DUBROVNIK,
6 JULY 2009
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The cruise from Almeria to Dubrovnik was very nice; calm seas and a warm breeze. We passed through the Messina Straits, a narrow stretch of water between the toe of Italy and the Isle of Sicily.
Normally the ship slows down to three or four knots to take a pilot on board, but this stretch of water is so busy, it only slows down to 15; the average speed for cruising is 22 knots (1 land mile = 1.2 nautical miles, I think). I had the camera set to burst and managed to capture several pics of the pilot leaving. I missed him coming aboard; it was too early.
Boat coming back for pilot; we're doing 14 to 15 knots.
Pilot leaves the ship.
It's a popular misconception that the pilot takes a ship in or out of harbours, etc. The captain said that nobody drives his ship but him . . . would you let anybody drive your expensive car? The pilot only advises on shipping channels and, in the case of Venice, the boat pilot also guided us in.
Our captain can turn the ship on a sixpence; we've watched the ship being reversed into a berth as easily as parking a mini in a layby.
The run up the coast and into Dubrovnik was very nice. It was still early, so I was in the cabin with Tom, but managed to get several nice pics from the balcony. Tom wanted to be up and out early so we could get to the old walled city and have a wander about.
One interesting point as we were sailing past a little fishing boat in the early morning mist, I saw a man walking along a jetty quite far out from the coast, then a little speed boat zoomed up the inside of the fishing boat. Hmmm, I pondered, that's an odd jetty with no links to the shore; the man must have been walking on water! I rushed indoors for the binoculars and just then the captain explained that the fishing boats on our port side were peculiar to this stretch of coast - they had a very long walkway on the front, three times as long as the boat. A look-out would sit there looking for swordfish, then rush back to the boat to harpoon it.
House by the sea
The approach to Dubrovnik
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GO INSIDE DUBROVNIK
WITH JACKIE & TOM HERE