A Parade of Ships

Usually pictures of the many ships which pass us are saved up for a 'Ships in the Sound' feature but we've had such a variety pass in the last couple of days that it seems good to share them now.

This is the Arundo, a small bulk cargo ship which is registered in St Vincent and the Grenadines. She passed us on Tuesday in fine weather heading for the Pentland Firth.

By contrast, the Azamara Journey, which came past yesterday afternoon, is a cruise ship owned and operated by Azamara Club Cruises, a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Cruises. She has a gross registered tonnage of 30,277 and a capacity for 694 passengers, looked after by 390 crew. She was en route to Skye.

In contrast again, less than an hour later the Lady of Avenel passed under sail, a fine sight on a fine evening. It's a pity she was on the far side of the Sound.

At seven in the evening, the Northern Lighthouse Board's Pharos, which had been at anchor in Kilchoan Bay, passed close along the Ormsaigbeg shore, so we had a good look at her.

Then, early this afternoon, the Atlantic Dawn came up the Sound. She's a self-loading general cargo ship registered in the Netherlands. She's been designed to carry a variety of cargoes, from unusually large containers to heavy deck cargo, the latter being loaded by the two cranes, which are capable between them of lifting a 300 ton object.