Sunflower 2 is to make bunker calls on the repositioning voyage, firstly in Valletta, Malta before she transits the Suez Canal to the Red Sea port of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Columbo, Sri Lanka. From there she transits the Strait of Malacca then through the South China Sea followed by the East China Sea before finally entering the Strait of Korea to her homeport of Busan.

Since 1999 she has served Stena Line's fast-ferry high-season Rosslare-Fishguard route sailings taking 1 hour 50 minutes in tandem with conventional ferry Stena Europe (1981/24,828grt) which currently maintains the year-round 3 hours 30 minutes route. It is believed that Stena Line will not be operating high-season fast-ferry services in 2012.

Prior to her Dun Laoghaire departure, her South Korean crew have been preparing the craft over the last three weeks. Notably there was the removal of all Stena Line corporate livery markings on the hull. Her new name and port of registry were painted at the stern though she retained her original name at the bow which included both symbols of an Irish shamrock aptly to starboard (green) and the Welsh dragon to port (red) to reflect her Irish Sea southern corridor route.

Stena Lynx III departing Dun Laoghaire last year, note her starboard 'Shamrock' at the bow.

In recent years on the St. Georges Channel route she was marketed as the Stena 'Express'. Her final sailing this year was 4 September and three days later she docked Dun Laoghaire at St. Michaels Pier. On the adjacent berth which is designed specifically for and only capable of accommodating the HSS 1500 class fast-ferries.

Stena Lynx III also ran several shoulder season stints on the Dun Laoghaire-Holyhead route with the HSS Stena Explorer (1996/19,638grt) only running during the busier summer months. During this summer all sailings were maintained by HSS Stena Explorer until the route became a seasonal-only service for the first time this year when the last sailing took place in mid-September. The HSS remains in layover for the winter in Holyhead at her dedicated berth. The route is due to re-open in April or May.

The 35 knot Stena Lynx III was launched from fast-ferry catamaran specialists InCAT Pty based in the Tasmanian capital of Hobart. Early in her career the 81m wave-piercing catamaran (WPC) craft served Dover-Calais followed by two seasons between Newhaven-Dieppe when renamed P&O Elite for joint operators P&O Stena Line.

Her predecessors the WPC InCat 74m Stena Sea Lynx, became the first car-carrying catamaran to operate Dun Laoghaire-Holyhead sailings in 1993. The pioneering water-jet propelled craft was replaced in subsequent years by the larger InCAT 78m Stena Lynx II.

She was replaced in 1996 when the revolutionary four gas-turbine engine water-jet propelled HSS Stena Explorer was introduced. A further two sisters of the HSS 1500 class (High-speed Sea Service) were completed by Finnyards in Rauma.

Following the one-day soft-opening, any group which wishes to visit the museum by appointment should contact the MII's Tel: (01) 280 0969 or you can also call (01) 214 3934.

To read more about the renovation programme click HERE. If you would like to assist through voluntary work, fund-raising activities or make a donation in addition to keeping abreast of news, events and winter lecture programme visit www.mariner.ie

At the end of this month the M.I.I. will celebrate the 70th anniversary of its foundation and it is the intention of the voluntary run museum to 'officially' re-open in March 2012.

To read more about the renovation programme click HERE. If you would like to assist through voluntary work, fund-raising activities or make a donation in addition to keeping abreast of the latest developments visit www.mariner.ie

Regular guided tours will provide a fascinating insight into the work of the Commissioners of Irish Lights (CIL). The tours (first-come basis) are also available for disabled access and they start from 12 noon to 5pm, noting the last tour is 4.30pm. Location: Harbour Road, Dún Laoghaire.

Like most of the tours and events in Open House Dublin, there is no pre-booking required. Entry is FREE and on a first-come basis. For more information about what to expect from your tour or event, check the How It Works by clicking HERE.

CIL operate the 79m aids-to-navigation tender ILV Granuaile which is based at her homeport of Dun Laoghaire. The 2,625grt tender was built by the Dutch Damen Shipyard group in Galati, Romania. She was then towed to The Netherlands where further outfitting work was conducted. She entered service in 2000 and she is the third tender to be named after the Mayo pirate queen.

Occasionally ILV Granuaile can be seen moored alongside the berth adjacant to the marine depot accessed through Dun Laoghaire Marina, though she mostly calls to the harbour's western bight area, using her DP (dynamic-positioning) mode. Her design is ideally suited for buoy and chain work, search and rescue, salvage and recovery, towing, hydrographic applications, and ROV work.

She is shallow drafted at 4.4m and has heavy lifting equipment including a 20 tonne aft-mounted crane with an outreach of 20m. Accommodation is for a crew of 16 in addition there are cabins for a further 10 persons.

According to the vessels survey schedules, RV Celtic Explorer had today completed fisheries demersal surveys which started in Galway on 23 September. The near fortnight-long survey was conducted in the ICES area VI, under the direction of chief scientist, Dave Stokes.

On Friday she embarks on a herring acoustic survey which is to take place in the Celtic Sea and the south-west. This survey will be under chief scientist Ciaran O'Donnell and is to de-mobilise in Cork on 27 October. To read more about her 2011 survey programme click HERE.

Across Dublin Bay in neighbouring Dun Laoghaire, the 31m RV Celtic Voyager is currently nearing the end of a month-long hydrography survey of the Celtic Sea. The survey had started in Howth Harbour on 17 September under chief scientist Kevin Sheehan. For the time-being she remains moored in Dun Laoghaire prior to resuming survey work which will continue until the vessel de-mobilises in Rosslare in mid-October. To find out more about her remaining surveys for this year click HERE.

