Ferrying in July 2018, Part 12 Asterion II at sea

Friday 20th July 2018
Part 12 - The afternoon and evening
After a light lunch and a rest, I finished reading my paperback book so took it to Reception. They were happy to have it for one of the crew; we all talked about the ship and its history and it was suggested that we come back and talk to the Chief Steward on duty later.

Deck Plan


Later that afternoon we talked to the Chief Steward and then one of his colleagues. This colleague obtained some keys and we were all invited to go with him to see the locked-up Japanese Lounge and the Cinema.

Our first sight of the locked Lounge

Daylight coming into the room

Another view

And another

Dance floor

Another view

More

Another angle


I seem to remember that the Lounge was on Deck 9 and once some of the side curtains were opened we could look out at the sea. The lounge seemed vast and was in lovely condition considering it had been locked up for some time. There was a small stage, a beautiful wooden dance floor, lots of comfortable seating in various groups, tall mirrors and what had obviously been well-designed wallpaper. I imagine this room will be restored and put back into public use when there is time and money. What a treat that will be.

Entrance to the locked Cinema


The Cinema was on Deck 7, behind the plain door above the semi-circular step we saw yesterday. We entered through another doorway on which was hung a deep-cushioned door, obviously to contain the noise from the cinema. The tiered seats were nicely raked, they looked comfortable, and photographs of various film-stars were on the walls. It looked almost ready for a new film show and audience - maybe one day...

The door behind the entrance

Inside the locked Cinema


We thanked the member of staff who had allowed us to see and photograph the locked Lounge and Cinema, and then went back to thank the Chief Steward.

That evening at dinner it was my turn to order and pay for the wine but the Chief Steward told the man on the till that we were not to pay for the bottle, as it was a gift from him. That was so kind and of course we went back to thank him once again.

The evening continued with me giving an illustrated talk, which was much easier than it might sound. My friends will not be able to come along to the October Ocean Liner Society meeting in London when I am to be the speaker, so I had all the pictures on a USB stick which we could put into a friend's lightweight computer to view, rather than through a projector. I had a paper copy of my notes and so as we sailed through the calm waters of the Adriatic Sea that evening I gave my upcoming 'Union-Castle Line Purserette' talk to a very small audience of two! They seemed fascinated, amazed and amused in all the right places; what a novel way to spend an evening at sea we thought.


Ships seen: Asterion II, Olympic Champion, Kerkyra Express, 2 cruise ships in Corfu but too far off to identify, Hellenic Spirit of ANEK with whom we exchanged whistles as we passed, Rigel I, Cruise Olympia of Minoan Line


To be continued...

Ferrying in July 2018, part 11 on Asterion II

Friday 20th July 2018
After a good night's sleep in the spacious cabin here on ASTERION II, I managed to wake in time to get on deck for our arrival at Igoumenitsa. It felt odd to think we had been here yesterday but had looked down from the mountainside to see the ship sail below us. We saw various other vessels under the glorious hot sun and then went for breakfast at the large self-service restaurant. The next few hours were spent mostly out on deck in the shade, enjoying the views and blue sea as we sailed along.

Hellenic Spirit

Paws for thought

Lovely

2 Way Ferries vessel with a Greek name

Sunny sight

Lovely view

Things to see

Kerkyra Express

Part of the Self-service Restaurant

Recognisable Japanese styling

Reception

Window seats

Deck seating or sleeping

Funnel

ANEK at 50

Routes

Seeing the sea

Looking out


Ships seen: Kerkyra Express, 2 Way Ferries vessel, Hellenic Spirit


To be continued...

SUMMER 2016 - July ferrying Part 8

Friday 22nd July 2016
We are staying in a local Corfu hotel (Hotel City Marine, Corfu) overlooking the sea, ferries, ports and nearby island. The air-conditioning had been on overnight but I found it too cold and had to put a towel over me in the middle of the night to get warm again. The 7 a.m. alarm woke me enough to take me out on the balcony where I could see our 11 a.m. ferry RED STAR 1 sailing out of the harbour! She has a distinctive red hull so there was no doubt about it, and of course her Knud E. Hansen design is recognisable too. There was immediate shock and horror from my two friends, plus photo-taking! A quick look on-line showed she was due back here again later this morning, so we can only hope that is correct. While we stood on the balcony the air above me was full of swallows chirping and flying around at great speed.

