Merilin in Helsinki, 3 October 2012

Merilin

IMO 9194256
Name history: Cat No 1, Merilin
Built 1999, Austal Shipyard Henderson, Australia
Tonnage 920 GT
Length 52,60 m
Width 13,30 m
Draught 1,50 m
411 passengers
4 MTU diesels, combined 9 280 kW
4 KaMeWa waterjets
Speed 40 knots

The Merilin doesn't get featured in this blog very often, mostly due to the fact that Linda Line's timetables and sailing routes make their ships difficult to photograph, unless you actually position yourself to specifically photograph these ships. I guess I ought to really do that some day to the Merilin's running mate Karolin, seeing as she hasn't ever been featured in this blog. For a history of the Merilin and Linda Line, see the first entry on her.

The photographs below show the Merilin arriving in Helsinki South Harbour in the evening of 3 October 2012, photographed from onboard the ferry Suomenlinna II. Click on the images to see them in larger size.

Sunset and sailboats, part 1.

Sunset and sailboats part 2: the rocky islets.

The Harakka island in the background. Harakka, incidentally, in addition to being the name of the Island, is also Finnish for a magpie.

Entering the South Harbour on the southernly route. Valkosaari on the foreground and the Kaivopuisto in the background. Also a little bit of the passenger tubes of the Olympia terminal used by Silja Line.

Next time: Seven Seas Voyager

Gabriella in Helsinki, 3 October 2012

Gabriella

IMO 8917601
Former names: Frans Suell, Silja Scandinavia
Built 1992, Brodogradiliste Split, Croatia
Tonnage 35 492 GT
Length 171,50 m
Width 28,20 m
Draugth 6,25 m
Ice class 1 A Super
2 420 passengers
2 402 berths
400 cars
900 lane metres
4 Pielstick diesels, combined 23 760 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
Speed 21,5 knots

Time for some more Autumn foliage photography, this time featuring the Gabriella. For a history of the ship, see this entry, and for my thoughts on the ship's design, see this entry. The photographs below show the ship departing Helsinki on the afternoon of 3 October 2012, passing through the Kustaanmiekka strait and further on outside the city. Click on the images to see them in larger size.

It initially seemed that Gabriella would sail through the strait without any direct sunlight on her, but I was in luck and just as the ship was coming into the strait the sun came out.

Panoramic foliage...

...and dynamic Gabriella.

Quite possibly my greatest photo of all time. Or one of them, anyhow.

Just look at those trees on the left.

Further panoramica.

Soon at the Harmaja lighthouse, with the smaller lighthouse-thingy in the foreground displaying some rather fine urban art.

Next time: Merilin.

Silja Serenade in Helsinki, 3 October 2012

Silja Serenade

IMO 8715259
Built 1990, Masa-Yards Turku New Shipyard, Finland
Tonnage 58 376 GT
Length 203,03 m
Width 31,93 m
Draugth 7,12 m
Ice class 1A Super
2 852 passengers
3 001 berths
410 cars
1 600 lane metres
4 Wärtsilä-Vasa diesels, combined 32 580 kW
2 propellers
2 bow thrusters
1 stern thruster
Speed 21 knots

The last time the Silja Serenade was featured in this blog was in winter photos. Today we continue with a "four seasons" theme, with the same ship photographed departing Helsinki in Autumn foliage last week.

Click on the images to see in larger size.

I was tempted to go out on this particular day due to the beautiful weather, even if the only ships to photograph were the regulars Silja Serenade and Gabriella...

But alas, just as the Serenade was coming to the Kustaanmiekka strait, the sun was obscured by a cloud.

Not that these would be bad photographs, but if the light had lasted, these would have been downright orgastic images.

Although I complained about the cloud obscuring the sun, those clounds in the background were pretty neat...

A little bit of sun there... and the advertized Autumn foliage too.

Even better as far the foliage goes.

Unusually, the Serenade departed via the Porkkala shipping lane rather than the open-sea lane. That, combined with the low sun, game some rather superb photo opportunities.

No comment needed, really.

Next time: Gabriella with more of the Autumn foliage

Marco Polo in Helsinki, 1. October 2012

We interrupt the regular programming to bring you a bunch of images from this month, showing the autumn foliage as well as ships. We start off with the last visitor of the 2012 summer cruise season, the Marco Polo.

Marco Polo

IMO 6417097
Name history: Alexandr Pushkin, Marco Polo
Built 1965, VEB Mathias-Thesen-Werft Wismar, East Germany
Tonnage 22 080 GT
Length 176,28 m
Width 23,55 m
Draught 8,17 m
848 passengers (lower berths)
915 berths
2 Sulzer-Cegielski diesels, combined 15 447 kW
2 propellers
1 bow thruster
Speed 16,5 knots

For a history of the Marco Polo, see the first entry on her. For an account on how the ship's exterior has been altered during her career, see the second entry on her.

As noted above, the Marco Polo was this summer's last cruise visitor to Helsinki (but not the year's last visitor - Fred. Olsen's Black Watch will be calling in late November as the first ship of the short winter cruise season). She called at the South Harbour and, as seems to be standard for CMV, she departed already at 14:30. The weather did not exactly cooperate, the sky being cloudy, but I (and my friend Olli Tuominen) went there never the less to document the end of the cruise season. Of course, as it happens we had both also documented the beginning of the cruise season.

Anyway, yes. The photographs below show the Marco Polo departing from Helsinki's Eteläsatama on 1 October 2012, photographed from Kustaanmiekka. Click on the images to see in larger size.

As is probably evident from the images, I did fiddle quite a lot with the saturation levels to bring out the colours of Autumn foliage.

Classic-looking ship, even if she doesn't really stand out from the background, the sky being about the same shade as the superstructure.

Of course, I could have strated the ship separately from the background - although I suspect that  to get the trees to stand out properly I would have needed to treat the sky separately as well.

It's interesting that CMV have decided to retain the Transocean Tours hull stripe on the Marco Polo - although since Transocean changed their livery at about the same time as the Marco Polo was chartered to CMV there sisn't much chance for confusion... but it's interesting never the less.

Next time: Silja Serenade

AIDAsol in Helsinki, 9. July 2012

AIDAsol

IMO 9490040
Built 2011, Meyer Werft Papenburg, Germany
Tonnage 71 100 GT
Length 253,33 m
Width 32,20 m
Draugth 7,30 m
2 194 passengers (double occupancy)
2 500 berths
4 MaK diesels, combined 36 000 kW
2 azipods
2 bow thrusters
2 stern thrusters
Speed 20,5 knots

Helsinki is looking very autumnal these days and yesterday marked the second-to-last cruise visit of the year with CMV's Marco Polo (the very last will be Fred. Olsen's Black Watch in late November - the first time to my knowledge that the cruise season has extended that far). Photographs of the Marco Polo's visit will be forthcoming, but in keeping with posting photos in chronological order, today's subject is the AIDAsol. In keeping the other recent posts, these photos were taken from Sisä-Hattu as the AIDAsol departed Helsinki West Harbour. Click on the images to see them in larger size.

As I have undoubtedly mentioned before, I'm not a fan of the latest Aida ships' looks. But there surroundings make any ship look good. ;)

How I managed to get almost the entire photo into focus I do not know, as I was actually using a fairly large aperture.

Foreground rocks, part 1.

And part 2.

Next time: Seven Seas Voyager (or alternatively the recent Marco Polo shots).