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Post 7237

  Sea News, Dover

After a brief lull in migrant crossings, perhaps a Rwanda influenced pause, they seem to have kicked off again...above we have a very long range shot of the Border Force Hurricane on a rush back to Port here in Dover, pictured there with the ever present Varne Lightship behind...

Night shot of the harbour lights now, purposely leaving out the flashing Lighthouse this time which tends to overshadow...
we're fans of the lighthouse though just to be clear.
Night Falls: Harbour lights Port of Dover.

Friday, 24 June 2022 - 07:31

 

Post 7236

  Sea News, Dover

AIDAaura entering the Port of Dover on Tuesday June 21.. as a ferry approaches in the near distance..
AIDAaura is on a 14 day round trip from Hamburg...highlights being Rotterdam Dover Bilbao Brest Saint-Malo Honfleur plus .....nice run.. AIDAaura is the smaller AIDA cruise ship currently calling in with us here...

Thursday, 23 June 2022 - 07:19

 

Post 7235

  Sea News, Dover

Carnival Pride: The magnificent and large Carnival Pride moving away on Sunday evening, you can see the super ship moving towards the eastern exit there as some sunlight eventually came through later on Sunday.
Carnival Pride off there on a 12 day European run calling at the likes of Copenhagen, Kiel, Helsinki and of course much more...

Wednesday, 22 June 2022 - 05:43

 

Post 7234

  Sea News, Dover

More pictures now of the Jewel of the Seas as she moves away on Sunday evening. It was a bit of a grey oul day but as evening came it brightened up a tad. You can see her there above elegantly moving away under a sky that's attempting to be blue. Off to Norway and beyond we understand...off to embrace the chills of the Arctic Circle.
The magnificent Jewel of the Seas moving away from pier WD4 here in Dover on Sunday evening...to the right you can see the equally magnificent Carnival Pride..we will have another pic or two of that one to follow...

Tuesday, 21 June 2022 - 06:21

 

Post 7233

  Sea News, Dover

Two totally magnificent monster cruise ships in Port over the busy weekend ( Sunday)...in the foreground in the pic above you can see Jewel of the Seas and directly behind and not entirely visible you can just see the magnificent Carnival Pride...both previous visitors so we have pictures down the page or over. We will have more pix following...

Morning pic above, the one below later in the day... But...just look at the sheer scale of these magnificent monsters....look at the double decker bus dwarfed in the pic below... go compare!!

We will have more pix following soon...

Monday, 20 June 2022 - 06:48

 

Post 7232

  Sea News, Dover

MIGRANT CRISES

Friday Morning Early: Pulling back the imaginary curtains in the 'observation tower' to begin another day and even at 06.30 am the first thing you see is the Dover Lifeboat powering back to base here in Dover with another full load of unfortunates...even at that hour! How the Lifeboat guys keep going I dont know...they must be..what's the correct English Usage here...yes, they must be 'knackered' !

Saturday, 18 June 2022 - 05:44

 

Post 7231

  Sea News, Dover

MIGRANT CRISES

Obviously the big national story at the moment is the Rwanda/migrant situation so we decided to show more pictures from the manic day on terrible Tuesday this week when 444 migrants dangerously crossed the channel in small dinghies. As we mentioned yesterday, the various services here in Dover were in hectic mode all day...essentially rushing out to ferry the unfortunates in to shore...while elsewhere the infamous Rwanda bound Government leased jet failed to take off (...at enormous expense!).

Top to bottom...
1. Border Force Vigilant with many migrants on top deck and in bow section
2. Returning Dover Lifeboat packed out
3. Border Force Typhoon again...wider shot
4. Dover Lifeboat on yet another run....

Thursday, 16 June 2022 - 06:41

 

Post 7230

  Sea News, Dover

The unholy Rwanda deterrent scheme, its unpopularity highlighted yesterday by the Nation's Bishops, is failing to deter anybody as yesterday Tuesday was a hectic/frantic day here in the Channel. We saw, without particularly spending all day watching, the Lifeboat go out and fetch large groups in at least twice and maybe more, Border Force cutter Vigilant bringing a large gathering in, Border Force Hurricane bringing a large group in, and Border Force Typhoon above bringing in a large group both on the bow as you can see here but also aboard the rear section...we have more pictures but do we need to use them? ....
A humane solution needs to be found as the Rwanda deterrent scheme isn't working...
ADDED: Newspapers are reporting that 'hundreds' crossed yesterday.

Night of the Full Moon.

Yes we have had a gorgeous moon over the channel on recent nights. The picture above there is a wee bit hazy and flat, ....but! we love a good moon... we took a series of pictures as P&O's Pride of Kent moved across the scene but in this one a very welcome bird flew into the picture and livened it up.. so naturally we picked this one.. its a simple point n shoot shot...

Viking Venus in Port again today...

Wednesday, 15 June 2022 - 06:32

 

Post 7229

  Sea News, Dover

That's the last of the tug spraying pix above there at least for the moment. This display was for the Sea Cloud Spirit departure but alas the picture was too dark and needed some work...and there we are. Twas a bit of a gloomy departure as mentioned before but hopefully pic okay now....
Also just to relocate the one below from top of page...

Tug Spraying Jubilee Celebration picture...relocated..

Tuesday, 14 June 2022 - 06:22

 

Post 7228

  Sea News, Dover

Carnival Pride at Dover
Carnival Pride

Another busy tug spraying operation for another maiden voyage...this time we have the giant Carnival Pride. She is sooo long we could hardly fit her in our limited-width picture space! 963 ft long it says here and almost 90,000 tons...quite a ship. There she is moving away on Friday evening (June 10).. can you believe it, we still haven't caught up with all our tug spraying pictures... the tugs have been busy busy with all the spectacular salutations!
The ship is on a 9 day round trip from Dover to Norway, various destinations in Norway...lots of Fjords...

