The tall-ship Sea Cloud Spirit belonging to the Sea Cloud Cruises line, docked at Motril Port to carry out a technical stop over. No passengers were onboard.

It was on its way to Palma de Mallorca where Princess Elena de Borbon (the present King’s elder sister) officially was to christen the ship at a ceremony on the 3rd of September.

Then on the 14th it will set sail for Rome to commence its official, maiden voyage carrying passengers.

Another reason for the Motril Port call on the 31st of August was to pick up six more crew members and a German reporter. Prior to going onboard they had all undergone quarantine and been PCR tested.

The Chairman of the Motril Port Authorities, José García Fuentes, was happy that the passenger line had chosen Motril as it had given the port installations an opportunity to carry out its protocol and health & safety measures for this coming cruise-ship season.

It was far from the first time that a tall ship had visited Motril, as her sister ships, Sea Cloud I and Sea Cloud II had made 34 previous port calls between them. The Sea Cloud Spirit, belonging to the German cruise line, Sea Cloud Cruises, had spent two years under construction in a shipyard in Vigo, Galicia.

Sea Cloud Spirit, which cost some 90-million euros to build, is 130 metres in length with a passenger capacity of 138 and a crew of 90.

(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)