Have you ever thought a story was so outlandish and ridiculous that it can’t be true? I have . This Queen of Nanaimo story. Is this some kind of elaborate joke? Fake? Gone to Fiji? The MV Queen of Nanaimo? To be installed on the Suva – Savusavu run down there in Fiji? This can’t be true. It can only be fiction.
But we have received confirmation from Mr George Goundar, principal of Goundar Shipping in Fiji, that the Queen of Nanaimo, this venerable ship plying these inland waters since 1964, has been repurposed as the “Lomaivita Princess V”. And following a short refit interlude in Gdansk, Poland, is now dodging cyclones in the South Pacific.
It used to be said that it “strains credulity”. But people don’t talk like that anymore. It sounds impossible, but a while back my non-friend Mr Dan Reynolds took this shot of the rechristened Nanaimo at Deas Pacific Marine with the new colour scheme. Before the ship sailed for Gdansk. Perhaps few care, but that’s okay.
We’re fine with it. But the one problem this whole thing has created is now we have to get down to Fiji to see for ourselves. And in the forward lounge of the Lomaivita Princess V will still be the murals of Patricia Johnson, a section of which adorns the header of this famous site. As George Goundar himself has assured me, the murals are staying on. We were wondering about that.
A mock-up image of an image of the newly named “Lomaiviti Princess V”. The Suva – Savusavu run is about 90 nautical miles and takes a sedate 12 hours.
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