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Displaying items by tag: Italian Navy

Italian tallship Amerigo Vespucci, once described by US sailors as the most beautiful in the world, (on Monday) docked at Dublin Port.

As The Irish Times reported, Amerigo Vespucci is a training vessel for Italian Navy cadets who sail for three months at the end of their first year at the Livorno Naval Academy. The period on the ship is intended to give the trainees the skills and world experience needed to become successful mariners.

They spend three or four days in each town or city in which they moor. While in Dublin, they plan on visiting Trinity College, the Guinness Storehouse and the Google building. The trainees sleep in hammocks while on board and there are four rooms below deck for the male cadets, and one for female cadets.

Federica Bellina (19), one of the 133 cadets on the ship, among 35 women, said she had wanted to join the navy since she was very young.

“We are able to open the sails and use the wind in order to navigate,” said Ms Bellina. “It’s a wonderful experience because we are on the masts and we can see the ocean, we can see the sea and we are an active part of the ship.”

They use “nautical observation” to determine the location of the ship relative to the stars and sun. They take care of the ships, train physically — often stopping to row in boats — and monitor the sea for targets or other ships.

Ms Bellina is training as a coast guard, which will see her study for five years in the academy.

For more on the recent visit click here as Afloat adds this morning the tallship departed the capital and is next bound for Bergen in Norway. 

Published in Navy

Marine Wildlife Around Ireland One of the greatest memories of any day spent boating around the Irish coast is an encounter with marine wildlife.  It's a thrill for young and old to witness seabirds, seals, dolphins and whales right there in their own habitat. As boaters fortunate enough to have experienced it will testify even spotting a distant dorsal fin can be the highlight of any day afloat.  Was that a porpoise? Was it a whale? No matter how brief the glimpse it's a privilege to share the seas with Irish marine wildlife.

Thanks to the location of our beautiful little island, perched in the North Atlantic Ocean there appears to be no shortage of marine life to observe.

From whales to dolphins, seals, sharks and other ocean animals this page documents the most interesting accounts of marine wildlife around our shores. We're keen to receive your observations, your photos, links and youtube clips.

Boaters have a unique perspective and all those who go afloat, from inshore kayaking to offshore yacht racing that what they encounter can be of real value to specialist organisations such as the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) who compile a list of sightings and strandings. The IWDG knowledge base has increased over the past 21 years thanks in part at least to the observations of sailors, anglers, kayakers and boaters.

Thanks to the IWDG work we now know we share the seas with dozens of species who also call Ireland home. Here's the current list: Atlantic white-sided dolphin, beluga whale, blue whale, bottlenose dolphin, common dolphin, Cuvier's beaked whale, false killer whale, fin whale, Gervais' beaked whale, harbour porpoise, humpback whale, killer whale, minke whale, northern bottlenose whale, northern right whale, pilot whale, pygmy sperm whale, Risso's dolphin, sei whale, Sowerby's beaked whale, sperm whale, striped dolphin, True's beaked whale and white-beaked dolphin.

But as impressive as the species list is the IWDG believe there are still gaps in our knowledge. Next time you are out on the ocean waves keep a sharp look out!