First Visit of the Cruise Ship Seabourn Sojourn
Report by Dawn Repetto, with additional photos by Sean Burns and Colette Halter-Pernet
The MS Seabourn Sojourn at anchor off Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, Tristan da Cunha
The cruise ship MS Seabourn Sojourn made her maiden voyage to Tristan on the 31st January 2018. The weather was favorable and it was very exciting for the community, as she had over 400 guests onboard. She landed them with the ship's tenders. This is the first time a ship's tender has been able to use the harbour, thanks to the deepening project that was carried out about two years ago.
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| The ship's tender approaching harbour steps | Visitors taking photographs by the famous Welcome sign. |
The first tender with crew members was escorted into harbour by our Search and Rescue Rib, and they were soon busy setting up the harbour front with gazebos, chairs and bottle water for arriving guests. Thirty minutes later the first tender arrived with guests, and it was a great pleasure to welcome them ashore.
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| Busy shopping at the 37 degrees South Gift shop. | Enjoying Albatross Ale brewed on Tristan. |
Guests spent the day visiting the Post & Tourism Centre, where they wrote postcards, bought souvenirs, had a lobster sandwich and a glass of Albatross Ale brewed on Tristan. They also ventured to the Albatross Bar, Rockhopper Gift Shop and the Supermarket, and took the opportunity to play some golf, visit the Thatched House Museum, take a taxi ride to the Potato Patches and hike around the settlement and patches area.
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| Captain Hamish presenting the Head of Tourism with ship's plaque for her maiden voyage | Sign for passengers on the harbour front. |
Captain Hamish Elliott was a lovely guy and presented the island with a Seabourn Sojourn maiden voyage plaque; this will be placed on our Tourism Centre wall along with those of other visiting ships. He, like us, was very happy that weather was good and a landing was successful.
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| Post & Tourism Team ready to board the Seabourn Sojourn. | Tristan stamps stall set up on the Seabourn Sojourn. |
By 5:30pm visitors had embarked and the ship lay at anchor overnight. The following morning a team of islanders were taken onboard to sell philatelic material and souvenirs as well as do presentations and talks to cover different aspects on the island, e.g. Fisheries, Culture, History, Agriculture, Conservation, Education, and the UN monitoring station. The ship then weighed anchor and circumnavigated the Outer Islands returning back to Tristan at about 4:00pm. After personnel had been dropped at the harbour the ship set sail for Namibia.
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| Views that passengers enjoyed during the circumnavigation of Nightingale (left) and Inaccessible Islands. | |
It was a great pleasure to welcome the Seabourn Sojourn and we hope to see her back here in the near future.