Adonia, Saga Sapphire, L'Austral

A busy lunchtime at St Peter Port with 3 liners at anchor in the roadsteads and 2 fast ferries all enjoying the good weather, giving unique picture opportunities.  Condor Rapide is leaving St Peter Port for St Malo with the Condor Vitesse coming in from Jersey, on her way north to England.
The French liner MS L'Austral is just hiding behind P&O's Adonia with the Saga Sapphire on the furtherest anchorage from the harbour.

The Adonia arrived at St Peter Port on Friday evening and lay at anchor over night giving her guests the opportunity to enjoy the sunrise over the islands of Herm and Sark. The Adonia had arrived from the Scilly Isles as part of a short cruise from Southampton before departing early evening for Honfleur. The ship entered service with P&O in 2011 and is a adults-only ship. In the photo below anybody visiting Castle Cornet in Guernsey would certainly have a good view of the liner.

The L'Austral arrived from Belle Ile at lunchtime on Saturday giving her guests a short half day visit to the island, as well as a good view of Herm and its beaches. The holiday cottages on the top of this unique island provide a good base for a family holiday.  L'Austral with cabins for just under 200 guests gives a "super-yacht" type experience, although the lack of outside walking area does mean the remaining deck space is at a premium.

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.

Monaco

The season is over in Guernsey now, and apart from the odd "conference" cruise there is no more activity until next year. The liners will now leave their Northern European routes and head for the cruises in warmer climes.

September in Southern France bought the opportunity to see the liners visiting the ports on the Cote d'Azur. Villefranche, the port for Nice, is a tender port between the town and Cap Ferrat in a most spectacular setting. The Liberty of the Seas and the MSC Poesia were in port on a perfect day.

The Monaco Yacht Show at the end of September provided spectacular settings for visiting liners with the guests of the Wind Surf being entertained by the Red Arrows as well as the most photographed Boat/Car/Thing at the show.

The Noordam was in port as the show opened and provided its guests with views of the final setting up of this major event, as well as the constant flow of tenders to the Super Yachts in the bay.

The Seabourn Quest stayed into the evening in Monaco and its guests had views of the Maltese Falcon coming alongside.

The Discovery was at Monaco on Friday, the penultimate day of the show.  However a lot of its guests decided to go on coach tours to Eze and Nice rather than enjoy the activities of the harbour. Guests had to be back on board by 2100 for a late evening departure.

As there are no more Liner visits for the rest of the year this will be the last of the regular post,s although there might be some historic ones through the winter.

Saga Sapphire

The Saga Sapphire sailed from Falmouth late last night and arrived in Guernsey for a half day stay. She spent her time in Guernsey anchored off Castle Cornet giving her guests a short tender ride to St Peter Port. Saga Sapphire joined the Saga fleet in May 2012 after her refurbishment in Palmero and was the first to appear in the new livery of Saga. The liner was launched in 1981 and became the MS Europa before undergoing many name changes before being transferred to Saga in 2011.

On departure for Dover, the Saga Sapphire headed south, with the Commodore Clipper in the background  passing the Casquets off Alderney, the most northerly of the Channel Islands. The beaches on the north coast of Herm still look inviting even in these early days of September.

With Herm and Jethou forming a background these islands can be added to the list that Saga Sapphire has sailed by on this cruise including the Isle of Man, Isle of Mull, Orkney, and Skye on her Celtic Britain and Ireland cruise.

Aurora, Crystal Serenity

The Aurora lived up to her name as the Roman "Goddess of Dawn" when she arrived in Guernsey to a beautiful sunrise, having sailed overnight from Southampton. She spent the day on the more easterly anchorage before leaving for Zeebrugge. Her guests made the most of the weather and took in a local Food Festival held in St Peter Port over the weekend.

She was closely followed by the Crystal Serenity having sailed from Portland in Dorset. Not many guests were on deck except for the early morning joggers making the most of the quiet deck space as she arrived at the closer anchorage to St Peter Port.

This Sunday in Guernsey was a pleasant day with everyone making the most of the last summer weekend before the schools go back. There was no rest for the crew of the Valiant heading north  for Poole who spent a short time in Guernsey having arrived from Jersey on a regular cargo run. The island forming a backdrop is Jethou.  This privately owned island has a rare public opening later in the month.

Guests of the Crystal Serenity could be forgiven thinking that they had changed ship as they boarded their tenders overshadowed by the Commodore Goodwill.  Unusually it spent Sunday in Guernsey, rather than her normal Jersey to Portsmouth sailing. The Crystal Serenity left for Dover late afternoon but will return on Tuesday on a cruise heading to Southern Europe.