Baltic Cruising Part 1: Leaving London & European Shipping

Where else to depart for a Baltic cruise than one of my favorite cities; London. We departed Greenwich outbound on the Thames near the Cutty Sark & the International Date Line. This post will feature assorted waterborne vessels since some are unlike US vessels.

This was our temporary home for the next 2 weeks. The Azamara Journey. (phone camera photo so the image quality is so-so)

Early morning around 4:45am. This is natural light that was enough for the camera to be happy with.













Fuel transfer from small vessel to large vessel. The small vessel is a self powered bunker boat. In the U.S. we use unpowered bunker barges moved from customer to customer via tug boats.

As we sailed toward the North Sea, English villages were just waking up.













London Cruise Terminal. This is where the huge cruise liners usually dock when calling on London. Our vessel was small enough to travel much further up the Thames.













Notice the mast supports on this ship. The masts can be lowered when needed. You'll see why in a few more photos.

Light ship on display













Drilling rig. The tower is part of the ship, not some land based structure behind the vessel.













Monster container ship. How goods travel from county of manufacture to country of use.













It was a tad cool. The pool did not see much use this morning.













Europe is way far ahead of the US in making the change away from fossil fuels. We saw wind farms beside nuclear plants beside coal fired units. I'm told Germany has totally eliminated nuclear. This wind farm was located just into the North Sea as we exited the Thames.

On our way to Antwerp













Hopper dredge. I heard one lady ask "is that a refueling boat?" No, not even close.













One of my favorite spots on board. The promenade deck. A good place to watch the world go by, with a good book and a drink in hand. Notice the low profile of the bulk freighter coming up river.

Why the need for the low profile & the ability to drop a mast as seen in an earlier photo? These ships travel European rivers as opposed to open seas. Here is the typical bridge they must pass under to deliver cargo. No bridge lifts, no elevated roads. This particular bridge is located in St. Petersburg, Russia. More on that city in an upcoming post.
 

Up next: Antwerp and Brussels, Belgium. From there we transit the Kiel Canal in Germany & into the Baltic.