On the surveys outlined they are conducted on behalf of Marine Institute scientists, though the vessels are also allocated ship-time for use of third parties. These include government departments and agencies, universities, research institutes and industry. For further information on the research vessels, survey schedules etc can be found by visiting: www.marine.ie/home/Research+Vessels.htm

Courtown Harbour Rowing Club took second place in a time of 3:3:19 and third place honours went to Stella Maris Rowing Club with a time of 3:16.00. The hosts of the Hobblers Challenge, St. Michaels Rowing Club based out of the Coal Harbour, passed under the high walls of the East Pier Lighthouse and battery some two minutes later in fourth place.

The annual event (for race-route click HERE) was only re-introduced onto the race calendar last year after a break of several years. The skiffs were launched at the Coal Harbour slipway where they headed over to line-up for the starter's gun opposite the Hobbler's Memorial located on the publicly accessible Eastern Breakwater which is between the Stena Line HSS fast-ferry berth and the Dun Laoghaire Marina.

In attendance to greet the start of the race in memorial of the Dublin Bay hobblers was the RNLB Anna Livia of the local RNLI lifeboat station. The bronze memorial depicts a tower of lifejackets in commemoration of three young Dun Laoghaire hobblers who after piloting and unloading the schooner Jealous of Me in Ringsend, failed to return home.

This occupation was carried out by men also from Ringsend, Dalkey and other harbours and it was the first crew to reach a ship and throw a hook on the deck who would win the business of pilotage and unloading in Dublin Port.

Crews would think nothing of rowing out to the Kish Bank on the hope of spotting a ship. If they waited offshore and no passing trade appeared along the East Coast the craft doubled as a bed if it became too late to row home. The craft were much larger and heavier compared to the present day skiff and it is in these oarstrokes that the Hobblers Challenge follows the original race of the hobblers during the 18th and 19th centuries.

It was apt that on the same day of this year's Hobblers Challenge, the 107-year-old ketch Bessie Ellen, a former cargo-carrying vessel that represented one of the last such sail-trading ships operating in the Irish Sea, was making a passage to the east of the Kish Bank.

To read more about the un-manned Kish Lighthouse click this HERE, and for the 150 cargo tons capacity ketch built in 1904 click HERE.

Stena Line said the fast craft service would operate until 13th September and would then be suspended until the 2012 season. Two conventional ferries will continue to operate year-round on the company's neighbouring route between Dublin Port and Holyhead.

Stena said it hoped to start the service again in April or May although no decision has been made on an exact date.

Area Director for Stena Line's business on the Irish Sea Michael McGrath said: "Despite all our attempts to reduce operating costs over the last few years, it has not been possible to return the route to profitability.

"We regret that this decision will have an impact amongst our ship's personnel and our port operations staff in Dun Laoghaire but this is a decision that has to be taken for the benefit of the overall business. We simply cannot continue to sustain these levels of financial losses.

"We will now embark on a period of consultation with our staff and their union representatives to discuss the implications of the proposed changes with them."

Stena says it hope to start the service again in April or May, although no decision has been made on an exact date. It is believed around 53 staff will be affected by the decision.

12.30 – 1.30 pm. Neutral Ireland's Role in the Sinking of the Bismarck, May, 1941 By Dr. Michael Kennedy, Executive Editor, Documents on Irish Foreign Policy, Royal Irish Academy.

1.30 – 2.30 pm. Traditional Boats of Ireland. - Wooden workboats from all the Maritime Counties of Ireland. By Darina Tully, Lecturer and Maritime Archaeologist.

2.30 – 3.30 pm. Too Many Bags in the Lifeboat. A Lifeboat Tragedy at Bray 1876 By James Scannell, Lecturer and P.R.O of the Old Dublin Society.

4.00 – 5.00 pm. Maritime Guinness, The Ships, Yachts and Barges of the Guinness Dynasty. By Dr. Edward Bourke, Diver, Maritime Historian and Author of "Guinness, the Family, the Business and the Black Stuff"

5.00 – 6.00 pm. Ireland's Armada Heritage. The Story of the Spanish Armada of 1588. The discoveries of the wrecks on the Irish Coast and the recovery of artifacts. By Cormac Lowth, Lecturer, Author and Diver.

Further information Barney Yourell 087 900 7466 No seminar charge – donations accepted. Information in general on the Maritime Institute of Ireland can be found on http://www.mariner.ieand for other nationwide events of the Heritage Week visit www.heritageweek.ie

Opening times are 11am to 5pm and the entry fee is €3 for adults and children go free. The Funday is to help raise funds to support the local national maritime museum of Ireland in Dun Laoghaire. The Maritime Institute of Ireland is a registered charity, which run the museum through volunteers. In addition they host lectures, represent maritime interests and operate a museum and library.

The museum is housed in the former Mariners Church and is currently closed due to renovation and improvement works. There will be a 'soft launch' or 'preview' of the museum from October to mark the M.I.I.'s 70th anniversary.

Next year the museum is due to be officially re-opened during the Easter. The M.I.I. welcomes new members, volunteers and donations. For further information visit www.mariner.ie

At the same time across Dublin Bay, the Norwegian square-rigged tallship Statsraad Lehmkuhl was underway from her River Liffey berth at Sir John Rogersons Quay, where the 321" foot vessel had made a two-day visit to Dublin Port.

As the public boarded one of the largest tallships in the world, they were given a taste of what to expect a year from now, as the capital prepares to be the host-port of the final race-leg of the Tall Ships Races. The sailing spectacle was last held in 1998 and the high-profile event in August 2012 is expected to draw around 100 tallships.