Friday – August 25, 2017
Today was our day to visit the Isle of Man. This is the small independent island off the coast of Great Britain that boasts its own flag, government, currency, and Manx cats.
The Rotterdam left Liverpool late last night and sailed the short distance to the Isle of Man, located in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland. We arrived early this morning and set anchor off the crescent-shaped harbor of Douglas (locally pronounced “Doo -lish”), the capital of The Isle of Man. The weather was 59 degrees, overcast and windy. We joined hundreds of other passengers in the theater to take a tender to go ashore for our excursion.
Unfortunately, there was a delay in departure because they could only use the port tender door due to a strong wind, so we waited for about an hour in the theater. We had an interesting conversation with a man who had retired from Bell Labs in New Jersey. Finally they called our tour, we went ashore and boarded a bus to take us to the vintage Electric Railway tram on the opposite side of Douglas harbor.
We rode along the lovely promenade which reminded me of Nice, France. We, along with 38 other passengers, squeezed into a narrow gauge two-car tram built in 1893. We left Douglas behind and climbed up away from the sea and turned into the beautiful green farmlands of the Isle of Man. It was a lot of fun; like an amusement park ride.
The Isle is thirty miles long and ten miles wide and we thought this would be a good way to see some more of the island. Beyond Douglas there were vast stretches of farmland. Sheep dotted the beautiful green fields and distant hills were purple with heather. From the train we could see The Great Laxey Wheel in the distance. It was built in 1854 to pump water from Laxey’s lead and zinc mines. The giant wheel is the largest working water wheeling the world, measuring over 72 feet in diameter.
We stopped in a village called Laxey to change trains to another narrow gauge tram which was built in 1893. This train went inland and climbed up Snaefell Mountain, the highest peak on the island at approximately 2000 feet.
As the train continued to climb, we saw the remains of the mines in the valley below. It was windy, rainy, and cloudy when we reached the end of the line at Snaefell. The train stopped and everyone went into the little hotel/restaurant located at the summit. I bought some Snaefell postcards and warmed up a bit.
We took the train back to Laxey but because the tour began late, we had to take a bus back to Douglas. This weekend there was a motorcycle race around the island and we saw some of the participants on the highway. The bus route ran through more populated areas and it was interesting to see the islander’s houses, schools, and etc.
We still had some time when we returned to Douglas, so Jeff and I walked along the Promenade and took photos and looked around at the Victorian style houses. Our guide said they had been private houses but recently were converted to apartments or hotels for visitors.
Just off the harbor was the Tower of Refuge which looked like a small medieval castle. It was built as a sanctuary for shipwrecked sailors. We returned to the ship about 2:30 and had lunch by the Lido pool at the Dive In snack bar.
We attempted to go to the eight o’clock show in the theater because it was a British comedian and we thought it might be fun. We got to the theater at 7:25 and it was completely full. We sat on hard chairs along the starboard side with poor visibility which were the last available seats. People who arrived later had to stand or return for the 9:30 show. At 8:00 we watched Paul Adams’ stand-up comedy routine. He was okay. Jeff enjoyed the show more than I did.
Tonight, the ship is going from Douglas northward 334 nautical miles, to the Hebrides Islands of Scotland and the town of Portree on the Isle of Skye.