17 Aug. 2016; South Queensferry, Scotland.

During the night we crossed Hadrian’s Wall (if it had been extended over the water) and entered Scotland. And by 05.30 this morning we had dropped the hook outside South Queensferry for our call at Edinburgh. As the name indicates there was a ferry here that goes to the other side, the North side of the Firth of Forth. There has been a ferry connection here since the 13th. century and as Edinburgh is a Royal Burgh the connection with a Queen is not so difficult to imagine.

Calling at Edinburgh has its issues as is does not have a harbor itself and what it has is only big enough for cruise ships the size of the Prinsendam.  On the East side there is Leith which harbor can be reached by going through a lock. So the ship that wants to go through has to fit in. Then you can only go through the lock at high water as that is the only time when there is sufficient water in the approach to the lock. Thus leaving depends on when it is high tide and that creates a challenge for the cruise schedule as the tides changes about 50 minutes every day and you can be “adrift” from your planned cruise schedule of about 6 hours. Thus if the cruise planner decides in 2014 that the ship should sail at 6 pm. from Leith, the captain might have to wait until 9 or 10 pm. before there would be enough  water to make it possible.  Thus Leith is a limited option.

The other port where you can dock is Rosyth. Again it cannot take too large a ship, not because of the dock but because of getting in and out. You have to make two almost 90o turns to get out of the port and to go under the bridges. And those bridges are the second hurdle. Large ships do not fit under them. The Koningsdam does not for certain and so we have to stay east of the bridge. Then there is the option of anchoring more towards the Leith area on the East side of Edinburgh and tender into New Haven. Very well doable but a very long tender ride. The Celebrity Silhouette was doing that today.  Two other cruise ships, the Astor and the Seven Seas Navigator, which we also saw in Newcastle upon Tyne, went to Rosyth. The only real big dock is the oil terminal. In the past the Queen Elizabeth 2 docked there once but I have never seen another cruise ship going there so I assume it was not a spectacular success.

The ships radar screen. The green stripes indicate the bridges over the Firth of Forth. The red “Pac Man” circle around the ship indicates the safe swinging area the ship has to stay in.

So we anchored just north east of Queensferry as close as we could safely do near the Railroad Bridge. They have three bridges over the Firth of Forth, a railroad bridge and two car bridges. When you swing around on the tide and the chain gets stretched, you have to ensure that your ship lying behind the stretched chain does not come too close to the bridge. When you then anchor on the outgoing tide the ship looks to be quite far away from where you have to go but when the ship swings around on the incoming tide, you are suddenly much closer. Still it is a fair distance to travel and we had six ships tenders in operation and an extra shore tender to keep a good and fast tender service going.

The “Maid of the Forth” which can take 180 guests and that helped to relieve the pressure on the tender service.

The tender pier is not the greatest of tender piers as they go, as it is a ramp. This is not so much of an issue for the guests but it is for the tender operation. With the incoming tide we have to shift the tender landing location further and further up the ramp and with the tide going out, we have to go the other way again. I hope one day, that the Edinburgh council sees the light and builds a pontoon pier to dock at, which will go up and down with the tide and if we still have to tender then also a pontoon / floating dock for the tender service. In Alaska they have been doing that for years and even in remote places such as Manaus in Brazil it is not an issue. So Edinburgh……………………………please………………………

This is the Hawes Pier and the tender landing we have to use. Not the easiest of docking locations.

When the first guests where coming ashore, they were greeted by welcoming bag pipe music and then we really knew we were in Scotland. Most went to Edinburgh but Queensferry itself is nice as well. Not too big, but if you decide to visit each pub in between each historical sight, then you will still have a very happy day.

We were blessed today with wonderful weather.  At 0700, we suddenly could not see anything as a low white blanket blew in from the sea but it lifted shortly after and then the sun came out in full swing. Scotland looks very nice on a sunny day and our guests were making the most of it. Nearly the whole ship emptied out. We are staying here until 01.00 am, or until everybody from the evening tour is back and then hop on to Invergordon where we should be docked before 13.00 hrs.

The weather looks good again 68oF/ 20oC with partly sunny skies and hardly any wind. The Scots might find it wee bit too warm to wear those heavy kilts tomorrow.