Where in the world ?

[bluemarble]

On 5/26/2023 at 5:38 PM, Sue-B said:

Correct again @sfred - well done 😀😀😀

 

It’s Sochi seaport taken from the air on approach to the airport, but the Port of Sochi (big main cruise port) is much further up the coastline.  So not sure whether it can be counted or not in the game - but well done on your really quick correct guess! 
 

I had been looking through old photos on my phone and came across them so thought I’d post 😀 I hadn’t realised it wasn’t the main Sochi port area until I looked on google maps but had already posted them!

 

No problem at all, @Sue-B. In order to keep the game going we have been accepting personal photos showing any identifiable features of Cunard port cities even if they don't show the main port area itself. Thank you for the contribution of your Sochi photos.

[Sue-B]

1 hour ago, bluemarble said:

 

No problem at all, @Sue-B. In order to keep the game going we have been accepting personal photos showing any identifiable features of Cunard port cities even if they don't show the main port area itself. Thank you for the contribution of your Sochi photos.

Thank you @bluemarble in which case I’ve another couple taken from a QV cruise in 2015 that don’t include the port area but the place is easily recognisable if you’ve ever visited.  If I’d only turned around to take a photo then I would have had the port area too!  This is in the ports not yet seen list 😀 
 

 

 

[exlondoner]

The Lions of Delos. The missing one is in the BM, I think.

 

[exlondoner]

Crew Drlll today and a fish farm.

 

[Sue-B]

4 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

The Lions of Delos. The missing one is in the BM, I think.

 

Spot on @exlondoner

 

Worth a boat trip to see them at Island of Delos - we went for the day from Mykonos 😀

 

[bluemarble]

On 5/27/2023 at 3:20 PM, sfred said:

Here are several more photos courtesy of @martinmct.  This is a different view of an existing port in the game, but it will be a new port because the terminal and pier shown here are located a significant distance away from the previous location we've seen.

 

The location is given away in the Queen Elizabeth position thread, so don't read that if you want to have a guess.

 

 

 

I did read the Queen Elizabeth Position thread before reading this post. But since these photos have gone unidentified for almost two days now, I decided to take on the project of attempting to identify them using only the clues provided in this post.

 

Knowing it's an unseen port for QE leads to looking for unseen ports on her recent itineraries and that reveals Otaru, Japan as one of the prime suspects.

 

Available images of the Otaru port area identify the building along the pier in front of QE in the second photo as the Otaru Ferry Terminal for the Shin Nihonkai Ferry. That second photo may have been taken from Otaru Park. The angle looks about right on Google Maps.

 

Detailed analysis of the first photo reveals the building at the far left appears to have large Japanese lettering along the top although that lettering isn't quite legible. Other available images of the Otaru port provide matches to that building where the lettering reads 中央サイロ. Google Translate tells me that means "Central Silo". Further research identifies that building as the Central Silo for the Otaru Warehouse Business Cooperative Association.

 

So in the interest of getting back into the game, I trust I've done enough to "forget" the other thread and independently identify these new port photos as Otaru, Japan.

 

 

For consistency with how we've recorded other ports like this, I suppose it should be listed in our seen ports list as "Sapporo (Otaru), Japan" to join previously identified "Sapporo (Muroran), Japan".

 

@sfred, by my count, this is seen port 630. We may be off by one in our counts. In post #4724 you indicated Fukuoka is port number 620. I think I have Fukuoka as port number 621. Here are the first few new ports I've counted since the last list of seen ports I posted with 617 entries.

 

618 - Busan (Passenger Terminal), Korea

619 - Akita, Japan

620 - Kanazawa, Japan

621 - Fukuoka, Japan

 

I'll post my updated master lists in a subsequent post to assist with reconciling our port counts if they are indeed off by one. Plus it's about time to post the updated port lists anyway.

[bluemarble]

As promised, here are my updated lists of the "seen" and "unseen" Cunard ports for this thread.

 

Where in the World 2023-05-29.txt   Cunard ports not seen yet 2023-05-29.txt

[sfred]

1 hour ago, bluemarble said:

So in the interest of getting back into the game, I trust I've done enough to "forget" the other thread and independently identify these new port photos as Otaru, Japan.

For consistency with how we've recorded other ports like this, I suppose it should be listed in our seen ports list as "Sapporo (Otaru), Japan" to join previously identified "Sapporo (Muroran), Japan".

 

@sfred, by my count, this is seen port 630. We may be off by one in our counts. In post #4724 you indicated Fukuoka is port number 620. I think I have Fukuoka as port number 621. Here are the first few new ports I've counted since the last list of seen ports I posted with 617 entries.

 

618 - Busan (Passenger Terminal), Korea

619 - Akita, Japan

620 - Kanazawa, Japan

621 - Fukuoka, Japan

 

Welcome back home, @bluemarble!  I'm glad you had a good voyage.  I definitely enjoyed your Norway photos, and the restored QM2 cufflinks.

