Costa Pacifica, MSC Magnifica

Sunday in Guernsey and just under 7,000 guests should have arrived on the Island from the MSC Magnifica and the Costa Pacifica. The fine sunny weather of last week has given way to high winds and rain, which with a heavy swell made the running of tenders from the liners to shore impossible and both liners cancelled their visit. The MSC liner left Le Havre last night and after aborting her visit sailed for Zeebruge.

The Costa Pacifica, with the Guernsey Pilot on board, came up to the anchorage off St Peter Port but eventually cancelled her visit. At least her guests had a closer look at Guernsey. The MSC Magnifica, in the background, is off the north coast of the Island of Sark. She is on a 9 day cruise from the Netherlands, visiting Hamburg, Edinburgh and Dover before heading to this side of the English Channel.

 As the Costa Pacifica sailed along the east coast of Guernsey she is ignored by some of the world famous Guernsey cows contentedly grazing.  The liner is in the middle of a 12 day cruise from Savona in Italy to Kiel in Germnay.

MS Fram

The Fram, owned by Hurtigruten of Norwegian coastal voyage fame, called into St Peter Port this afternoon after spending the morning with her guests visiting the Island of Sark. She is on her "Great Easter Voyage" from Lisbon to Bergen. This cruise is part of her positioning journey from Antarctica where her spends the southern summer, via South America, the Canary Islands the Azores and  Maderia, finishing in Bergen. In the northern summer she will cruise around Norway, Iceland and Greenland.

Showing off her new colours this time with her destinations shown around her topworks, she anchored close to St Peter Port where her tenders made a very short journey into the harbour. She made the headlines in January last year when she got stuck in ice in the Antarctic Sound and had to be rescued by the Royal Navy's HMS Protector. MS Fram is a polar built expedition ship with a ice strengthened hull.

Superyacht Mogambo

In the absence of liners visiting Guernsey,( although the Fram is due Good Friday,) another Superyacht visited today topping up her fuel tanks before heading for Gibraltar. She arrived late afternoon after the fast ferry had departed for Jersey.  In the background,is one of the two tankers owned by the Island of Guernsey, the Sarnia Cherie.

The 74m Mogambo, built by a German yard, was launched in the summer of 2012 and is available for charter for up to 12 guests. She is named after a 1953 film starring Clark Gable and Grace Kelly. With a current charter cost, according to Yacht Charter Fleet, of $762,000 per week, perhaps you will have to be in the film star earning bracket to enjoy this yacht! Sitting alongside No 1 berth in St Peter Port her size is shown compared to the St Peter Port Lifeboat

Having completed her top up Mogambo dominates the RORO ramp whilst she waits for the pilot to see her safely on her way to Gibraltar.

Superyacht High Power III

She came out of the rising sun, a 70m Motor Yacht, calling into Guernsey, to top up her fuel tanks on her way south to Gibraltar. One of the most spectacular visitors so far this year, not a cruise liner but worth getting up early for.

High Power III picked up her pilot as she approached Guernsey from the north and entered St Peter Port on  the early morning high tide before going stern first into No 1 berth to fuel up. Until June 2012 she was known as Numptia,  built for a customer who "wanted to create a home on the sea for all generations of his family" (quote from Boat International). Having taken three years to build, she was one of the stars at the 21st Monaco Boat Show.

High Power III has the capacity for 200,000 litres in her fuel tank and took most of the morning and into early afternoon to complete refueling. She left mid afternoon with the pilot on board and the St Peter Port pilot boat in company. In the background is Brehon Tower, situated halfway between Guernsey and the island of Herm, home to seals and in World War 2 a German flak battery.

Marco Polo

The Marco Polo arrived in Guernsey on a perfect spring day. With blue skies, the south coast cliffs in blossom and a market in town, the guests had much to look forward to. Fresh Friday is a market held in the Market Square of St Peter Port giving local artisans the opportunity to show off their talents and sell their produce. This stall sold particularly tasty creations.

The Marco Polo arrived from the Scilly Isles just after 7.00 am as part of a British Isles Discovery cruise from London, Tilbury. Other ports visited have included Tobermory and Stornoway before heading south to Dublin. Built in 1965 as the Aleksandr Puskin she made the headlines during February 2014.  On her way back from South America she was hit by a freak wave when sailing through the massive storms that hit the United Kingdom.

With the next port being Honfleur the Marco Polo did not leave St Peter Port until late evening, giving her guests time to enjoy a fabulous sunset over Guernsey before sailing north through the Big Russel and past the island of Sark.

Discovery

The Liner season in Guernsey always starts slowly in the early days of Spring which can give wonderful weather or the gloomy day that greeted the Discovery when she arrived from the Scilly Isles. Guests staying at the award winning Hotel de Havelet have a good view of the liner. Unfortunately the Castle Breakwater in the background still remains shut following the winter storms that lifted granite slabs from the eastern side.

Despite the weather and the visitors enjoying a uncrowded Guernsey, the Herm Trident, passing the bows of the Discovery, still runs on a daily basis to serve the permanent population of Herm.