Post 7180
Sea News, Dover
Yes the Royal Navy are back on the scene. Following along from our pix of HMS Blazer below, here we have HMS Tyne gently patrolling just off Dover on Easter Sunday April 17. Picture not hugely clear as it was quite misty, but you can feel the presence. We will hopefully get better pictures in due course. That's France in the background there and you can see how on some days it can appear to be a tempting short hop...
Tuesday, 19 April 2022 - 06:03
Post 7179
Sea News, Dover
The picture shows Dover Harbour early morn as the sun rises over piers Dover 8 and Dover 9.
* *
Another pic now below to follow the one in the previous post, shows the newly-on-the-scene Royal Navy.... in the shape of HMS Blazer...
Saturday, 16 April 2022 - 19:49
Post 7178
Sea News, Dover
The Royal Navy have arrived to help with the crises situation in the Channel...here we have HMS Blazer entering the Port of Dover yesterday Good Friday in blazing sunlight, you can see the Naval vessel there towing in an abandoned dinghy. There have already been criticisms re the Navy's deployment but....
Saturday, 16 April 2022 - 08:02
Post 7177
Sea News, Dover
The Channel Migrant Crises.
The picture above was taken on Wednesday, a day when 600 migrants crossed the channel in small boats. The shot above.. not the best quality as was taken through the gloom and enhanced so all can see... but yes you can see the back-up Lifeboat above there with migrants all over it front and rear .... it was a frantic day for this particular Lifeboat, all day long just ferrying too and fro at pace...
The new policy of shipping these channel-crossing migrants to Rwanda, announced yesterday by the government, strikes us as heartless and cruel. It is also notoriously expensive, as pointed out on BBC's Newsnight last night, when Australia did similar with only very minor success, it staggeringly cost that country the equiv of 1.9 Million English Pounds per migrant....
Added some extra recent pictures there...
Friday, 15 April 2022 - 06:33
The new policy of shipping these channel-crossing migrants to Rwanda, announced yesterday by the government, strikes us as heartless and cruel. It is also notoriously expensive, as pointed out on BBC's Newsnight last night, when Australia did similar with only very minor success, it staggeringly cost that country the equiv of 1.9 Million English Pounds per migrant....
Added some extra recent pictures there...
Friday, 15 April 2022 - 06:33
Post 7176
Sea News, Dover
Hurtigruten Expedition ship MAUD arriving with us here in Dover on Tuesday morning...
She has been making numerous trips from here to the Fjords in recent times...you can see her here entering the Port of Dover through the western entrance/exit. It's unusual to see cruise ships entering through the western end, but at the time of arrival the tugs were busy shifting one of the P&O ferries about ( Pride of Kent) at the eastern end of things. A further inspection we reckon .....those inspections not going well at the time of writing...according to reports.
But back to Maud...yes always good to see Maud. She left later the same day, Tuesday April 12, heading for Fishguard we understand....presumably a stop en route ...
Thursday, 14 April 2022 - 06:12
She has been making numerous trips from here to the Fjords in recent times...you can see her here entering the Port of Dover through the western entrance/exit. It's unusual to see cruise ships entering through the western end, but at the time of arrival the tugs were busy shifting one of the P&O ferries about ( Pride of Kent) at the eastern end of things. A further inspection we reckon .....those inspections not going well at the time of writing...according to reports.
But back to Maud...yes always good to see Maud. She left later the same day, Tuesday April 12, heading for Fishguard we understand....presumably a stop en route ...
Thursday, 14 April 2022 - 06:12
Post 7175
Sea News, Dover
AIDAmar arriving at the Port of Dover
AIDAmar: the picture above shows AIDAmar arriving at the Port of Dover on Monday April 11 at 07.22. This is the third AIDA ship in a row and all in immediate succession. The other fab AIDA ships are featured just below...AIDAdiva and AIDAluna.
AIDAmar is on an 11 day one way cruise from Las Palmas to Germany...calling at exotic places like Tenerife, Madeira, Lisbon, La Coruna, Dover etc etc..... and very exciting it all is too...
* *
The news is filtering through that P&O's ferry the Spirit of Britain, currently resting on the Eastern Arm here in Dover, has not been given the all clear to resume services following an inspection by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency...we understand that the Pride of Kent is also in the same situation. P&O had been hoping to get back in action before Easter but we now must wait and see how this develops.
Wednesday, 13 April 2022 - 05:53
AIDAmar: the picture above shows AIDAmar arriving at the Port of Dover on Monday April 11 at 07.22. This is the third AIDA ship in a row and all in immediate succession. The other fab AIDA ships are featured just below...AIDAdiva and AIDAluna.
AIDAmar is on an 11 day one way cruise from Las Palmas to Germany...calling at exotic places like Tenerife, Madeira, Lisbon, La Coruna, Dover etc etc..... and very exciting it all is too...
* *
The news is filtering through that P&O's ferry the Spirit of Britain, currently resting on the Eastern Arm here in Dover, has not been given the all clear to resume services following an inspection by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency...we understand that the Pride of Kent is also in the same situation. P&O had been hoping to get back in action before Easter but we now must wait and see how this develops.
