Wednesday, June 11, 2014

On the waterfront


I visited the Toronto harborfront recently when I heard some tours of boats were available. Always a good idea to do hands-on research, even though the ships I'm writing about at the moment aren't at the same level of technology. But it was a fun experience and I took some pictures.

















I like ships and planes. This one got them both in the same shot.


















Here I am taking the wheel on the Mariposa cruise boat Rosemary. Twin diesel engines, 1064 hp, 14 feet wide, 60 feet long. Yacht certified for "sheltered water", meaning she has to stay within 1 nautical mile of the shore.

















I'm on the bridge of the much larger Mariposa cruise ship Captain Matthew Flinders. Three decks and can hold 575 people. The captain also provided some interesting details of what it's like on the bridge, e.g. at night, the bridge is kept completely dark so that the crew can see everything outside easily.


















Ducks don't like having pictures taken of them.



















The swan was more laid back about it.

It was fun, though I still wish I could have a few hours on an actual sailing ship. Some day...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love those photos, especially the one with the plane flying over the boat.

Hope you had lots of fun! Sounds like it... :)

Marian Perera said...

Planes in flight are eye-catching, aren't they?

I did enjoy myself! When I visited Nova Scotia two years ago, I hadn't yet got an idea for a series set on ships, so it never occurred to me to ask to visit the harbor. I could have kicked myself later for that, so I was happy to have this chance.