 

Somehow I must have forgotten to press "save" after entering Fukuoka into my dataset.  Looking through the list this morning, it is missing.  Now restored, and my port count reconciles to 630 with the addition today of Delos Greece and Sapporo (Otaru).  Thanks for the catch.

 

With QE and @martinmct now on their way to Alaska, our recent impressive growth in Japanese ports may have drawn to a close for this year.  We've gotten to 15 ports for Japan, in ninth place in the "top 10" list of countries. 

 

Delos also breaks a long-standing tie for spot number 4 between Greece, Italy, and Australia.  Greece is now at 30 ports, and 29 each for Italy and Australia.  The updated top 10 graph is shown below.  These top 10 countries represent 51.4% of the total 630 ports.  There are 133 unique countries in the seen list.

 

 

 

 

[NE John]

Since I posted these pix under an adjacent topic during the recent ANZAC Day, here’s a repost of some pix from QE’s “stationary” Cruise-By of Gallipoli; we had a two hour military historian lecture including the full details of the disastrous operation of the Gallipoli landing zones.
I don’t see Gallipoli on the recently updated “Not Seen” cruise-by list so I hope this counts as a Cunard Cruise-by. 
I was honored to learn so much about the sacrifices made during those landings while we anchored in the Dardanelles off Gallipoli.  
Also being Memorial Day in the US, we should remember all the sacrifices made by the service members of all the Anglo/American Allies thru the decades. 

[sfred]

Nice photos, @NE John. 

 

We have had the Dardanelles Strait/Gallipoli seen in the game.  Post 4171 by @sogne on 15 October 2022 had a photo taken on the QV Black Sea cruise in 2013.  @Colin_Cameron had a photo also, in post 4174.  I have it in my dataset as "Dardanelles Strait Gallipoli, Turkey".  I think @bluemarble lists it as only Dardanelles Strait Turkey in his list, so you may have overlooked it if you were searching for Gallipoli.

 

Nonetheless, new contributions are always welcome.  It sounds like your day on QE was very memorable and moving.  Best wihes for the Memorial Day holiday to all our American mates.

[NE John]

7 hours ago, sfred said:

“Dardanelles Strait Gallipoli, Turkey"

Yes, I was looking up G’s not D’s. 
In hindsight, you wound probably have added these photos from the other posting to this topic if Gallipoli was Unseen. 

 

[NE John]

7 hours ago, sfred said:

“Dardanelles Strait Gallipoli, Turkey"

Yes, I was looking up G’s not D’s. 
In hindsight, you wound probably have added these photos from the other posting to this topic if Gallipoli was Unseen. 

 

[NE John]

Stamford, CT. 
This picture was taken from a moving train from my morning commute today of Unseen port Stamford, Conn. 

This picture shows the second cluster of buildings that has risen south of the train tracks with these new condos blocking the view of the Long Island Sound. The bigger downtown office buildings are away from the water and north of the tracks. 
 

There really isn’t a port here, more of a marina. What is the Cunard connection/history to Stamford?

[bluemarble]

1 hour ago, NE John said:

What is the Cunard connection/history to Stamford?

 

Thanks for your photo of Stamford. Here's what I said earlier about Cunard's connection to Stamford..

  

On 4/30/2023 at 9:44 PM, bluemarble said:

@Colin_Cameron found the call to Stamford. It was a call by QE2 on May 23, 1987.

 

I found a source for that information on a site called "QE2 Abstract Log" (https://qe2abstractlog.com/). Investigation of the QE2 itineraries found on that site reveals the call to Stamford was part of this itinerary.

 

May 17, 1987        Southampton, England, UK

May 18-21, 1987   At Sea

May 22, 1987        New York, NY, USA

May 23, 1987        Stamford, CT, USA

May 24, 1987        New York, NY, USA

May 25-28, 1987   At Sea

May 29, 1987        Southampton, England, UK

 

So it looks like the call to Stamford was a one day jaunt from New York and back during a round trip crossing from Southampton. It may well have been a tender port for QE2.

Edited May 30, 2023 by bluemarble

[NE John]

8 minutes ago, bluemarble said:

 

Thanks for your photo of Stamford. Here's what I said earlier about Cunard's connection to Stamford..

  

 

I found a source for that information on a site called "QE2 Abstract Log" (https://qe2abstractlog.com/). Investigation of the QE2 itineraries found on that site reveal the call to Stamford was part of this itinerary.

 

May 17, 1987        Southampton, England, UK

May 18-21, 1987   At Sea

May 22, 1987        New York, NY, USA

May 23, 1987        Stamford, CT, USA

May 24, 1987        New York, NY, USA

May 25-28, 1987   At Sea

May 29, 1987        Southampton, England, UK

 

So it looks like the call to Stamford was a one day jaunt from New York and back during a round trip crossing from Southampton. It may well have been a tender port for QE2.

First - Welcome back and thanks for reposting info. 
I’m sure the other jaunt to New Haven, on a different voyage, was a tender service too. I wish I can get picked up in Stamford by a Cunard ship to commute to my NYC office!

