Tuesday 19th September 2017
My alarm went off at 6 o'clock; on deck it was distinctly cold and dark, so we met in the stern bar on MOBY DADA for coffee and croissant as we approached Genoa. As the sun started to come over the horizon we went out on deck to see our arrival in this delightful harbour; down on the forward deck we could see a ship's bell and to our delight it was from the PEARL OF SCANDINAVIA. It looked a little the worse for wear and sea miles of course.
Going further past the breakwater we could see the laid-up MOBY ALE and MOBY LOVE in the harbour, and on a last look around on board we could see another St. Peter Line sign from one of MOBY DADA's previous lives.
About 7.30 a.m. we could disembark and head for the overhead walkway leading to the big terminal building. We took our last photographs in the early morning sun of the colourful MOBY DADA at her berth here in Genoa, before heading for the railway station.
We were soon on the train to Livorno; when we arrived there we returned to the hire car and drove to Florence airport to hand it back to the hire company. That had all gone to plan, and we were free now to get to Florence railway station for the next stage of our journey south.
We had reserved first class tickets for the Florence to Naples train and were glad of the chance to rest and relax after the rather rough seas overnight. The sun shone, the coastal waters looked good, the mountain tunnels were interesting, and we enjoyed whatever we saw on our way south.
On arrival in Naples we took a taxi to the memorable building that is the Maritime Station ship terminal and, once we had checked in, waited patiently in the queue with other foot passengers to board SNAV ADRIATICO.
Soon we were all walking along between the yellow lines to get up to the cabin decks. We are on board SNAV ADRIATICO, built in 1986 as the KONINGIN BEATRIX at 31,910 gross tons. She later became STENA BALTICA and then SNAV ADRIATICO, which explains some of the artwork and decorative items we saw around the ship.
We had a look round on board before heading to the outside decks for better views of other ferries nearby. The interesting little LAURANA was nearby, and we all had happy memories of sailing on her in June 2015 (Ferrying 19th June '15).
After watching us sail from Naples, we visited the restaurant and enjoyed a good meal. Our overnight sail from here in Naples to Palermo in Sicily, arriving tomorrow morning, would signal the end of our current ferrying fun but there were still many hours to go first.
Ships seen:
In Genoa: Moby Dada, Moby Ale, Moby Love, Driade (the ex-Naples ferry), Ark Forwarder
In Livorno: Moby Vincent, Moby Aki
In Naples: SNAV Adriatico, Cartour Gamma of TT Lines, Laurana (such happy memories of sailing on her down 'volcano alley' to Sicily), Bonaria, Raffaele Rabattino, Royal Princess, Norwegian Epic (?), SNAV Orion
Wednesday 20th September 2017
The seas were quite rough overnight so we were rather glad to see the city of Palermo ahead as we approached the harbour.
The ship berthed but there were delays in getting the passengers off, so when the announcement came for footies to disembark it was a welcome sound. We rushed off the SNAV ADRIATICO and two of us had to get in the arranged taxi to hurry to the airport for return flights back to the UK.
Ships seen: SNAV Adriatico, Antonello da Messina, Eurocargo Ravenna
Once again, our ferrying trip had been very enjoyable, on some interesting vessels.