Paloma Werner who was onboard with her partner Ralph Mothes said: “The southern right whale, a species known for poor eyesight, snapped the mast before sliding back into the water, and my partner and I had just seconds to take cover. It really was quite incredible but very scary. The whale was about the same size as the boat. We’d spotted it about 100 metres away and thought that was the end of it. Then suddenly it was right up beside us. I assumed it would go underneath the boat but instead it sprang out of the sea. We were very lucky to get through it, as the sheer weight of the thing was huge. There were bits of skin and blubber left behind, and the mast was wrecked. It brought down the rigging too. Thank goodness the hull was made of steel and not fiberglass or we could have been ruined.”

Although the couple was left shaken by the whole experience and their boat severely damaged, their engine still worked so they could get back to shore in Table Bay, after the incident there were reports that the whale had been harassed by pleasure craft before it leapt onto the Intrepid. An inflatable craft had been seen driving close to the animal moments before the incident. Experts have said regarding the incident, that the young whale was more likely inexperienced with human contact and didn’t know the yacht, which had its engine turned off, was there.

Scientist and manager of the Cape Town Mammal Research Institute at the University of Pretoria, Meredith Thornton said:”Whales don’t see much by way of their eyes but by sound in the water.”

For those who have been stranded in Spain for nearly a week now this will be a welcome relief, especially travelling back in the 5* luxury of the Celebrity Eclipse cruise liner which can carry 2,850 passengers. The President and Chief Executive of Celebrity Cruises Dan Hanrahan, contacted tour operators Thomas Cook, TUI and Co-Op Travel Group to look at bringing back their stranded customers.

He said. “They responded favourably to our idea of bringing these passengers back and they knew where their guests were in Spain and they could give us a manifest of people. It seemed a better idea than having a two-day party and it’s all worked out and we’re happy to help.”

The Eclipse is due to arrive in Bilbao in the early hours of Thursday 22nd and pick up the stranded holiday makers before returning to Southampton.

Picture courtesy of eastleighbusman

The volcano that has caused all this disruption is the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland which erupted yesterday for the second time in a month, spewing massive clouds of ash thousands of feet into the sky. This ash in the atmosphere is what is causing the closures of UK airports, the Met Office has advised airlines not to fly, and the plume of ash which is currently moving towards the UK can affect aircraft flying between 5,000ft and 35,000ft. Volcanic ash is abrasive and dangerous for aircraft. It reduces visibility, causes damage to fuel and water systems and can clog engines causing them to fail. It can also affect landing gear.

Many travellers due to depart today have been advised to contact their airline for more information, its expected that some airports will not be open until tomorrow depending on the situation. This morning a Heathrow Airport spokesman said “150 flights, both arrivals and departures, had been cancelled – at the busiest time of the day – and more flights were expected to be affected as the cloud of ash moved south.”

Picture courtesy of U-g-g-B-o-y-(-Photograph-World-Sense-)

Mr Podolsky did not have his mobile phone on him when he became trapped 10m above ground he decided against jumping from the lift as the drop probably would have caused an injury and increased his chances of freezing to death. Because Mr Podolsky had, had military training in the past he was able to use his survival skills to fight off hypothermia however before for he was rescued his limbs began to go numb and he kept falling asleep.

After he was spotted by the cleaning crew he was taken to hospital and treated for hypothermia but was released later and able to go home. Mr Podolsky has stated he intends to sue the company that operates the ski lift however a spokesman for the company states it was not meant for downward trips and Mr Podolsky had apparently ignored signs warning against boarding it.

Picture courtesy of dani0010

Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) said it had been making and stockpiling snow near Cypress before the weather turned, and the task now was now to move it to the competition area. “There’s a lot of snow on the mountain, it’s just not in the place we want it. It’s not going to be easy, but we’ll get it done.” said VANOC’s chief executive John Furlong.

The resort of Whistler a popular ski holiday destination has not suffered from the same problem as Cypress Mountain, the venue for Nordic and alpine skiing has plenty of snow. The completion organisers have said that their main priority is to make sure that the completion areas have enough snow and are not worrying that the surrounding area is not covered with snow.

