31 August 2009, Liverpool, England.

The last time I was in Liverpool was in 1979 when I was a cadet. The only thing that I remember from that call was that we docked in a container dock in the dark in the early evening. One of the engineers took all four of us (cadets) to a disco where I saw English girls dancing with each other and dancing around their own hand bags. All the boys were huddled around the bar drinking pints. That dancing around the hand bag came from the fact that there was no place to leave a hand bag safe when going for a dance. They were dancing together because the boys only wanted to drink. We as Dutch could not understand that at all but when we tried to ask these girls for a dance, and there were 100’s of them in this gigantic disco, they all refused as they were out on the town together. At least that is what I understood when asking. It was very difficult to understand them, partly because of the disco noise and partly because of their liverpudlian accents, but I never forgot the disco scene from that night. All these pretty girls dancing together around their hand bags and all the men just boozing it up. My wife (who is British) later explained that it was not that unusual in England in those days.

With that thought on my mind we approached the entrance to the river Mersey. The pilot has flown out to Dublin yesterday to make it all easier. The wind and swell can be notoriously bad at the bar and then ships have to make all sorts of strange maneuvers to provide a good lee for the pilot to come onboard. As cruise ships are on a schedule and during windy weather tend to be blown all over the place the pilots like to fly out if it is not too far to avoid delays. Plus the temptation of good food and lodgings does not do any harm either. Therefore we did not have to stop for the pilot boat and could sail straight in. It was windy but there was not that much swell. It would have been possible to embark the pilot locally. The ships agent had advised however that the price for flying out was about the same as the surcharge for the pilot boat and so why not get him onboard early then.

By 7 am we approached the Liverpool standing stage. From here the trans Atlantic liners left for the United States and Canada with regular clientele and emigrants. Those days are over but the landing stage has been refurbished and now the cruise ships dock here. It is from the landing stage only 5 minutes to down town and that makes life easy for everybody. Especially for the crew that have limited time and do not have to go very far when coming off the ship. For the first time I saw great excitement among the sailors to go ashore. They had found out that for a small fee they could have a tour around the stadium of FC Liverpool, the soccer club. European soccer is very popular in East Asia. There are more Manchester United fans in Japan than there are in England for example. So for an Indonesian soccer fan, visiting the Liverpool “temple of soccer” is about the same as for me visiting the Taj Mahal in India. Not easy to do and something to long for and then suddenly your ship is there and you get the chance.

The Liverpool Landing Stage with a little bit of the nautical sky line to the left.
The Liverpool landing stage is a floating pontoon that goes up and down with the tide and so we do not have play with the mooring lines all day. They stay taut as the pontoon moves up and down the tide together with the ship. Similar as the dock in Tilbury where we started our cruise. It is located just across from the ferry dock with the ferry that crosses the river Mersey. A song by Jerry and the Pacemakers, Ferry across the Mersey, was a world hit in the 1960’s. Of course they played over the P.A system when we left, together with the “National football anthem” You never walk alone. They did not play any Beatle songs on the pier but that was compensated with a lot of Beatle mania going on in downtown where a real Beat-nik festival was taking place.

The day was windy with the occasional shower, which turned into a downpour when we sailed down the river again. This evening we will pass the Isle of Man and then head straight for Greencastle which gives us access to Londonderry. We cannot get to Londonderry or its container port as the river is tidal and the time of the tides are wrong for us and also because there are low power cables over the river. Thus we will anchor and run tenders into Greencastle. The wind is from the South West to West and that means that our anchorage is sheltered and the harbour master expects a good day for us tomorrow.