Sea Cloud II
A hazy early summer morning across from Çanakkale on the Dardanelles Strait, the Sea Cloud II is moving south towards the Aegean Sea. Sails are furled and she moves under power to negotiate the treacherous waters of the strait. It will veer left and pass broadside to me as it approaches the narrowest part of the strait at about 0.8 mile at Çanakkale.
I happened to be onshore at Eceabat across from Çanakkale preparing to cross the Gallipoli peninsula to travel to Gökçeada, one of the Turkish islands.
(that short journey crosses the heart of the Gallipoli battlefield, a battle which has fascinated me for a long time and one of Churchhill’s bigger mistakes of WWI. More on that in a later post. This part of the strait was the site of a fierce naval battle in 1915. An underwater park near this point allows exploration of the ruins of ships sunk: among them HMS Triumph, HMS Majestic, Bouvet, HMS Irresistible, Louis, SS Carthage, and HMS Hythe)
The Sea Cloud II is operated as a cruise ship by a German company but is registered in Malta. The keel was laid in 1998 in Spain, it was launched in 1999, but not fully complete until 2001.
347 ft long, 52 ft beam, 18 ft draught. It has 32,000 sqft of sail and 3300 hp engines. 63 crew and 96 passengers.
Would have been nice to see it under sail …
Stealing a few images of the interior:
I suspect a cruise on this ship is not for the likes of you and me.
On the other hand, it’s just a floating hotel with good food and nice decor.
Not that I’d turn down a (short) trip if one was offered to me.
Beautiful photo.
Beautiful ship inside and out.
And in a fascinating part of the world.
Gallipoli was a doomed and dreadful campaign conceived to help the Russians.
“County Fair”
Found an old puzzle somebody had quit
Tried a few pieces and hoped that they fit
But they’re going together so slowly
It may take me forever to know
If it’s only a puzzle
Parts of the puzzle will never be found
And even though pieces are gone
It’s a county fair picture, part of me’s there
Some of the pieces are still at the fair
And it may be forever
https://tinyurl.com/5awj3v4n
(4 months from now)
Nice boat.
Looked it up.
Cost ya about $1000-2000 a day depending.
High end accommodations.
My wife and I did a 3 day Windjammer in the 80’s, had a good time.
See more about the Sea Cloud cruises here:
https://www.seacloud.com/en/
General info here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Cloud_II
And lots of boat pix here:
https://tinyurl.com/3z5usrr5
I certainly hope this ship is nowhere near the Dardanelles today! I have read that the UK has evacuated all unnecessary from Cyprus!
With regards to Gallipoli, I too have had a long fascination with this war. Here is a good link: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/13-rare-photos-of-the-gallipoli-campaign
There are nearly a thousand Australians currently stranded enroute between Australia and UK. Most are in the major middle east connecting airports. This is their typical route between UK and Australia.
I will have a post on Gallipoli sometime/someday. Maybe by ANZAC Day. I was able to spend some time on the peninsula – not enough as it’s in MrsDT’s figurative backyard … no one plays tourist at home … and she wanted to push on to other places.
Iran hit a British military base on Cyprus with a couple of drones.
And I have never quite understood how the world just accepted that Dubai would become this major travel hub. Yeah, I get it that if you were flying between Europe and Asia, that a connecting airport somewhere might make sense. But the region has been such a tinderbox for decades. Now that we know that the Iranians are not reluctant to strike the Dubai Airport, why would anyone travel through there today?
People with FY money live on a different planet from the rest of us. They have no idea what is going on except in their little sphere.