Wednesday, 13 April 2022 - 05:53
Post 7174
Sea News, Dover
AIDAluna paid us a weather related visit twice in a few days...here she is arriving the second time at 6am precisely on Saturday morn April 9. We have a batch of pix but just selected that one there...since then AIDAmar has come in...that was yesterday as I write. And, we've had Diva too. As all the AIDA ships are near identical, we've had a flurry of three so far in quick succession, it looks like we're putting up multiple pictures of the same ship !! But no....
However....We will have a picture of AIDAmar shortly...all fab ships of course.
More... Yesterday in the Port we spotted another Irish Ferry (Ferry no3), it's all happening with Irish Ferries! (see the posts below too).....this time called the Isle of Inisheer. We spotted her at Dover9 presumably doing berthing trials. We have a bog-standard sleep-inducing picture but have held back until we get something better. But yes exciting times, one way or another... this should help ease the trucking backlog. So the theory goes anyway.
The three Irish Ferries currently in Dover are..
Isle of Inishmore
Isle of Innishfree
Isle of Inisheer
so there we are ... how this develops we wait and see.
Tuesday, 12 April 2022 - 05:09
Post 7173
Sea News, Dover
As the shots immediately below just show the Isle of Inishmore head-on in wild weather, we thought we would show her today from a different angle so we get the full ship image as it were...and of course pictured on a different day too as you can see... when all was delightfully tranquil...
Monday, 11 April 2022 - 07:11
Post 7172
Sea News, Dover
The Isle of Inishmore
Looking across controversial P&O's currently 'redundant' ferry Spirit of Britain, still resting at Port, we see an approaching Irish Ferry, the Isle of Inishmore, on a bracing/rough ol' day on Thursday April 7th. Although rough for sure, it was fresh and colourful, and made a change photographically anyway from all the recent grey stuff. Wild and fresh...
The Isle of Inishmore in wild conditions.
The Irish Ferries and the DFDS ferries are keeping the trade flow flowing...well done them. The trucking tailbacks surrounding Dover still stretch back miles although the town itself is clear due to increased policing.
The P&O ferry in shot was at pier Dover9 at the time, but yesterday was moved to the eastern arm. The Pride of Kent came to Dover8 but that's now on the old cargo terminal. Dizzifying shuffling....
Saturday, 9 April 2022 - 06:13
The Irish Ferries and the DFDS ferries are keeping the trade flow flowing...well done them. The trucking tailbacks surrounding Dover still stretch back miles although the town itself is clear due to increased policing.
The P&O ferry in shot was at pier Dover9 at the time, but yesterday was moved to the eastern arm. The Pride of Kent came to Dover8 but that's now on the old cargo terminal. Dizzifying shuffling....
Saturday, 9 April 2022 - 06:13
Post 7171
Sea News, Dover
MS Hamburg
As promised, MS Hamburg as she arrived in Dover on Wednesday but wow was it a grey day....as you can see.......
She was actually on something of a marathon 34 day cruise starting in Lisbon and initially going south...Casablanca, Marrakesh, and so on, eventually coming northwards again, and in the fullness of time reaching us here in Dover, then on to ..yes you've guessed it...Hamburg! Pictured Wednesday April 6, time of shot 07.33
Friday, 8 April 2022 - 07:49
She was actually on something of a marathon 34 day cruise starting in Lisbon and initially going south...Casablanca, Marrakesh, and so on, eventually coming northwards again, and in the fullness of time reaching us here in Dover, then on to ..yes you've guessed it...Hamburg! Pictured Wednesday April 6, time of shot 07.33
Friday, 8 April 2022 - 07:49
Post 7170
Sea News, Dover
TRAFFIC: we need to avoid this if possible...see more in the Council Leaders letter below. We notice comments from both Natalie Elphicke MP and Doug Bannister CEO Port.. all harmoniously saying similar to the message in the post below. The town of Dover cannot be allowed to be gridlocked. That picture above dated April 5 just shows the tip of the iceberg. There's an earlier similar picture further below so the situation goes on...
See also immediately below....
Thursday, 7 April 2022 - 17:41
Post 7169
Sea News, Dover
Open Letter from the Leader of the Council - Dover and the Easter Getaway
This weekend (8-10 April) is again likely to be challenging on the local road network. With P&O Ferries still not operating from Dover, the port will be under severe pressure throughout the busy Easter getaway.
It would be remiss of me not to warn you to expect, and prepare for, some disruption again this weekend. But I have made it clear to the Kent Resilience Forum, Kent Police and Kent County Council that we will not tolerate another weekend of gridlock in Dover.
For too long, local residents and businesses have had to endure disruption and quite frankly, deserve better.
We share your concerns about the impact of gridlock on local businesses, and access to vital health and social care for our most vulnerable residents. And many are rightly worried about how the emergency services would be able to respond to a major incident when all routes into the town are effectively cut off.
Keeping Dover clear must be the top priority.
