After an overnight trip along the North Sea we arrived at Zeebrugge at 0800. The port was very busy, with plenty of ships around, including a variety of warships as it was Zeebrugge Navy Days from 6th to 9th July.
Most passengers disembarked and went off on day trips to Bruges (nice town, great beer, but I have been there many times) and other Belgian towns but I stayed on the ship and watched the maritime comings and goings of Zeebrugge.
My friend Patsy got off the ship, but went as far as the dockside to take Oriana's mugshot.
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| Woman at work! Dodging security guards and large puddles |
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| CSCL Mars, 150853 gt, built in 2011, Hong Kong flag, IMO 9467287 |
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| Russian landing ship Alexander Shabalin |
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| 'One of ours' - HMS Argyll |
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| Morocco's Bir Anzarane was arriving as we left |
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| Dutch warship Van Speijk |
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| Belgian navy tug Zeemeeuw |
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| Belgian Air Force Sea King |
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| Sea King landing at the navy base |
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| Belgian AgustaWestland A109, with the pilot waving at us |
Some regular visitors
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| Artevelde, 5005 gt, built in 2005, Belgian flag, IMO 9501954 |
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| Clementine, 23986 gt, built in 1997, Belgian flag, IMO 9125384 |
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| Mazarine, 25593 gt, built in 2009, Luxembourg flag, IMO 9376696 |
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| Yasmine, 49166 gt, built in 2007, Luxembourg flag, IMO 9337353 |
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| Norqueen, 17884 gt, built in 1980, Finnish flag, IMO 7902647 |
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| Pride of Bruges, 31598 gt, built in 1987, Netherlands flag, IMO 8503797 |
And some of the local tugs
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| Smit Emoe |
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| Smit Tiger (with car carrier Tiranna) |
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| Union Pearl (background) with navy tug Wesp |
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| Union Pearl |
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| Zeemeeuw with car carrier Viking Odessa (20216gt/2006) in the background |
Apart from the naval ships arriving for the navy days, there was a constant stream of arrivals and departures throughout the day
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| Prins Maurits, 13500 gt, built in 1997, Netherlands flag, IMO 9133836 |
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| Evidence, 9191 gt, Netherlands flag, built in 1997, IMO 9136230 |
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| Grand Venus, 59217 gt, built in 2006, Panamanian flag, IMO 9303211 |
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| John Rickmers, 21971 gt, built in 2005, Marshall Islands flag, IMO 9300154 |
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| John Rickmers |
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| John Rickmers |
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| Jork, 9981 gt, built in 2001, Cyprus flag, IMO 9234991 |
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| Lysbris, 7409 gt, built in 1999, Norwegian flag, IMO 9144263 |
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| Tempanos, 88586 gt, built in 2011, Liberian flag, IMO 9447897 |
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| Tempanos |
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| Tirranna, 71673 gt, built in 2009, Norwegian flag, IMO 9377523 (this beat us to Southampton and was waiting there as we arrived the next day) |
Soon our visit to Zeebrugge was over. We were scheduled to sail at 1700, with a 'Great British Sailaway Party' (as corny as hell), but eventually departed at 1730, thanks to daytrippers arriving back at the ship late (there are always some!). The party was in full swing and the draw for a prize of a world cruise on a P&O ship was about to be made. We all listened intently, each hoping it would be us, but the lucky recipient turned out to be some old lady with bright orange hair. I wasn't expecting to win as I do very shitely in raffles and prize draws, so no great disappointment there, just mild annoyance that all my years of never winning anything did not have the end result of me finally winning something and something big at that. Never mind, there is still the lottery (and pigs might fly).
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| (Part of) the sailaway party and our tug, Union Coral |
As we left Zeebrugge and headed towards the Dover Strait and home, there were still a procession of ships coming past. I managed to photograph a couple but it was time to be sociable, put the camera away, pick up the booze and join the party.
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| Giannutri, 23235 gt, built in 2004, Malta flag, IMO 9286047 |
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| Giannutri |
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| Louise Russ, 18265 gt, built in 2000, Gibraltar flag, IMO 9226360 |
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| Sichem Ruby, 5303 gt, built in 2006, Panamanian flag, IMO 9344174 |
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| Just before we left, the weather looked pretty inclement, but the squall passed and we had a calm journey back to the Solent |
(Still) To be continued in Part 4.
