Seasons first passenger liner arrives

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Passenger liner ‘Spirit of Adventure’, this tourism season’s first, called at Vizhinjam on Friday morning. She departed in the evening.Since the port was too small to hold her, the ship anchored out at sea and off-loaded passengers on to small boats.On landing, they were immediately swallowed up by the waiting AC coaches of tour operators.The medium-sized vessel had 333 passengers and a crew of 201, Vizhinjam port officials said. While not an important port of call for cruise liners, Vizhinjam remains an occasional stopover for them on their way to Colombo, Maldives or the northern ports such as Kochi. GAC Shipping India were the shipping agents for Spirit of Adventure.