Monday 27 February 2012

Mini-Cruises to Spain with BRITTANY FERRIES



BF and ORCA a Conservation Charity Organization, have once more teamed up to bring six cruises for Whale and Dolphin watching, the cruises will take place in the summer on board flagship "PONT-AVEN", for all information on these and other mini-cruises to Santander with BF please visit www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/offers/mini-cruises, a fantastic opportunity to see these amazing creatures in their natural habitat,  the Bay of Biscay, one of the top feeding grounds in the world, offering a great diversity of these species, I have travelled countless times on this route and witnessed some breathtaking demonstrations

Thursday 23 February 2012

Remembering the "PONT L'ABBE"


PONT L'ABBE was built in 1978 by AALBORG VAERFT A/S in Denmark, she was 14397 GRT and was operated by DFDS as the DANA ANGLIA on the Esbjerg to Harwich route, in 2002 she was renamed DUKE OF SCANDINAVIA before entering the service between Copenhagen and Gdansk in Poland, she was returned to the North Sea in 2003 for the Newcastle to Ijmuiden in Holland route. In 2006 BRITTANY FERRIES sold the VAL DE LOIRE and chartered the vessel for the Roscoff to Plymouth service renaming the ship "PONT L'ABBE" she remained on that route for one year when she was eventually bought by BF. She kept the service from Brittany to Plymouth alternating with the Plymouth to Saint-Malo route, she was laid up in 2008 after being withdrawn from service and was sold to MOBY LINES in 2009, she is still in service, during the BF years the ship had capacity for 1100 passengers and 400 cars, the GRT was 18321. Postcards from my collection

Wednesday 1 February 2012

Crew looking after "CAP FINISTERE"


"CAP FINISTERE" has been a busy ship this winter, she has been covering for flagship "PONT-AVEN" which spent most of January undergoing a refit in Poland, on the Portsmouth to Santander route, the ship has been doing three departures per week from Portsmouth to Santander and Bilbao, barely staying more than a couple of hours in port, so I have to praise the crew for the extraordinary work in order to keep the ship so clean and complete the turnaround work in such a short period of time. The ship is seen here last week on the 23rd January at Santander