Cllr Trevor Bartlett
Leader of Dover District Council
(...a section of the latest press release there....)
Thursday, 7 April 2022 - 09:54
Post 7168
Sea News, Dover
Conformity in light drizzle...
A gloomier picture of Conformity above there, gloomier than the one further below, but then there's a lot of gloom about, we're talking about the weather of course! But yes there she is being loaded up a couple of days ago ( loaded up with grain we presume) ... she has since left the Port.
And below we have a night departure shot of the AIDAluna on Tuesday.
Not sure if night shots at range are worth it but we did it this time so you can see something of the blazing light spectacle...time of shot 20.21 (8.21PM) on April 5....on her way to Hamburg via Ijmuiden.
And speaking of Hamburg...MS Hamburg came and went yesterday...we will have a pic or two of that one....just sorting those out...
Thursday, 7 April 2022 - 06:19
And below we have a night departure shot of the AIDAluna on Tuesday.
And speaking of Hamburg...MS Hamburg came and went yesterday...we will have a pic or two of that one....just sorting those out...
Thursday, 7 April 2022 - 06:19
Post 7167
Sea News, Dover
........ the Diva casts a cold eye on Conformity
Wednesday, 6 April 2022 - 06:41
Post 7166
Sea News, Dover
Looking across AIDAdiva there above and in the distance we see the Trinity House buoy-laying vessel Patricia gently passing by the Port. AIDAdiva left us last night at 6pm sharp, right on the button, and a couple of hours later she was replaced by near identical AIDAluna. Luna arrived in the dark with all lights a-blazin'. If you'd blinked and hadn't noticed the earlier departure, at a casual glance you couldn't tell the difference this morning Tuesday...all the AIDA ships very similar but very welcome here in Dover.
We have a hint of traffic problems again today but we wait and see how it develops.
Pic of AIDAluna further down page..a few posts down..
Tuesday, 5 April 2022 - 06:54
Post 7165
Sea News, Dover
As promised, another picture of the arriving AIDAdiva ...
See also todays earlier post below ....
Monday, 4 April 2022 - 13:09
Post 7164
Sea News, Dover
The Diva arrives....
AIDAdiva arriving here in Dover on Sunday (Apr 3)
She remains in Port as we speak today Monday. We will have another picture or two in due course.
She is currently on a big 24 day cruise ( that takes some social stamina! ) from La Romana to Hamburg.... nice ship!
( PS Update: The P&O ferries Canterbury and Kent, Pride of...are back on the eastern arm. The original move away from the arm was it seems weather driven. The Spirit of Britain remains at berth Dover9. Also, mighty relief to all...the traffic situation has eased.)
Monday, 4 April 2022 - 07:22
She remains in Port as we speak today Monday. We will have another picture or two in due course.
She is currently on a big 24 day cruise ( that takes some social stamina! ) from La Romana to Hamburg.... nice ship!
( PS Update: The P&O ferries Canterbury and Kent, Pride of...are back on the eastern arm. The original move away from the arm was it seems weather driven. The Spirit of Britain remains at berth Dover9. Also, mighty relief to all...the traffic situation has eased.)
Monday, 4 April 2022 - 07:22
Post 7162
Sea News, Dover
P&O's Pride of Canterbury on the Move...
They have been continually shifting the P&O ferries around the Port. They are obviously still not in practical use, so what to do with them is the question. First of all they were on the western arm, then the eastern arm, and now they linger on the working piers. You can see the Pride of Canterbury been moved from Dover Eight above there...back to the eastern arm she goes! Later the Spirit of Britain was shifted from western arm of Port onto Dover 9...why all the shifting?...well there must be a logic to it. Its like musical chairs...without the music, the fun, or the affection...
The Pride of Kent also on a working pier.
Sunday, 3 April 2022 - 07:25
The Pride of Kent also on a working pier.
Sunday, 3 April 2022 - 07:25
Post 7161
Sea News, Dover
Now here's the news, the situation is exactly the same as I write this 24 hours later....roads remain totally jammed! As mentioned, yesterday was 'all fools day' ...so where is Grant Shapps....these guys flitter from one tv studio to another with that reassuring smarm, but why isn't he here doing something...assessing at least. This is a vital trade link.
As mentioned before, Jubilee Way at top of picture is nothing more than a lorry park, access to the town denied for local people. Its very oddly a three lane road with only one lane for downward use. This needs to be examined.
we understand she was intending to enter Port but failed in the rough weather...
Saturday, 2 April 2022 - 06:46
Post 7160
Sea News, Dover
And you thought the sun rose in the east. Not a bit of it...it spouts out of the funnel of an Irish Ferry every morning...as you can see above. We have conclusive proof there....
Genuine picture above, even though its April 1st (All Fools Day)
Yes genuine picture above, not faked...
.... on the other hand below...
...
Worth showing that one again, many of the fairly recent pictures were (hacking result) lost to us but problems all fixed now...
Irish Ferry featured in the top shot is the Isle of Innisfree
" I will arise and go now...."
Friday, 1 April 2022 - 06:52