In this year, I've been out taking photos of ships around Tallinn a lot. I've also been on some ships (Viking XPRS a few times and Silja Europa once), and that has got me to Helsinki, where I could take pictures of ships we can't see in Tallinn. The first time I went to the beach for the sake of ships was the Estonian Independence day, the 24th of February. In April, the infamous sale of Isabella happened, and she spent a few weeks in Tallinn for maintenance. Later, on the 30th to be exact, the cruise ship season in Tallinn begun with Astor visiting. I didn't go to see her, but I did see MSC Musica the next day. On the 13th of May, my special favourite Aidamar called for the first time. Later on I bought a new camera with great zooming abilities especially to take better photos of ships. By now I've seen all the regulars several times, and quite a nice amount of cruise ships, some of them many times. But I still haven't seen Mein Schiff 1..
Anyway, here's some of my photos.
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| My special favourite of the regulars, Silja Europa, on the Independence day, all white |
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| Parade of the regulars, seen every day around 6:15 PM |
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| Star model at Tallink HQ |
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| Finlandia and snow in early April |
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| Changing from Isabella to Isabelle. Progress: Isabellæ |
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| Boarding Viking XPRS in late April |
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| Funnel of Viking XPRS |
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| The wide sundeck in the stern |
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| Isabellæ's big nose |
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| Helsinki captures 1 - Silja Serenade |
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| Helsinki captures 2 - Little Suomenlinna boat |
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| Helsinki Captures 3 - Mariella the Mighty |
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| Helsinki Captures 4 - Serenade's almost identical sister Silja Symphony |
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| Linda Line's Merilin leaving and making waves |
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| Baltic Queen leaving for Stockholm |
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| and Victoria I leaving for Stockholm |
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| The long goodbye between port mates Finlandia and Viking XPRS |
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| Star - 6 crossings a day, two hours on the sea, one hour in port, 7 days a week, almost like a tram |
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| Star's mate Superstar, with a schedule similar to Star's, they meet halfway each time, one coming, other going. |
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| One tiny regular - Juku, the ship to Aegna, who sounds just like a tractor. |
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| Princess Anastasia from St. Petersburg visits once in four days. |
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| She and her sister Mariella are one of the few ships old enough for a bow visor. |
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| Gorgeous as always, Silja Europa arrives to Tallinn to show off her shiny new letters |
And here's some cruise ships too
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| MSC Musica, the first cruise ship I saw here |
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| Vision of the seas on 13. May after Aidamar got out of the way |
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| Costa Luminosa a week later, and the mouth of Aidamar as she gets out of the way |
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| Celebrity Constellation - had to sneak out of school to see her (managed to do it legally somehow), and it was totally worth it! |
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| Emerald Princess the same day |
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| and a rear view of Le Boreal |
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| Queen Elizabeth and some local vessels looking at her |
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| Seabourn Sojourn on 20. May |
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| Columbus 2, same day |
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| .. and Azamara Quest |
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| Another Azamara Quest - and if you look carefully, you'll see Viking XPRS too. |
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| A quick picture of the departing Arcadia taken before school from a nearby beach, 1. July |
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| Same day, same time, different ship - Marina |
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| Early morning of 3. July, MSC Poesia moving in. |
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| When MSC Poesia arrived, Norwegian Star wasn't in sight yet, but she was already blocking the view when first people finally got off MSC Poesia. From far away, the pink spark on her bow looks a bit like a mouth. |
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| Ryndam, who parked between Superstar and Silja Europa |
Should I mention that when we were there to watch them arrive in the morning, none of them came anytime near the scheduled time? All arrived at around the same time, either very early or very late.
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| Big fat Aidamar watching little Black Watch go |
