Two vessels visiting Dublin Bay ports are open to the public tomorrow, Sunday (7 July) with both ships offering free tours when berthed in Dublin Port (Docklands) and Dun Laoghaire Harbour, writes Jehan Ashmore.
Visiting the Docklands is the anti-whaling campaign charity vessel, the 1,130 gross tonnes, John Paul De Joria, operated by the Captain Paul Watson Foundation, which is using the port as a base for a campaign mission in Icelandic waters to save the lives of whales during the killing season.
John Paul De Joria is part of Neptune's Pirates, (a branch of the Foundation), dedicated to direct action conservation, and represents the crew, volunteers, and ships that carry out campaign missions.
The 72m ship, berthed at Sir John Rogerson’s Quay (near the Samuel Beckett Bridge), was open this afternoon for public tours and will also be open tomorrow (2 p.m.–5 p.m.) to free tours every half-hour. This will provide an opportunity to learn about the role of the foundation charity and their current campaign, ‘Operation Ice Storm’.
It was last weekend when the ship arrived from Hull, England, and after more than a week in the capital, is scheduled to depart on Monday afternoon.
Originally the ship was the Vigilant, which served the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency (SFPA) on patrols in the North Sea to deter illegal fishing in Scottish waters, as well as monitoring the compliance of the fisheries industry. The vessel was built on the Clyde in 1982 at Ferguson Brothers (Port Glasgow) Ltd, Port Glasgow.
Navy at Coastival
The second ship open to the public tomorrow will be in Dun Laoghaire Harbour as the Naval Service offshore patrol vessel (OPV) LÉ George Bernard Shaw visits as part of "Coastival,” as Afloat previously reported. The 90m OPV is the newest of the four P60 class built by Babcock Marine in Appledore, England and which entered service in 2018.
LÉ George Bernard Shaw will be berthed at the Carlisle Pier and will have free guided tours, each lasting 20 minutes between (11am-4pm) that take place during the seaside festival that began last weekend and concludes tomorrow.
During the festival, an “emergency services open day,” which aims to highlight the work of the emergency services, is to take place tomorrow at the former Ferry Terminal (car park) compound at St. Michaels Pier with gates open between (11am-4pm).
Details on “Coastival” can be found here, in addition to the location of the “emergency services open day” via this link. Among the services represented will be the RNLI, the Irish Coast Guard, and Civil Defence.