I was recently posting from the waterfront and mentioned a passing ship, to which someone replied: "Where’s the picture of the ship?" Well, here we go.

The ship was Princess Cruises’ Diamond Princess. She was back in Vancouver a couple of days ago and I went for a closer look. The 116,000 gross tons ship is as impressive up close as she is from a distance. Imagine a gentle giant with the looks of a spaceship and carrying up to 3700 people across the seas …

Built in Japan at the cost of a half billion dollars, the Diamond Princess (as her sister the Sapphire) is 952 feet long, has a beam (width) of 158 feet and totals 18 decks! She features very prominent enclosed and extended bridge wings and her trademark jet-engine style decorative pods on each side of her funnel. Her electric propulsion system is remarkably environment friendly and driven by a gas turbine / diesel engine combination.

As my friend Silvia was commenting as we stared in awe, mankind – despite its rather dark tendencies (see my previous post) – can certainly show tremendous imagination and infinite creativity. The things we build are simply fantastic. If only we could show the same talents when it comes to our spirituality…

[Next post will feature the love of my life when it comes to ships:
the twin sisters Club Med 1 and Club Med 2.]