FERRYING IN '15, 26th June, Rosa d'Abundo, the concluding piece

Friday 26th June 2015 (continued)
This is the last day of my holiday and I planned to make the most of it, by enjoying this first ferry ride to Ischia and then sailing on another one back to Naples.

Naples and Ischia

Ischia

Blue sky, flowers, scooter, heat

My travelling companion will be sailing part of the way back but will disembark at Procida for an overnight stay before he flies home tomorrow. It is a small island, with ruined remains of its founding in the 8th Century BC, as well as more modern delights and ferries.

The harbour entrance to the port of Ischia is narrow and it was easy to see when our next ferry came sailing in: it was ROSA D'ABUNDO, sailing for Medmar. Medmar changed its name in 2002 from Linee Lauro, and this was one of the ships in their fleet at the time. She was built in 1981 as the ANGELINA LAURO, at 851 gross tons.

Here's our ferry

Rosa d'Abundo


There was a very efficient man on the quayside telling us all where to stand, please, so that the disembarking passengers and vehicles could get off the ship safely - some people tried to ignore him, at their peril, as he wanted the ship cleared quickly! It was interesting to watch his style of working, which he has obviously perfected over the years.

Waiting, waiting...


Soon we were allowed to walk on board and look around this little ship which had blue furnishings and was cool and welcoming on board. Many of us chose to sit up on one of the canvas-roofed open decks to benefit from the sea breeze. The sun shone, the sea sparkled and there was lots to look at as we sailed at 10.35 a.m. from Ischia towards Procida and Naples. We seem to have done a lot today already, in a comfortable and leisurely way, after the early race from SNAV SARDEGNA.

On board

Blue on board

One of the open decks

Agata

Tourist Boat Secondo

Fauno

Naiade


We arrived at Procida and there were fond farewells between the two of us, as passengers left the ROSA D'ABUNDO and others came on board.

Macaiva at Procida


I waved at the quayside and then sat back on the top deck under cover, to continue to enjoy the delights of being at sea.

Aldebaran, which we sailed on this morning

Approaching Naples again

Isola di Capri

Benedetta II

Don Peppino

Giove Jet

Rhapsody

Laurana tucked in, good to see her again

Catania

Capri

Driade


Back in Naples I disembarked with everyone else, went through the passenger terminal and was glad to see a free blue shuttle bus waiting to take us all to the Maritime Molo. Then I did a hot little walk to the Pic Nic cafe, which I'd located on the internet. Not only did they make and sell fresh salads and other food and drink, but they also sold Airbus tickets at a discount; I could sit in the shaded comfort of the cafe and enjoy my lunch before I had to catch the bus to Naples Airport from a nearby stop. I waited beside the bus stop in the shade of a very wide advertising pole (inspired positioning on my part) and was surprised at the number of taxis that pulled up and offered to take nearby bus passengers to the airport for some expensive fare. The bus arrived and I was soon at the airport, ready to fly home to the UK and resume my other life.


Ships seen: Rosa d'Abundo, Catania, Driade, Don Peppino, Allure of the Seas, Laurana, Vincenzo Florio, Rhapsody, Capri, MSC Divina, Giove Jet, Benedetta II, Isola di Capri, Island Escape, Aldebaran, Macaiva, Fauno, Naiade, Tourist Boat Secondo, Agata



It was a long time since that e-mail arrived on Christmas Day 2014 inviting me to join two of my friends for ferrying in June and we had all been looking forward to it as the plans were made by them. My holiday had been fascinating, travelling on many interesting ships, in good company, and I felt so lucky to have been Ferrying in '15.


THE END

FERRYING IN '15, 26th June, Naples & Ischia

Friday 26th June 2015
On board SNAV SARDEGNA we are due in Naples at 6 a.m. and I notice that my first photograph of the day is taken just after that, so we must be running a little late. We are part of the morning ferry arrivals, although I can see a couple of cruise ships following us in: ISLAND ESCAPE and ALLURE OF THE SEAS.

Vincenzo Florio, Vesuvius, Fincantieri

Naiade and Benito Buono

Watching Allure of the Seas

I saw three ships come sailing in

MSC Divina

Island Escape

Island Escape


We are approaching an unexpected berth, not at the maritime terminal, but no-one seems to know why. Some of us are watching what is happening on our port side, and that's when I hear shouting and see arm-waving from the quayside. Just a few feet away from our hull is an unexpected small rowing boat, and it is not the 'ropes' man for our ship; in fact as the rower idles for a moment a dark shape emerges from the water and it is seen to be a diver in a wet suit! This obviously causes consternation as the diver hauls himself very quickly into the tiny rowing boat, and the rower starts to row away from the quay. This causes even more consternation as he is seen to be heading straight for one our ropes being towed by our own 'ropes' man. The rower suddenly realises what is happening and hurriedly changes direction (still rowing and facing backwards of course) and missed our trailing rope by nothing much. He could be seen rowing all the way across the harbour at some speed for some time...

