Voyager hits ferry-I received this description from a friend on the WC
Hello everyone,
Well there is much to say about the ferry boat, but first I must report we loved every minute we spent in Hong Kong. Never get enough of that city. This time we really had some great meals out. (You know John loves that.)
Now to the "accident". I can only tell you what I saw with my own baby blues and what has been reported. I was on deck to watch the sail away so I did see it. As we are leaving we are very slowly making our way out of the beautiful port. If you have been here you know the Star Ferries go and come every few minutes. Two or three face us, we have the right of way so they follow their path and pass behind us. We see this one headed straight at us. (I'll get into why this may have happened later) There is no way he can out run or miss us. Our Captain hit (I know it's not called brakes, but whatever) which sent a few people grabbing for support and slowed us as quickly as possible. Only because of this did we miss hitting him straight on. People on the Star Ferry were screaming. We did collide but it was minor. No one hurt on either ship. I truly believe with a lesser Captain than our Captain Dag we would have split there ferry in half and it would have been a horrible disaster. The Ferry indicated by radio that all was well, no problem with them. We proceeded out thinking there was no problem when we were circled by 6 or 7 boats flashing lights. We were pulled over and held for several hours for reports to be filed. All now truly is all well and we are on our way. Captain Dag talked this morning. He doesn't know why the ferry did this. He suggested (I think tongue in cheek) that it has to do with the Chinese legion of passing a larger ship close to the bow to drive away the evil sprits from your ship. Some think the ferry captain just wasn't paying attention because they go back and forth so many times a day. Some think it was a dare devil thing of we can outrun that big ship. Who knows? I personally doubt that the Chinese will accept our version of whose fault this is, but again - who knows. We were in our designated lane, had the right of way, and did not cause this, but avoided it. We may never know what the outcome is, but I think I speak for all the people on board saying we are glad to be almost to Vietnam at this moment.
Not much to say after that except I will let you know what our next EXCITING adventure is. Since we are in Vietnam - who knows. By the way Morton Dean ( remember the reporter during the Vietnam war on CBS) is on board. I went to his lecture this morning and left touched and a bit in tears. Brought back a lot of memories.