THE SCOTTISH ADVENTURES OF A CRUISE SHIP ADDICT

News came through the BBC last night that another cruise ship was in trouble in the Antarctic. The 2,900 tonne Cuidad de Ushaia ran aground in Wilhelmina Bay. At the moment, passengers and crew were not in danger, and a joint rescue mission is being planned by the Argentinian and Chilians to rescue the passengers. What price do we have to pay to visit remote places? Antarctica is one of the remotest places on earth, and mainly accessible by ship. Any ship which faces problems has to rely on other ships in the area for help. Luckily the Cuidad de Ushaia was specially built for these conditions, but each year cruise ships are allowed into the area which are not and this is where the problems start. Also there is the challenge of rescuing people from stricken ships. The Ushaia only had 89 passengers and 33 crew, but what happens when you have 700 passengers and crew to rescue? The Antarctic infrastructure would be completely stressed out. Its nice to be able to visit these remote places, ...

Tuesday 11 November 2008 - Arriving into Southampton Sometimes you don't realise you are in the middle of an historic event until it happens! It's just the way of the world, I guess, being in just the right place at the right, or even wrong time. At 5.30am this morning I arrived on the Observation Deck of QE2 to watch her final arrival into Southampton. But nothing was happening! I could see the Fawley Oil Refinery to my left, but the ship was going nowhere. I was confused. At this point, QE2 should be just about arriving at the berth next to the QEII Terminal. I spoke to Gerry, who, like me, is also a shipping enthusiast. His reply was "This Queen ain't going anywhere, she's run aground". Minutes later, Captain McNaught made an announcement that indeed QE2 had run aground. He added that it happened when the "QE2 was turning a very tight corner. The wind caught her stern and pushed her onto soft clay". But he also stressed that we were not to worry.....