Mysterious diver

Just avoiding the ropes man


After that excitement, things settled down and we were tied up safely, but none the wiser about the diver in the wet suit or the contents of the rowing boat. We were also none the wiser about disembarking from SNAV SARDEGNA. We passengers hovered around the lounge, bars or reception areas, but nothing happened and there were no announcements. Out on deck however we realised that the giant ALLURE OF THE SEAS had taken up our expected berth (and probably others too) so we had been allocated one that had no gangways or facilities for cars, ramps or foot passengers. We could see eventually that every car or lorry on board had to get off the ship one at a time, wait to make a sharp turn, and then join the nearby roadway. A break was made during this activity and foot passengers were marshalled down various stairs and decks until we could finally walk off the ramp on to ground level. I think we disembarked at 7.35 a.m.

Difficult for drivers

I rushed past these


We walked very fast after this, round and out of the ferry port, past the maritime terminal, and down to the ticket office for the Ischia ferries. This was very busy and we discovered there was only one man on duty selling the Ischia tickets; luckily for a lot of us hoping to get the 7.45 a.m. ferry to Ischia, there was a man from the ferry itself who seemed to know about the SNAV arrival delay and sent a message to 'hold the ferry'. Lots of us almost flew the last few yards to the vessel, and thanked them for waiting for us. We fell into lower deck seats and breathed heavily for some time.

On board Aldebaran

More seating


We are to sail from Naples to the island of Ischia, calling at the island of Procida on the way, with the whole journey taking just under an hour. We are on board ALDEBARAN, built in 1987 at 224 gross tons, and a fast craft sailing for Caremar. We left Naples harbour slowly but once beyond the breakwater picked up speed and rose above the water. Many passengers left at Procida and some got on; we had time to look at a notice about pets on board which must be in a Pet-Bag.

Pets on board

Aldebaran

Now we can see what Aldebaran looks like

Naples and Ischia


Soon we arrived at the island of Ischia and disembarked, and enjoyed walking around the port town of this popular and beautiful island. There was time for a coffee break before making our way slowly round to another part of the bay for a ferry back to Naples.


Ships seen: Island Escape, Allure of the Seas, SNAV Sardegna, Aldebaran, MSC Divina, Niaide, Vincenzo Florio, Benito Buono

To be concluded...

DISNEY MAGIC 9th July 2013

DISNEY MAGIC cruise

You can imagine the puns when I said I was going on a Disney Cruise - are you taking the Mickey? Is it a Minnie cruise? Having laughed politely, I packed my little bag and flew to Barcelona to join friends for 4 nights on board DISNEY MAGIC. She was built in 1998 at 83,000 gross tons, so I was looking forward to seeing this rather traditional-looking ship.

Monday 8th July 2013
I flew from Gatwick to Barcelona on a mid-morning flight; we were beside the end of the one and only runway, waiting to turn and take off, when the incoming aircraft suddenly aborted his landing and roared off into the sky as I watched, probably one minute before touchdown. That must have been an unnerving experience for those passengers, but we were soon on our way, flying out over the South Downs of England. The Seven Sisters cliffs near Beachy Head Lighthouse were a beautiful sight, looking down on them, and I could understand (but dislike) that the town of Dover recently used them for advertising purposes to pretend they were the White Cliffs of Dover.

In a very hot Barcelona I took the airport bus and then the Metro to get to my small hotel near the port and then marvel at the Reception desk.

In Reception

Reception Desk

I smiled to see the poster on my bedroom door, which was called Los Cruceros. A harbour tour was next, to see five cruise ships and various ferries all in port. The cooling breeze was delightful during the 40 minute trip.

MSC Splendida

Island Escape

Aidablu

Ippotis

Island Escape's 'balconies'

Cruise Barcelona

Horizon

Tenacia

Later I met up with some of my travelling group for drinks in a popular plaza where we watched acrobats and jugglers, and then dinner nearby, so it was an excellent start to the trip.

Ships seen: Seabourn Quest, MSC Splendida, Island Escape, Horizon, Ippotis registered in Limassol and built in 1991, Aidablu, Cruise Barcelona of Grimaldi, Splendid of GNV, and Encarnacion for the harbour tour.


To be continued....