Gallery: CalMac ships in Craignure and Oban, 5 June 2016

I was originally planning to publish something else this month, but it turns out I really don't have the time to work on a full new entry. So instead you're getting the back-up I prepared earlier: still more unpublished photos from my summer 2016 visit to Scotland. Yes. Because there's just so many Caledonian MacBrayne ferries there, especially if you happen to visit Oban (as I did). So, today we're just looking at the various CalMac ferries seen on 5 June 2016, taken both in Oban and Craignure. Enjoy!

The day started with a trip from Oban to Craignure with the lovely Isle of Mull, seen her swinging away from Craignure and leaving for Oban.

Oban-bound Isle of Mull. Like quite a few CalMac ships, this one looks older than its 1988 vintage to my eyes.

Next up, we returned to Oben ourselves on the Coruisk (a far less nice ship, it must be said), encountering the Isle of Mull again en route, with a lovely backdrop.

Okay, just one more Isle of Mull heading for Craignure.

Next, we relocated to a nice location in Oban and first photographed the Isle of Lewis leaving for Castlebay.

The 1995-built Isle of Lewis previously sailed on the Stornoway–Ullapool route, but was relocated with the delivery of the new Loch Seaforth in 2014.

Sailboat comes in, Isle of Lewis goes out.

Next, it was time for the Coruisk to head out o Craignure.

By looking at just the exterior you can easily judge the Coruisk made for a mismatched pair with the Isle of Mull.

Next up, the little 1986-vintage Loch Striven hopped from the quay where it was resting to the Oban terminal...

...and soon headed out to Achnacroish on the nearby isle of Lismore.

The last encounter of the day was the Clansman, arriving to Oban from a run on (I presume) the triangular route to Coll, Tiree and Barra.

The 1998 vintage Clansman is one amazingly bulky ship. I love how workmanlike it looks!

Tht was it for today. For those of you interested in more CalMac, you might want to read my previous article Travelling on CalMac: a nordic perspective. And if that isn't enough, there is even more CalMac stuff under the tag Caledonian MacBrayne.

Coruisk interiors, 5 June 2016

As an admittedly delayed follow-up to the last entry, here are the Coruisk interior photos promised. Since it is a small ship, there aren't that many photos in this entry.

Coruisk

IMO 9274836
Built 2003, Appledore Shipbuilders Bideford, United Kingdom
Tonnage 1 559 GT
Length 65,00 m
Width 14,00 m
Draught 3,05 m
249 passengers
40 cars
2 MaK diesels, combined 2 280 kW
2 azimuthing pods
Speed 14 knots

All photos are from 5 June 2016, taken during a crossing from Craignure to Oban.

Being essentially a glorifued road ferry, the Coruisk has just one public room, which houses a combined cafeteria/shop in one end....

...and rows of seating in the other end.

Embarkation and disembarkation is via the car deck, which is open to the elements.

The podded propulsion caused quite a lot of vibrations, which resulted the cars' burglar alarms going off all the time. Must be hell for the crew.

Kships will return.

Coruisk at Craignure, 5 June 2016

Coruisk

IMO 9274836
Built 2003, Appledore Shipbuilders Bideford, United Kingdom
Tonnage 1 559 GT
Length 65,00 m
Width 14,00 m
Draught 3,05 m
249 passengers
40 cars
2 MaK diesels, combined 2 280 kW
2 azimuthing pods
Speed 14 knots

The Coruisk (or Coir' Uisg' in Scots Gaelic) was conceived as a "sheltered waters vessel" for Caledonian MacBrayne, for service on the Mallaig-Armadale route during the summer and as a relief vessel during the winters. It was conceived with an unusual construction, resembling a double-ended ferry but with a a dedicated bow and stern, as well as a side ramp. Built by Appledore in Bideford, England, the ship was delivered in August 2003 and entered service on the Mallaig-Armadale -route... where it suffered a series of mishaps, culminating in a computer error resulting in a serious grounding after just a week in service. The ship was repaired and partially rebuilt at Glasgow, then re-entered service on the Gourock-Dunoon -service, deputising for the ship normally in this service. This was another failure, as it was discovered the Coruisk could not berth at Dunoon at all states of tide. Subsequently modifications were carried out and after the initial mishaps, the ships appears to have performed admirably.

A big change for the ship came in 2016, when Caledonian MacBrayne decided to move it to the Oban-Craignure route for the summer season, sailing alongside the Isle of Mull. This resulted in some criticism, as the Coruisk's replacement on Mallaig-Armadale proved less than suitable (and certainly the Coruisk is a poor running mate for the Isle of Mull as far as passenger facilities are concerned). Even so, Caledonian MacBrayne apparently plan to retain the arrangement for the coming years, with the Coruisk thus sailing Oban-Craignure during the summers and as a relief ship on Wemyss Bay-Rothesay during the winters.

The photos below show the Coruisk arriving at Craignure on 5 June 2016. As per the usual, click on an image to see it in larger size.

The ship does look very odd.

Scotland did have a tendency to be quite photogenic during my visit.

Here you can quite nicely see the different ship of the bow and stern - while at first the ship looks like a double-ender, it isn't.

And then we got some nice foreground crap...

...which only got better!

Next time: I think I will finally fullfill my plan of pairing exterior and interior entries of CalMac ships, so next time we'll look at Coruisk interiors (the little that there is).