Tag: cruise ship

Cruise Ship Accident Exercise – Tuesday 12th March

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Disseminating this sort of information will do no good. It never does. Twitter will still be buzzing with “OMG!” and “What’s going on?” tweets on Tuesday morning. Facebook will catch up by next week.

Remember those fire drills at school? Well, they’re going to have a cruise ship disaster drill off Mouille Point tomorrow:

The City of Cape Town wishes to inform residents that a simulated major cruise ship ‘accident’ close to the Port of Cape Town will be conducted on Tuesday 12 March 2013.
The exercise will test the preparedness and ability of the authorities and related agencies to respond to an incident involving an international cruise ship running aground.
Code-named ‘Beachy’, the joint scenario exercise will be led by the City’s Disaster Risk Management Centre.

Of course, even in these days of modern technology when you wouldn’t expect maritime disasters to even be possible, you don’t have to go too far back to remember the last time a cruise ship ran aground.

Italy Ship Aground

So this sort of preparedness is to be applauded.

The accident will take place off-shore from the Mouille Point Lighthouse and a verification and mass-care centre will be established at the Cape Town Stadium to assist survivors of the cruise liner disaster.
Residents living in the vicinity are alerted that the exercise will involve a large contingent of armed forces, law enforcement agencies and emergency and disaster management personnel.
Helicopters from the SA Air Force and the Western Cape Government Health: Emergency Medical Services  will be utilised to evacuate ‘casualties’ from the ship.

If you’ve got a camera and the ability to walk (sadly, I have neither right now), it might be worth going down there and having a look.

But if you can’t get down there, share this post, educate your friends and prevent unnecessary widespread panic on the streets of the Atlantic Seaboard tomorrow.

The World is in Cape Town

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It seems that way. Tourist numbers have never been higher [awaits statistic-carrying doom and gloom merchants with evidence to the contrary]. Everywhere is PACKED! For some reason, we decided to take a trip down to the V&A Waterfront yesterday to soak up some of the Christmas spirit, see some fishy stuff, play some cave golf and see The World.

Not the entire world, obviously. That would require a ridiculous amount of time and effort [and money – Mrs 6000], but the residential cruise ship and playground of the rich and famous.

She is in Cape Town for the New Year before heading north for Lüderitz and Walvis Bay in Namibia and then back past Cape Town and the Southern Cape bound for Durban later in January 2012.

With penthouses going for around $14,000,000 [a cool R115m], maybe Mrs 6000 has a point about The World being a bit pricey, but with only 165 residences and over 200 crew, it sounds like you get decent service.

It’s also very, very nice to look at. Get down to the V&A Waterfront and avoid the rather hectic security near the jetty to have a gander.

Follow The World on MarineTraffic.com by clicking here or see some more photos here.

Seasick?

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Not sure where this link got tweeted from, so stop me and buy one if it was you, but having mentioned the nasty weather on the Isle of Man and my parents’ subsequent ferry trip – which was thankfully uneventful – it seemed apt to post this amazing footage:

That’s internal CCTV footage from onboard the Pacific Sun cruise liner as it hit some heavy seas.
Or rather, they hit it.
Wow.

Perhaps the first thing to note is the helpful kitchen worker who strides purposefully off to rescue the furniture at 0:20 – no need mate – it’s already on it’s way back! And immediately thereafter, a fat man in a striped shirt shows that the sea is no respecter of obesity.
See if you can spot him popping through the shot again at 1:00 and 1:12. You’ll have to be quick! Whoosh.

Also worth a look is the brave officer who “saves” a woman as she rolls past and then uses her to protect himself from the next onslaught of furniture. In fact, that’s a recurring theme, as people grab onto the pillars and think they’re safe, only to be overwhelmed by a sea of tables and chairs.

Oh, and the faceplant into the pillar at 0:48 is, of course, pretty special.

In the second part of the video, I’m not sure what makes the bloke stop and step back (1:26). Suffice to say it was a pretty good decision.

As a kid, I remember crossing the Irish Sea in all manner of nasty conditions and being horribly ill. The worst bit of the 4 hour journey to and from the island was 2 hours out, when you were feeling absolutely horrible and yet you knew that it would be at least that long again before you were anywhere near the safety (and stability) of dry land. Happy days.

UPDATE: The Pacific Sun incident took place in July 2008. Never say we don’t bring you the latest stuff here on 6000 miles…