A good year for the cruise liners – but why anchor so far away?

One thing does puzzle me, however. Perhaps incorrectly I have always been under the impression that all maritime visitors of a certain size need to use the services of our trained local pilots. The reason I ask is because about 10 days ago a large liner visiting the island anchored so far out that it almost seemed closer to Herm than Guernsey. A week later another large liner anchored surprisingly close to the harbour mouth. This makes me wonder whether the captains of the liners are exempt from using local pilots because I cannot see the advantage of anchoring far out as this gives their little tenders a much longer voyage to the harbour and a rougher trip for their passengers if the sea is not billiard-table flat. If local pilots are being used, the different anchoring points are a bit of a puzzle, unless some liners need more depth of water than others.

I assume that there is someone at the top of the arrivals gangway with a ‘clicker’ counting the number of arrivals. Although we are told the names and sizes of the liners including the number of passengers the public has no idea how many passengers come ashore and I think it would interest a lot of people if the numbers were published the next day in the Noticeboard page of the Press.

TONY MCDADE

Rocque Es Roussee

Vale

Editor’s footnote: Harbour master Captain David Barker from Guernsey Harbours replies:

All visiting cruise ships are required to take a harbour pilot in order to anchor in the Little Russel channel. The actual anchorage position is agreed between the pilot and the vessel’s master, after considering a number of factors including weather, tide, size and draft of the vessel, as well as the safety restrictions of the vessel’s parent company.