hello and welcome to my blog
Here you gone find photos of ships both military and civilian that visits Funchal harbor. Al the photos here are taken by me
hello everyone
i need your help, i am working on new blog about"Le Grand Bleu"
so if you have any new photos of "Le Grand Bleu"? or do you know where the ship is right now ,
then please send an e-mail to me at nilsson_olof@yahoo.se,
i will of curse give you credit for the photos
link to my new blog
http://legrandbleuyatch.blogspot.com/
the three ships are R11 Príncipe de Asturias (Aircraft Carrier) ,L52 Castilla (Galicia [LPD] (Command Ship for NATO operations) and F-102 Almirante Juan de Borbón *Frigates*
R11 Príncipe de Asturias
L52 Castilla
F-102 Almirante Juan de Borbón
Today we have three cruse ships in the harbore the ships are THOMSON DESTINY ,M/S AIDAblu and M/S Astoria
N.R.P. D. Carlos I (A522) Is an oceanographic vessel from the Portuguese Navy she belongs to the D Carlos class
UNDERWOOD is the twenty-ninth OLIVER HAZARD PERRY CLASS Guided Missile Frigate and the first in the third generation (Flight III) of the class. UNDERWOOD's primary mission is to provide protection for military and merchant shipping, amphibious task forces and underway replenishment groups.
Thanks wierrd_fish on mp.net for helping me to identify the ship
John A. Chapman is a Buffalo Soldier-class container ship, She features climate-controlled cocoons on her weather decks which protect additional cargo from the marine environment. She is owned and operated by Sealift, Inc. and is under charter to MSC (Military Sealift Command)
N.R.P. "João Roby" F487 is an corvet from the Portuguse navy and she belong to the Baptista de Andrade Class
Hello I have just returned from a 3 weeks vacation in Sweden and Denmark I didn’t have so much time for ship spotting but I did take these two photos in the town of Helsingør the ship is MHV 811 APOLLO from the Danish navy 
The Special purpose sail training ship EUROPA was built in 1911. In 1994 she was fully restored as a barque (three mast rigged ship) Europa is 30 metres tall and 56 metres long, carrying up to 30 sails on three masts
The F911 Westdiep is an multi-functional frigates and she belongs to the Wielingen class from the the Belgian Navy she is names after an 
A nice vintage movie showing the Aquila Airways Solent 3, G-AKNU landing in funchal .To bad that we don’t have sea-planes planes like that anymore
The movie is from another great Madeira blog the madeirablog.eu
Le Grand Bleu is one of the largest private yachts in the world at 370 feet (114 metres) in length. She was built at the Vulkan yard in Germany and was launched in 2000. She was previously owned by an American businessman who sold her to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich in 2002. Abramovich had her refitted to his own requirements by HDW in Kiel. This included an internal refit, and the addition of a 16ft swim platform.
Le Grand Bleu is powered by two 3,600-hp Wärtsilä engines. Details about the interiors are scanty as Abramovich is protective of his family's privacy and highly security conscious, but they were designed by Terence Disdale.
After departing the yard, Le Grand Blue headed for the Mediterranean and caused quite a stir wherever she went—and not always for good reasons. She was in Monaco in May 2004, serving as a base for Abramovich during Chelsea F.C.'s (unsuccessful) attempts to beat AS Monaco in the UEFA Champions League. In the weeks prior to that, singer Shirley Bassey complained to The Daily Express that the “big and ugly and new-fangled” behemoth blocked her view of the harbor from her hilltop home in Capri.
In June 2006, Abramovich gave away Le Grand Bleu to friend Eugene Shvidler.
text from wikipedia
Yacht name: Le Grand Bleu
Length: 370 ft • 114 metres
Launched: 2000
Builder: Vulkan
Architect: Kusch Yachtagentur
Engines: 2 x 4570 hp Caterpillars
Le Grand Bleu in the background the military ship is the Germinal F735 from France
There is an yachts on the yachts 
Looks like an Eurocopter but I don’t know what model it is.
Edit the helicopter is an Eurocopter EC-135T-1 (thanks Noob Brit from mp.net for the help )
I have no idea why one of the guy is hiding on the floor but they do have a quite nice swimming pool :-)
I did manage to take this photo some days ago and i am curius what kind of rubber boat is he using ,i know the eingine is made by tohatsu but i dont know if the boat also made by tohatsu but if any one know for sure please leave a comment 
The Polícia Marítima also use the good old Toyota Hilux pickup for transport on land 
We also have a ship from the france navy in Funchal today the Germinal is a light monitoring frigate ("frégate de surveillance") of the French Marine Nationale. She is the sixth and last ship of her class, and the first French vessel named after Germinal, the 7th month of the Republican Calendar.
And here are some photos the ship
And here are the photos
QUEEN ELISABETH 2
MSC MUSICA
DISCOVERY
Today we have three different cruiser ships and one military ship in Funchal MSC MUSICA, DISCOVERY ,QUEEN ELISABETH 2 and Germinal (F735) from the French Marine Nationale, photos will be uploaded during the day :-)
HMS Visby and HMS Helsingborg
HMS Gotland
pictures from Kockums sweden
P&O Oceana (formerly Ocean Princess) is a modified Sun class cruise ship which began operation in February 2000.
