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Displaying items by tag: Captain Sarah Breton

#CaptBreton – While Galway Bay is hosting The World today off Mutton Island, Captain S C Breton master of P&O Cruises Arcadia which is nearly twice the size, is set to make an anchorage call off Dun Laoghaire Harbour tomorrow morning, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Under her command, Captain Breton has the responsibility of the 83,500 tonnes vessel and leading a crew of 848 and more than 1900 passengers on the exclusively adults-only cruiseship. The call is to become the second cruise caller to Dun Laoghaire this season, following the successful and historic inaugural visit of Queen Mary 2 in mid-May.

The vast majority of her passengers are from the UK, the rest are a sprinkling of nationalities including those from Isreal, Malaysia, Japan and New Zealand. As for Captain Breton and her crew who are more diverse in terms of nationality than her guests are, with more than 25 countries represented and where the majority of the crew are mostly British, Indian and Filipino.

The 285m Arcadia was launched in 2005 by her patron, Dame Kelly Holmes. She is one of seven cruiseships of the P&O Cruises fleet which together last year made a spectacular cruise-in-company sail-past down Southampton Water for the 'Grand Event' which celebrated the 175th anniversary of the world famous company last July. Arcadia was the third vessel behind the sail-past leadship.

Incidentally Arcadia's first port of call after the event was to Dublin Port as previously reported on Afloat.ie and tomorrow's call will be her first to Dublin Bay since the visit just over a year ago.

Arcadia was launched in 2005 at the Fincantieri Cant. shipyard in Malfoncone though originally she was laid down at the Italian shipyard for Cunard Line as their Queen Victoria, however it was decided by her owners Carnival Corporation to transfer the vessel to her UK based cruising subsidiary.

As previously alluded she is an adult-only cruiseship which offers a relaxed pace in stylish surroundings that are also extravagant throughout her 11 passenger decks. A notable feature  is her exterior glass-fronted lifts and expansive art collection, featuring no less than 3,000 works of art and creating a sophisticated air on board.

 

Coastal Notes Coastal Notes covers a broad spectrum of stories, events and developments in which some can be quirky and local in nature, while other stories are of national importance and are on-going, but whatever they are about, they need to be told.

Stories can be diverse and they can be influential, albeit some are more subtle than others in nature, while other events can be immediately felt. No more so felt, is firstly to those living along the coastal rim and rural isolated communities. Here the impact poses is increased to those directly linked with the sea, where daily lives are made from earning an income ashore and within coastal waters.

The topics in Coastal Notes can also be about the rare finding of sea-life creatures, a historic shipwreck lost to the passage of time and which has yet many a secret to tell. A trawler's net caught hauling more than fish but cannon balls dating to the Napoleonic era.

Also focusing the attention of Coastal Notes, are the maritime museums which are of national importance to maintaining access and knowledge of historical exhibits for future generations.

Equally to keep an eye on the present day, with activities of existing and planned projects in the pipeline from the wind and wave renewables sector and those of the energy exploration industry.

In addition Coastal Notes has many more angles to cover, be it the weekend boat leisure user taking a sedate cruise off a long straight beach on the coast beach and making a friend with a feathered companion along the way.

In complete contrast is to those who harvest the sea, using small boats based in harbours where infrastructure and safety poses an issue, before they set off to ply their trade at the foot of our highest sea cliffs along the rugged wild western seaboard.

It's all there, as Coastal Notes tells the stories that are arguably as varied to the environment from which they came from and indeed which shape people's interaction with the surrounding environment that is the natural world and our relationship with the sea.