Before sun-up

Red Star 1 on the move

Swallows

Red Star 1

From the balcony

Aidabella arriving

Hellenic Spirit

MSC Orchestra


We hurriedly dressed and had breakfast in a basement room, and went back to the balcony only to hear tannoy music coming out from beside the fortress as the Greek national flag was raised on a tall flagpole. We checked out of the hotel and took a taxi round part of the bay to the ferry and cruise ship port terminal building. The information desk had no information to help us, but my friends discovered that Red Star's office was outside the port and volunteered to go back out of one of the few port gates and find out from them. I was happy to stay in the terminal building and mind our luggage whilst they walked such a long way in the great heat; they do have longer and younger legs than mine, but I was very grateful to them.

My Brave Heart friends returned with the good news that RED STAR 1 will indeed be back here as scheduled but 'may be late'. That's perfectly acceptable news - she was built in 1965 as VIKING 3, and we are so pleased to be able to sail on her that we will be happy with her actual arrival! We bought food as we do not know what facilities will be available on board, and plenty of bottled water. We could see her sailing into the bay as we watched from a shady spot on the first floor of the terminal building.

Thomson, Aida, Rena, Marina

Hooray, she's coming back for us


Photos taken, we went through the security gate and hurried towards her quayside berth. Parallel with her berth was the THOMSON DREAM and AIDABELLA so RED STAR 1 looked quite tiny in comparison, but eye-catching with her bright red hull. Passenger numbers looked quite low, probably about 30 at one time, but we stood on the quayside where requested and waited for the ramp to come down. The nearest Security guard tried in vain to divert many THOMSON passengers walking along our part of the quayside towards their cruise ship, near the descending ramp, but most of them were completely oblivious to their danger and ignored or didn't even see the wildly waving security woman trying to make them keep back.

Turn and berth

On we go

We had to walk through the cafeteria seating

I noticed half a compass rose as we walked along

We carried on forward, passing Reception

I noticed this advertising board

Mid-ships seating area, and I recognised those chairs

Star Cafe sign, behind the bar

A few steps further on and there was this little staircase/atrium, roped off unfortunately

Two levels

View to the forecastle

View back to the bar, with its Christmas decorations still in place


We three were first of the foot passengers to board and were soon making a little base in the comfortable forward lounge, where we could enjoy the sailing from Corfu, Greece, to Brindisi in Italy. The journey time is expected to take about 9 hours, but on board we were told it could take between 11 and 16 hours, depending on various conditions such as the sea and the weather.

This is the route map, sailing from Corfu (middle right-hand red spot) to Brindisi (middle left-hand red spot)


RED STAR 1 started life in 1965 as M/S VIKING III, built at 5762 gross tons in Lubeck for use in Scandinavian waters, and then UK-French waters, with Thoresen Car Ferries. She had various charters and name changes over the years. In 2007 she came to Greece and assumed her 8th name RED STAR 1 with Red Star Ferries/European Ferries. One of her charterers after this was the International Organisation for Migration, who sent her in May 2011 to Misrata in Libya to rescue refugees fleeing from Gaddafi. She came under fire during this operation and I think many of us remember the publicity at the time.

We explored the good ship RED STAR 1, operated by Red Star Ferries, ate our picnic, discovered there was a small hidden restaurant which was open for a little while and cooked menu food to order. One of my friends took advantage of this and the chef himself came out of the kitchen to serve the food.