 

They probably wanted to have some famous Connecticut white clam pizza for lunch. 

 

[sfred]

6 hours ago, bluemarble said:

So it looks like the call to Stamford was a one day jaunt from New York and back during a round trip crossing from Southampton. It may well have been a tender port for QE2.

 

Interesting itinerary.  While Stamford is only about 35 miles from NY as the seagull flies, for QE2 it would have meant going all the way around Long Island to Montauk point and back on Long Island Sound.  I don't imagine she could have fit going up the East River under the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg, Queensboro, Triborough, Hell Gate, Whitestone, and Throgs Neck bridges.  Although if it were possible, that might have set some sort of record for the most bridges a Cunard ship passed under on a single itinerary.  (Now there's a thought - what are the most bridges passed under on a single voyage?).

 

Thanks @NE John for the Stamford picture.  Port number 631.

[bluemarble]

1 hour ago, sfred said:

Interesting itinerary.  While Stamford is only about 35 miles from NY as the seagull flies, for QE2 it would have meant going all the way around Long Island to Montauk point and back on Long Island Sound.  I don't imagine she could have fit going up the East River under the Brooklyn, Manhattan, Williamsburg, Queensboro, Triborough, Hell Gate, Whitestone, and Throgs Neck bridges.  Although if it were possible, that might have set some sort of record for the most bridges a Cunard ship passed under on a single itinerary.  (Now there's a thought - what are the most bridges passed under on a single voyage?).

 

Thanks @NE John for the Stamford picture.  Port number 631.

 

That "QE2 Abstract Log" website provides a treasure trove of information about what the name suggests. Its abstract log section indicates QE2 sailed 245 miles from New York to Stamford at an average speed of 20.59 knots. The return trip from Stamford to New York was 262 miles at a more leisurely 17.29 knots. That tends to indicate QE2 did indeed take the route around Long Island.

 

Sorry, no information in the abstract log concerning how many bridges she passed under. 😉

[NE John]

2 hours ago, sfred said:

Triborough, Hell Gate, Whitestone, and Throgs Neck bridges

Plus, the treacherous currents at Hell’s Gate along with very rocky shores and extremely narrow passage makes it hard for most craft to manage there. For some reason NYC garbage barges seem to maneuver best in that area. 
It would be an interesting itinerary to do the Stamford leg (however there’s nothing to see there) but then continue up Long Island Sound to make an overnight in Newport, RI then do the TA from Newport. 

[bluemarble]

Here are a couple webcam captures for a port on our unseen ports list. The cruise pier is actually located behind the hills in the distance. The first image shows a distant view of a well-lit Cunard ship arriving from the right early in the morning. The blip I've circled in red in the second image is an even more distant view of that same Cunard ship departing later that same day. As usual, I've obscured the webcam captions in the upper left so as not to give the location away.

 

 

[Sue-B]

Well I might as well have a guess and see if I can get even close to the right part of the world! Lovely images @bluemarble thinking maybe somewhere in the Philippines? 

[sfred]

9 minutes ago, Sue-B said:

Well I might as well have a guess and see if I can get even close to the right part of the world! Lovely images @bluemarble thinking maybe somewhere in the Philippines? 

 

That was one of my hypotheses also, @Sue-B.  But the unseen places in the Philippines are Cebu, Davao, and Zamboanga.  None of them seems to fit the geography.  I looked at Davao for a long time, as there are some island hills between the city and the opposte shore at Baney-Baney that might have been a match, and several resort hotels that might have hosted a webcam.  But the location doesn't fit the ship arriving from the right in the morning.

 

Also if this were a recent webcam, QE's visit to the Philippines was at Manila and Puerto Princesa, both of which have been seen.

 

So far, I'm stumped.

[Sue-B]

11 minutes ago, sfred said:

 

That was one of my hypotheses also, @Sue-B.  But the unseen places in the Philippines are Cebu, Davao, and Zamboanga.  None of them seems to fit the geography.  I looked at Davao for a long time, as there are some island hills between the city and the opposte shore at Baney-Baney that might have been a match, and several resort hotels that might have hosted a webcam.  But the location doesn't fit the ship arriving from the right in the morning.

 

Also if this were a recent webcam, QE's visit to the Philippines was at Manila and Puerto Princesa, both of which have been seen.

 

So far, I'm stumped.

Yes Davao was what I was looking at - the hill peaks sort of match in the distance but not an exact fit! The search continues…. 🤣

[bluemarble]

Sorry, no, not the Philippines, but you are in the right part of the world anyway.

[Sue-B]

Think I’ve finally solved it but given I’ve already guessed earlier today I’ll leave it until tomorrow in case anyone else is also playing 😀

[sfred]

Ah, I think I've found it too.  If correct, I had mistakenly thought this port was already on our seen list.  As @Sue-B may have gotten to it before me, I'll defer to her to make the first guess when "tomorrow" happens later on in the UK.