In November 2002, Ocean Princess was transferred to P&O Cruises.The vessel entered operation in May 2003, after participating in a renaming ceremony with sister ship Adonia, and presided over by Zara Phillips, the daughter of Princess Anne. The time in between acquisition and launch was spent reconfiguring the vessel to open up an additional deck for passenger use, resulting in a corresponding increase in passenger capacity from 1,950 to 2,016.
I have always been a big fan of the ship in the “Cacine class“ so every time I se one of them in funchal I am down there with my camera,I think they use her for SAR operation (Search And Rescue) among others things
NRP SAVE (P1161) going into Funchal harbor,
P1155 CENTAURO a small Patrol (Coastal) ship from the Centauro Class and P1161 SAVE in the background
NRP Quanza P1144
NRP Zaire P1146
In May 2003, Caronia (ex-Vistafjord) was sold to Saga Cruises, to rejoin her former fleet-mate Saga Rose, from 2005. Vistafjord was completed in April 1973 by Swan Hunter (Wallsend, River Tyne). Vistafjord was 24292grt and carried 830 passengers on Atlantic crossings, 550 when cruising. She was powered by two 9cyl Sulzer diesels totalling 24000shp. In 1980, Vistafjord and Sagafjord passed to Norwegian American Cruises (NAC), 90% owned by NAL. In 1983, Trafalgar House acquired NAC, and the ships joined the Cunard fleet, Vistafjord retaining her name. In 1999, Cunard renamed the Vistafjord as Caronia. By this time she carried 736 passengers and tonnage had increased to 24492 following additional cabins on the upper deck. She will be named Saga Ruby when she transfers (after suggestions that it would be Saga Star). 
I did believe that the Portuguese Frigate F480 hade been decommissioned in 2005 but it look like I where wrong,so i where quite surprised see her in Funchal. a while ago .but nerveless she is an good looking ship
Island star is is the flagship in the Island Cruises fleet she where built in 2006 and she where in Funchal last week for the first time I think.
P/S "LOBO MARINHO" belongs to the PSL (porto santo line) she goes betwen Madiera-Porto Santo, she did make her Maiden Voyage 04/06/2003 so she is quite new. 
The F356 Peter Tordenskiold (nicknamed PETO) where in Funchal a while ago,the pictures where posted in my old blog before it crashed so here they are again . she is an Niels Juel class corvette from the Danish navy. There are two more ships in the Niels Juel class the F354 Niels Juel and the F355 Olfert Fischer
Today there are four big cruiser ship in Funchal the ship are M/S Thomson Destiny, M/S AIDAvita , M/S AIDAblu and MSC Musica. And here are the photos I have taken of them. There gone be more photos later tonight
HMS Endurance is the Royal Navy's Antarctic ice patrol ship. She is a class 1A1 icebreaker, with pennant number A171. She was originally built in Norway in 1990.
Its quite rare to see an icebreaker in Funchal
Link to more info on HMS Endurance on the royal navy page http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.1843
A520 N.R.P. Andrómeda (from the Andrómeda class) from the Portuguese navy , she is an small coastal survey vessel. I haven’t seen her here in I while so I guess she have gone to Azores or mainland Portugal But here are some photos taken by me
A33 Hesperides from the Spanish Navy where in Funchal about two month ago.
she is the naval component of the Spanish Antarctic research
programme.
and here are some photo of the lady
more infor here (sorry only in spanish)
http://www.utm.csic.es/bases.asp
i have just been out in Funchal to look at the Christmas light.
its an spectacular show
AIDAblu by night
During the last Googlemap update they finely did put Madeira on the map
here is the satellite photos of the harbor the Cruiser ship you can see is the AIDAblu
link to Gogglemap
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&z=16&ll=32.64326,-16.911778&spn=0.008673,0.020127&t=k&om=1
AIDAblu (formerly Arosa Blu, Crown Princess) are a common sight here in Funchal you can see here once a week.
here is her Route
hmmm there is something hanging out her nose 
Link to Cruise Line
http://www.aida.de/schiffe.aidablu.136.0.html
Black Prince from Fred Olsen Cruise line are in the port today for a short stop before going to the Canary Islands
Sea Cloud II is a stunning vessel, built along traditional lines she takes around 96 passengers in five star luxury accommodation
Here are some photos of the ships taken today
if you want to know more of the ship then go to
http://www.seacloud.com/
three photos of the A521 N.R.P. Schultz Xavier from the Portuguese Navy she is a oil recovery ship I have seen her in Funchal several times the last month
When the Voyager of the Seas entered service in the 1999 she where the largest cruise ship in the world. the first of five Voyager-class cruise ships from Royal Caribbean International. she can handle up to 3114 guests and 1000 crew, but today there are bigger ships out there but still she is an impressive ship
You can see the ship have a safety drill in the harbor the small orange boats are life-boats on those two pictures
The local tv station where filming the ship from the air
