the second of five ships of the IVAN FRANKO class, she was built by the Eastern German shipyard MATHIAS-THESEN-WERFT at Wismar, originally named after the Russian poet ALEXANDR PUSHKIN, there is no record of the name of her designer and indeed of the exact date of her maiden voyage, essential information was lost by fire at her owners/operators, THE BALTIC STEAMSHIP COMPANY OF LENINGRAD offices. "MARCO POLO" was conceived to operate regular ocean-liner voyages and also to be used as a cruise ship, in 1991 she was renamed "MARCO POLO" after the explorer, acquired at the time by ORIENT LINES, since then she has been used as a full time cruise ship sailing all over the World, today the ship is owned by the GLOBAL MARITIME GROUP and operated by the British based cruising operator CRUISE & MARITIME VOYAGES, known for offering the best in traditional British Cru