FERRYING IN SEPTEMBER 2017 (Part 4)

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.

Entering the harbour at Genoa

Pearl of Scandinavia bell

Ark Forwarder


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.

Moby Ale

Moby Love

Having a whale of a time...

Familiar Genoa sight

Leaving Moby Dada


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.

The red side

The other side

View from the walkway which leads to the terminal building


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.

Train departure board


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.

Waiting to board as foot passengers

Too close to get the whole picture

Along the yellow walkway


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.

Plan of the ship

We liked this mural

Cartour Gamma

They look useful

Royal Princess

Laurana


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).

Koningin Beatrix

Map on a stairwell, from a previous life


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.

Wall art

More artwork

Antonello da Messina

Palermo through a porthole before sun-up

Life ring of SNAV Adriatico

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.

FERRYING IN '15, 25th June, SNAV Sardegna

Thursday 25th June 2015 (continued)

At the railway station we bought tickets for Palermo, further west along the northern coast of Sicily, and caught the 13.50 train. During the journey I enjoyed dozing, listening to music, or drinking water, and I finally managed to finish reading last Friday's English daily newspaper. I had been reading various pages over the week, and discarding them for recycling as I went, but this all made very little difference to the weight of my rucksack.

Sleeping dogs

Train in Palermo station


We arrived at Palermo station at 17.29 later that afternoon, in great heat, and immediately noticed the sleeping dogs lying on one of the platforms. We all know what we have to do with them, don't we. We decided to take a taxi to the port, as it was some distance away, and once there we could see our ship for the night's sail from here in Palermo: SNAV SARDEGNA, of Grandi Nave Veloci (GNV).

SNAV Sardegna

The sign at the quayside


My friend wanted to photograph some other ships so I climbed the metal staircase on the quayside and boarded the vessel midships. She seemed huge after the morning's little ferries; she is 33,336 gross tons, was built in 1989 as OLAU HOLLANDIA, became PRIDE OF LE HAVRE, and then SNAV SARDEGNA. I looked around some of the public areas and was particularly impressed with some of the original artwork in Reception.

Outside cabin 7117

Deck 7

Original artwork

Reception

One of the lounges

Huge mural

Life ring

Work in progress - MSC Opera and Palladio


Out on deck I could see LA SUPREMA in her new logo paintwork, which is not universally popular I believe. It is certainly noticeable.

La Suprema in her new paintwork

Legs on board

Black smoke for 10 minutes

Minerva Uno


Black smoke was coming out of our funnels for about 10 minutes, but once the ropes were let go we knew we were about to sail, on time, at 8 p.m. We saw the Pilot boat approach our starboard side, and then could see the Pilot himself stepping on the bow of his vessel. He held a mobile phone tightly to his right ear with his right hand all the time we could see him, and presumably was also talking into it; as we watched he continued talking into his phone as he stepped onto the inside deck of the SNAV SARDEGNA. The pilot boat pulled away and we gathered speed and turned to leave the harbour. I have never seen a Pilot board a vessel in this way before, and can't believe he was talking to the Captain. Hmm, seems a bit of a cavalier approach to what I always thought of as a professional job of work......

Palladio in a sorry state

TransHawk

La Suprema with the new GNV logo

Splendid with the old logo


On the way out of the harbour we passed a small ship A F MICHELA which was half painted, as if her future life might be changing. I later discovered that this was her eighth name since she was built in 1974, and I have seen her before but with one of those previous names.

A F Michela half-painted


One of my friends said she is a really fascinating ship, and that he can claim something of a personal interest in her. "Like the Laurana she is ex-Adriatica, although from a slightly earlier, 1970s, generation. She did some really long voyages in her time, such as Venice-Dubrovnik-Piraeus-Heraklion-Alexandria, one of the final great cross-Med ferry routes. She was rebuilt in the early 90s but, before that, Michael Palin travelled on her when he went around the world in 80 days: http://palinstravels.co.uk/book-8. There is a brief history of the ship: http://www.adriaticandaegeanferries.com/adriatica/eseeng.html here."

My friend notes the last page hasn't been updated for her most recent sale, which is to local Sicilian operators for use to the remoter islands around the coast of Sicily. Now we know why she was only half-painted when we saw her.

My friend also notes that

"She is something of a personal favourite as she was my very first Southern European (outside the Canary Islands) ship when I sailed on her during her final years with Adriatica from Brindisi to Patras back in August 1999 - so she was the first of many! We caught up with her again in 2011 on what was a rather damp sailing to Albania and she is very '1980s Adriatica' on board, similar in some ways to the Laurana."

Leaving Palermo at dusk

Leaving Sicily


After sailing from Palermo in Sicily, we were heading for Naples, back on the Italian mainland, where we are due at 6 a.m. tomorrow. We made our way to the formal Restaurant, which was about a quarter full, for an evening meal. It was very cold in there and I had to collect some warmer clothing; the waiting staff had a very casual attitude to taking orders or delivering them, but the food was pleasant. After dinner I had a final warming-up session by going to the disco and dancing with some charming Italian ladies who made me welcome, so the evening ended on a high note.


Ships seen: A F Michela, SNAV Sardegna of GNV, Splendid, La Suprema in new GNV colours, TransHawk, Palladio of Siremar being worked on, MSC Opera also being worked on, Minerva Uno


To be continued...