Sea Pilots

One of the memorable things we did at Geelong, besides picking those beautiful seashells and wading at the shore, is to see the sea pilots bringing in the big ships.

We were at one of the lookout point where we could see the ships coming in to Port Phillip. They say that place is also where we can see QE2 when she comes in to Melbourne.

QE2, or Queen Elizabeth 2 is a huuuuge luxury cruise liner who travels the world. Think she is about 300m in length. It would be a sight if I get to see her.

This is QE2 when she was berthed in Sydney... She IS huge!


Sea pilots are important in getting ships into the port because The Heads is narrow and it could also be dangerous due to tidal and weather conditions. You really need someone local who knows the channels, depths of water, currents and dangers within and around the port to get the ships in.

While we were there, we saw one of this sea pilots going into the ocean to get a big container ship in. We saw almost the beginning of the job to nearly the end. I told Meredith that was how our furniture in a container came in to Melbourne. But she was looking for our red Crown container, but there was none in red.

At first we thought these little orange sea pilot boats are just suppose to guide the ships in. But I learned that the pilot, as in the man and not the boat, may get into the big ships and assume control from the master after boarding at sea and then get the vessel safely moored at the allocated wharf. This includes all steering and engine orders. No wonder we saw one of them going to the container ship, looped a round, and then zoomed back to the port itself, leaving the big ship way back behind. Now I guess the pilot, as in the man, could have boarded the ship and steered it safely into the port, through the narrow Heads.