Sunday, 12 June 2022 - 05:58

 

Post 7227

  Sea News, Dover

More of the fabulous Sea Cloud Spirit, a closer shot above this time with once again the pilot boat powering alongside, and below the wider view as she was just setting off. You can see the tug spraying there too...both tugs were doing the necessary. Will aim for another tug spray pic but its quite dark and gloomy re the heavy cloud, not quite the idea....working on it though....
Sea Cloud Spirit.

Another impressive cruise ship in today...hopefully some pictures later... Carnival Pride.

Friday, 10 June 2022 - 07:39

 

Post 7226

  Sea News, Dover

Picture above there of the magnificent all-new three-master Sea Cloud Spirit leaving the Port here in Dover yesterday evening at 6.15pm. Unfortunately the weather was heavy and grey at the time which didnt help with the pictures but we soldiered on stoically and will have another couple to follow in due course. Its always the way isn't it, sunny just before, with sunshine again immediately after she disappeared.
The tugs were in full spray mode once again (they are certainly having a busy spray spell!) and gave her a grand send off...will have another spray picture....

AIDAaura below was with us on Tuesday.
AIDAaura on a 14 day trip from Hamburg mostly to France and Spain...Bilbao, Gijon, Brest, Saint Malo, Le Havre.... etc...

Thursday, 9 June 2022 - 05:49

 

Post 7225

  Sea News, Dover

Platinum Jubilee: Midday saturday June 4 and all our Dover ferries blasted their horns in a full joyful roar, a tremendous sound, a crescendo of jolly noise ...and of course dont forget the tugs, the tugs sprayed in fantastic but of course silent harmony. They were joined in the celebration by both the Lifeboat and the Pilot Boat...as you can see in the pix ...
Jubilee Tug Spraying here in Dover.

Sunday, 5 June 2022 - 06:37

 

Post 7224

  Sea News, Dover

HMS Tyne just off Dover.

HMS TYNE: Following along from 2 posts ago you can see HMS TYNE above there moving off for another busy day in the Channel. Although much and many celebrations are taking place at the moment, the migrant crises situation still goes on out of the limelight....latest figures are suggesting 10,000 have crossed this year so far.

Saturday, 4 June 2022 - 06:30

 

Post 7223

  Sea News, Dover

The picture above, taken Thursday June 2 at 4.30 approx, shows the Pride of Canterbury working again. As you can see the ferry is fully loaded there with trucks aplenty having just returned from Calais. You can see her there gently moving stern first into Dover8 ....So all three of the available P&O ferries are now back in service...the Pride of Canterbury, the Pride of Kent, and the Spirit of Britain.

Friday, 3 June 2022 - 06:11

 

Post 7222

  Sea News, Dover

HMS Tyne paused just outside Port as familiar local fishing boat Maverick returns to base...
....pictures from a couple of days ago...
Spirit of Discovery back in with us today...pictured further down page on her last visit just a few days ago ..

Thursday, 2 June 2022 - 06:07

 

Post 7221

  Sea News, Dover

The Pride of Canterbury

P&O's Pride of Canterbury was given the all-clear to return to active duty just prior to the weekend....the picture above shows her on a trial run on Sunday at 4pm approx as she re-enters the Port of Dover through the western entrance. The ferry has been active since, although we dont believe she is carrying passengers as of yet, but we're watching to see...

Delighted to report that the horrible traffic situation we all lived through at the weekend has eased....it appears to be free flowing as we speak...touch wood... lets hope it stays that way.

Tuesday, 31 May 2022 - 05:37

 

Post 7220

  Sea News, Dover

Dover Chaos...


This was the scene early Sunday morning at 06.58 on the approaches to the Port of Dover... at 6.58 in the evening the situation was exactly the same. The whole thing was abysmal and appalling...families stuck for hours and hours. Yes the cars were different at evening of course, as although crawlingly snail-like slow, they did filter through eventually...but heavens it was grindingly slow and at a solid standstill for ages.. Why do the Port and ferries accept bookings on this scale when they clearly cant cope? Spread the load!

We have a wider shot too showing Jubilee Way jammed as well ... its all so disruptively depressing both for those travelling and for local people....

Address the problem.



Monday, 30 May 2022 - 05:26

 

Post 7219

  Sea News, Dover

Those extra pictures now of the Spirit of Discovery...showing her arrival in fine style on Thursday morning ...
The Spirit of Discovery
The Spirit of Discovery - early manoeuvring above towards her eventual position on Cruise Terminal Two...you can just see her there in the post below behind the Jewel of the Seas.

Sunday, 29 May 2022 - 06:09

 

Post 7218

  Sea News, Dover

Wide view ..Jewel of the Seas and Spirit of Discovery
and below zooming in...
As mentioned in the previous post, the dynamic duo Jewel of the Seas and Spirit of Discovery were in Port on Thursday. You can see the Jewel above there unusually at the 'grain pier' WD4 ...however from our point of view great to see her there.. The last time a cruise ship was there was early pandemic when the P&O cruise ships were resting here in Dover... think that's right.... the Disney Magic also had a spell there..
Also in the pix you can just see the Dover Sea Safari tour boat heading out....
...will have some extra pictures of the Spirit of Discovery to follow ..

Saturday, 28 May 2022 - 07:19