10 October 2011

Boudicca in Helsinki, 10 October 2011

Today marked the end of the summer 2011 cruise season in Helsinki, with Fred. Olsen Cruise Line's Boudicca wrapping up the season. While the weather was far from ideal, I headed out to document the season closer. The next time we'll see something more unusual in Helsinki is around new year, when several ferries will be making four- and five-night cruises out of St. Petersburg under charter to Russian tour operators. But for today, I'm breaking the chronology of my entries to bring you Boudicca's season closing in (almost) real time.

Boudicca

IMO 7218395
Former names: Royal Viking Sky, Sunward, Birka Queen, Golden Princess, SuperStar Capricorn, Hyundai Keumgang, Grand Latino
Built 1973, Wärtsilä Helsinki New Shipyard, Finland
Tonnage 28 388 GT
Length 205,47 m
Width 25,20 m
Draugth 7,55 m
900 passengers
4 MAN/B&W diesels, combined 14 000 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 22 knots

For a detailed history of the Boudicca, see the previous entry on her. Unusually, this time around the Boudicca called in the West Harbour rather than the South Harbour (it seems to be a policy of the port to route the autumn visits to the West Harbour, probably due to easier navigation). This meant a homecoming of sorts for the ship, as she was built at the Hietalahti shipyard only a few hundred metres from the cruise quay.

Boudicca departing from Helsinki West Harbour on 10 October 2011. Photographed from Hernesaari. Click on the individual images to see in larger size.

As you can maybe judge from the spray and the look of the sea in general, thiswas not he weather for a neat and calm cruise. I can't say I envy the passengers on the ship this time, being as they are headed for an autumn storm on the Baltic.
SPRAY! Not to mention the attractive Knud E. Hansen A/S -designed lines of the ship herself of course.
Notice the change in the position of the way marker compared to the above image (yes, it is the same marker).
I was hoping to capture some autumn foliage into these images, but I was not much in luck. You can see some yellow tress in the background of this image though.
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6 comments:

  1. Tero11 October, 2011 01:23

    Nice shots, Kalle !
    Not so typical for this cruiser ( or any other) to visit Helsinki so late in autumn.
    Tero

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kalle Id11 October, 2011 13:57

    Thank you, I quite liked the photos myself. As for the late visit, there were also the Marco Polo and Norwegian Sun in port last week... not perhaps the most pleasant time to visit the area.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous11 October, 2011 21:40

    Well, what's wrong with the season ! Some people like it hot,some not ! Autumn might be very beautifull, wether the weather is rainy and stormy or sunny and calm. Sorry You missed the autumn leaves in Your photos !
    Tero

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kalle Id11 October, 2011 23:35

    Nothing wrong with the season, au contraire, but experiencing the Baltic during a windy autumn day (or night) is not one of my favourite experiences (having spent one memorable Helsinki-Stockholm crodding vomitting).

    Regarding the autumn leaves, prosuming I can beat the fewer I got after yesterday's exploits, I'm planning on going to Suomenlinna later this week and hopefully will get some photos featuring autumn foliage from there.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous12 October, 2011 00:32

    I hope you'll get better, but going to Suomenlinna is a bit dangerous..... It might be a windy place. I know it for sure cause I've lived there when I was a child ( and that was a long time ago !!!!)
    Tero

    ReplyDelete
  6. Kalle Id12 October, 2011 14:38

    I'll make sure to put on enough clothes. ;)

    ReplyDelete

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