CRUISE VIGNETTES 51. Ferry Boats

A FEW FERRY BOAT STORIES
Scattered throughout Travel-Tidbits.com are references to the 40 to 50 ferry boats we have been on in 20 to 25 countries. Some were just a way to get across a piece of water, and others, as selected here, had an interesting item or two to tell about. Three of these trips were overnight, and two of them required the purchase of a cabin, we camped on one ferry. We either stayed in the RV on the short trips, or wandered in the public rooms, for trips of one or several hours. Most of these stories are told elsewhere, here and there, but I included them as I thought of them — these are not in chronological sequence.

I had a few unkind things to say about some of the ferry boats, especially in Italy and Greece, and a lot of good things to say about Scandinavian ferries. Well, I changed some of those opinions when I read about the ferry boat that sank in 1994, in the Baltic Sea, while sailing from Estonia to Stockholm, Sweden. We have traveled on ferry boats exactly like that one, on several occasions, and liked the rapid, easy on and off loading

That may be an easy way to load and unload, but not so good in a large storm on a large body of water. The waves were so strong they just tore the huge bow door (it weighted several tons) off of its hinges, and that let the water into the large rooms filled with vehicles. As you can imagine, with no walls or partitions to slow the water, the vehicle decks soon filled, and that was the end of the ferry, hundreds of vehicles and hundreds of people.

I made fun of the Greek ferry boats, where there was an entrance at the stern (the back) of the boat only. In order to get the maximum vehicles on board, it was necessary for some to drive on, and some to back on, and which ever they did, they had to do just the opposite to get off. That seemed dumb at the time, and for the crossing of the Gulf of Corinth at Rio, Greece, maybe a mile wide, it still seems unnecessary, but I’ll not complain about that ever again!