300ft Island Sky to stop at island's redeveloped quay
History was
made this week when Alderney played host to its largest ever maritime visitor.
Described as ‘one of the finest small ships in the world’, the 300ft (90m) MS
Island Sky is a luxury
cruise liner which regularly voyages as far a field as Cape Town and the
Falkland Islands.
The ship docked
at the new commercial quay in Alderney harbour, on the north of the island near Braye, which was recently upgraded to allow
larger vessels to visit and hopefully increase tourism to the island. Other
vessels to use the quay include HMS Leadbury, a 200ft (60m) hunt-class minesweeper and Ocean
Nova, a 240ft (73m)
Antarctica cruise ship.
In 2009 the
59-passenger ferry, Victor Hugo, ran aground when leaving the commercial docks. It took three boats
to get the ferry back to the quay where passengers disembarked before being
flown back to Guernsey.
