Porty People and Places

A summer evening lured us to the beach. The sunset was amazing across the wet sands of the retreating tide,

These young musicians from New York City are on their way to play at Aberdeen's International Youth Festival. There they will combine with a similar party from Amersfoort in Netherlands to make a full sized orchestra. (My elder sister met her future husband when they were both working for this festival many moons ago!)

Inbound to Leith this evening was a special ship with, coincidentally, a youthful educational mission. She is M/S Gann and is a privately owned by a Norwegian School and educates young mariners. In many ways she is an ocean going version of the former Leith Nautical College that is now part of Edinburgh College. Its familiar ship's super structured roof line can be seen from the A1 above Portobello. I have posted below a brief history of M/S Gann for anyone interested. I believe she will be in Leith Cruise Terminal all day tomorrow.


MS GANN is owned by a private school in Stavanger which educates young students to be sailors. During the school year they live onboard, study and get tuition in navigation, deck work, catering and much more. Most of the students will find a job onboard a Norwegian vessel after 2 of 3 years of education. Many also continue at other schools aiming for a more specific profession, maybe as a captain or engineer chef.

The school has used several different ships during their 60 years in business. The latest one was bought in 2007 from the Hurtigruten company. This is the largest ship they have ever had, and it can accommodate more than 200 people. And there is lots of space both indoors and outdoors for activities. Since they bought the ship in 2007 they have done quite a bit of upgrading and adjustments to make the ship more functional as a school ship.

Since the school is privately funded, with support from the authorities, it is necessary to arrange cruises during the schools holidays in summertime. They have a long tradition in organizing cruises for passengers, sailing along the Norwegian coast up to the North Cape.

The reputation for a cruise onboard the MS GANN is recognized as a crossing in good company, a relaxed environment and great food. Most of the crew onboard, and especially in the catering/housekeeping area, are volunteers, to help funding the school. A truly remarkable effort is done by these people to make it a great cruise!