Restaurant

View back to the Restaurant

Aft deck above

Shady seating

Beside a funnel

Builders plate

Looking down from the top deck, beside the top of the atrium

Top of the atrium

Ah, at last we are about to sail from Corfu

We're off


Water etc. was on sale at a Bar (with noticeable Christmas decorations above it) but this soon closed and no-one knew when it would open again. A few passengers were sitting in the mid-ships seating area watching a film on the big television mid-ships. The man in Reception soon closed up and could be seen 'resting', through the 2 inches gap under the shutter. I think at this point we all followed suit and slept.

Sometime later we all went walking, although the top decks proved far too hot to walk around for long. Two of the crewmen were maintaining doors and I peered through to see where the stairs were going, and recognised the aft end of the restaurant. I asked the men if they knew when the bar or restaurant might open again, and they shrugged and said they didn't know, and sorry they couldn't help. I mentioned that we were wondering about buying more water. Ten minutes later one of the men followed me around the deck and produced a very large bottle of very cold water, which he gave to me, explaining it was crew water supplies and I was to accept it. He wouldn't take any money, but simply smiled and accepted my very grateful thanks. He even gave me three plastic cups, which was very thoughtful. I took the bottle down to the forward lounge and we shared some of the water straightaway. That was such a kind gesture from that crew member, and I was able to thank him again much later when we waited to disembark.

After a necessary rest in the forward lounge, we went up on deck to watch the sea in all its glory. Corfu is north of other Ionian Islands, in the Ionian Sea. This leads through the Strait of Otranto into the Adriatic Sea, and once through the little channel leading from Corfu, we headed north-west towards the 'heel' of Italy and Brindisi. During this passage we heard a hoot of our ship's whistle and went to our starboard side and there was PRINCE heading south-east towards Corfu and Igoumenitsa. We hope to be sailing on her tomorrow, which should be fun. Later I also saw Grimaldi's EUROFERRY OLYMPIA heading south past us.

The Bridge wing

Prince appeared

Prince against the Albanian mountains

Hot on top

Alterations to the ship in the past


At first we paralleled the coast of Albania with its mountainous rocky coastline but then turned to the open sea. Sitting on deck with a sea breeze was absolutely wonderful and just what sea travel is all about; the sea sparkled and the breeze took the edge off the heat as we chatted about our ferrying so far.

Euroferry Olympia was seen at a distance


Soon we could see the industrial chimneys of Brindisi in the hazy distance and it was time to put on a shirt over my T-shirt against the cooling damp air as we sat up on the very top deck. We watched the sun go down in that lovely golden hour before nightfall

Sundown


and eventually the Pilot came on board to guide us into the port of Brindisi. EUROPEAN VOYAGER was already there in her golden paintwork, and we soon berthed with the stern ramp down. It was 9.30 p.m. local Italian time. Our journey had indeed taken the expected 9 hours but the ship and trip had been most enjoyable, another lovely day.

Goodbye Red Star 1


We disembarked over the stern ramp in darkness, and found a taxi to take us to our overnight hotel (Hotel L'Approdo); a young German lady backpacker from the ship had a lift with us and we arranged that she be taken on to the local station. At our hotel we discovered we had been allocated a suite of rooms, with a locking front door, which was nice. Leaving our rucksacks was a great relief and we could soon head back into the town and join the crowds. IONIAN SPIRIT was laid up just opposite the hotel, and apparently being worked on, but we walked past her and were soon ordering a meal in the famous Betty's Cafe and Restaurant on the familiar waterside. This area has changed a great deal since the days of trains arriving at the nearby Brindisi Maritime Station, and I noticed the rail lines have gone completely now and the buildings converted to general office use.

Ships seen in Corfu: Red Star 1, Thomson Dream, Aidabella, Nikolaos, MSC Orchestra, Agios Spiridon, Marina (car ferry to Albania), Hellenic Spirit of ANEK, Rena II (Albania), Agia Theodora,

At sea: Prince, Euroferry Olympia of Grimaldi

In Brindisi: Red Star 1, Ionian Spirit laid up, European Voyager (ex-Corsica Serena Seconda), Euroferry Sicilia (ex-Humber Viking)


To be continued...