Baltic sea ferries

[Tommi]

Great pictures of Prins Joachim. It's not precisely the pretties voyager of seas, but the pictures are really nice!
Mark, it's Gabriella in post 11:2, she's the only of the Split sisters with a black stripe along the windows.

[Tommi]

Silja Serenade inbound to Stockholm.


Romantika


Meeting Silja Europa.


Finnsailor moored in Kapellskär.


Viking Cinderella.

[PoloUK]

Sorry to interrupt the flow of beautiful ships with one that makes Cecilia's Warnemunde ferry look pretty!

Rødby to Puttgarden.





Used to use these a lot, then thanks to the 'do it yourself' loading ended up being forced into a very, very narrow space due to other people's lack of consideration - picked up a lovely scratch on my poor car. Have used the bridges and the Kiel Stena boats more since then!!

Last one should probably be in the Funnels thread too!!

[PoloUK]

Polonia arriving into Ystad on a chilly June evening in 2010.

[Tommi]

"Gabriella" one summer morning, couldn't really be so much more summer in Sweden.


The sister "Isabella" in the background.


Some architecture studies of Silja Europa.


And some studies of the railing of the same ship.


And the sun deck.


And the ship in it's own person.

[Tommi]

The two oldest of the "Split-sisters" in a very hot Mariehamn, Isabella and Amorella.


Galaxy passing island of Kobba klintar.

[PoloUK]

Fantastic Tommi - absolutely love the Archipelego in the summer, and these ships are part of it.

Particularly like #26/1. Contrasts brilliantly with the one you've just posted as #1153/2 on 'Car Ferries'.

By the way - #25/4 - nice railings!

[Seagull]

By the way - #25/4 - nice railings!

Glad our Polo picked up on this first!!!! Railings indeed!!!!!!

A great photo Tommi!

[Tommi]

Glad our Polo picked up on this first!!!! Railings indeed!!!!!!

A great photo Tommi!

But I'm bit doubtful about the function, wasn't it supposed to keep people out of that area...

[Tommi]

A couple of fresh Mariella shots from this evening:

[PoloUK]

Those are lovely Tommi - very atmospheric.

[pakarang]

A couple of fresh Mariella shots from this evening:

That is a WAOW image, Tommi! Really WAOW.

Not shot from a Baltic ferry, but this is how a timelapse of the Swedish archipelago in to Stockholm looks like on a fine summer day:

http://vimeo.com/36168385

[Tommi]

Probably not the completely correct thread, but anyway:
How about a 2 hour mini cruise with 13 ports of call on the time table? A quick tour with public transportation from Vaxholm, outside Stockholm.

The ride for the day, m/s Nämdö comes in.

The ship was built in 2009, and is one of the newest in the fleet of Waxholmnsbolaget.

Also in the fleet, m/s Waxholm I, ship-design from hell...



Mark, Isabella just got away, heading to Turku.


Slowly disappearing.




A very typical lighthouse.

[PoloUK]

Looks like fun Tommi.

Think Waxholm I was designed by the same people that designed my garden shed!!

[Tommi]

Looks like something from the world of Astrid Lindgren. It just cannot get much more Swedish.


On of the 13 stops included in the route, Ekholmen brygga. The stops are often very quick. The ships pushes the stern against the quay with the motors, the sliding gangway is mechanically operated and gets in place in just a couple of seconds. I would say that a typical stop takes about 30 seconds if there are just a few passengers getting on and off. It's a bit hard to see in the image, but there's a semafor that can be used to signal to the ship that you want to board. Otherwise they will skip the places where nobody is getting on/off.


It's a cold sea.


The trailer ferry Seawind overtakes, also heading to Turku with some cargo.




But we're not going to Turku, so we change or course and go ice!

[Tommi]

Looks like fun Tommi.

Think Waxholm I was designed by the same people that designed my garden shed!!

Have you tried if it floats?

[Tommi]

These ships are designed for all season operation, which includes ice. I checked the speed on my phone GSP, it was still around 10-12 knots.
Rear view mirrors are perhaps not so usual on other ships?


The captain made a small detour, "to check the ice situation". We had some plus-degrees during the week, so all ice is slowly getting softer.


I would say it was about 15-20 centimeters.

[Tommi]

If you're freezing, then it's cosier inside.


The lower deck saloon, looking aft. Crew quarters behind the wall


A view in the opposite direction, looking fwd. Stairs to upper deck, behind it a elevator, two rooms for cargo. The door you see is to the fore deck. Behind the wall on steerboard side you'll find the ticket office. Tickets are purchased on board and you need a ticket to get disembark the ship.


View from upper deck.


More overview from upper deck. There's also a small cafeteria located on upper deck, but I didn't catch that on film.


And the door to the aft deck. Deck was not slippery.

[Tommi]

"Warning - cable"...


Every house needs a own wharf.


Study of ice.


A lighthouse that would need some care and maintenance. It looks like it's no longer included in the objects maintained by the national board of navigation.

[Tommi]

"big sister" Sandhamn heading to some other islands.


Vaxholm castle.


After two hours I'm back on the same spot as I started from. m/s Nämdö is immediately heading for her next route. I'm heading towards my car.
The crane on the fore deck is used to handle different cargo to the islands.
I would loved to experience some more ice, but the warm weather this week in combination with strong winds have melted away quite much of it in the areas where there are more ship movements.