Picture courtesy of Matt Biddulph

In a statement Holiday Inn spokeswoman Jane Bednall said “The new Holiday Inn bed warmers service is a bit like having a giant hot water bottle in your bed,” the warmer would be fully dressed and leave the bed before the guest occupied it.

Apparently the bed-warmer is equipped with a thermometer to make sure the beds required temperature of 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit) is reached, sleep-expert Chris Idzikowski who is director of the Edinburgh Sleep Center stated the idea could help people sleep and said “There’s plenty of scientific evidence to show that sleep starts at the beginning of the night when body temperature starts to drop,” he said. “A warm bed — approximately 20 to 24 Celsius — is a good way to start this process whereas a cold bed would inhibit sleep.”

The bed warming service will be offered at two of the chain’s London hotels and one in the city of Manchester, in response to Britain’s recent cold weather.

Picture courtesy of jm3

Picture courtesy of e. Berquist

The craft created by Burt Rutan a famed aviation designer is built form lightweight carbon composite materials and is powered by a hybrid rocket motor. The SpaceShip Two will be carried up to 50,000 by the White Knight and then will travel 65 miles by its own rockets above the Earth’s surface. The flight will last approximately two hours and passengers will also experience six minutes of weightlessness during this time. The SpaceShip Two is able to hold six passengers and two crew, already 300 people have reportedly signed up at a cost of about £121,000.

Sir Richard Branson has said, “It’s incredible to think only 450 people have ever been into space; that’s including all the Russians, all the Chinese and all the Americans put together,” and “We should be able to enable with our new commercial spaceship company, Virgin Galactic, to take maybe 1,000 people and make them into ‘astronauts’ in the 12 months once we start.”

Although there will be competitors Sir Richard Branson is confident that they will be first to hit the market dependant on any problems that may arise in testing, which means flights into space will be more of the norm over the next decade, although far more expensive than cheap flights around the world.

Picture Courtesy of IrishFireside

The £800million cruise ship is the world’s largest passenger vessel that is 40 per cent bigger than any other cruise ship afloat, (think taller than London’s Canary Wharf or the Chrysler Building in New York) putting it in a league of its own, it is most technologically advanced cruise ship in the world capable of holding 5,400 guests in some 2,700 cabins. The Oasis of the Seas is built to a new design concept that sees the ship split up into different 7 neighborhoods spanning 16 decks including, Boardwalk which is dedicated to family fun and nostalgia, Central Park that combines nautical and nature and Royal Promenade at the heart of the ship.

Next year will also see its sister ship the Allure of the Seas coming into commission that will also be built to the same size and same high standards.

Picture courtesy of Ereine

On the flight from Manchester two “extremely drunk” football fans began throwing punches at each other, cabin crew was called to restrain the pair but they were unable to. According to Franz Winkler, from the police department in Frankfurt, “The captain wanted to avoid a further escalation and endangerment to the aircraft so put down in Frankfurt.”

The pair were part of a group of 12 who had travelled to see Bayern Munich and Schalke 04 play at the weekend, the remainder of the group were permitted to continue their journey. One of the men was told he would face charges. Easy Jet confirmed that the trouble on board did not place any passenger at risk, that the captain had acted entirely properly and that “no such arguments between passengers would be tolerated on flights.”

Image courtesy of Oberau-Online

This led to the British Airways Airbus A319 being grounded until a specialist was flown in to inspect the plane and to fumigate the cabin. The spider was never found and none of the 82 other passengers onboard reported seeing the spider.

A British Airways spokesman said, “A male passenger claimed he had seen what he believed to be a tarantula on board the aircraft. He saw it walking between his legs. On arrival, he drew this to the attention of the cabin crew. He did not give the impression of being particularly upset.”

Adding that, “There is the odd spider that comes in cargo such as fruit, but it is very unusual to have such a report on a UK flight.”

Cruising. Just kicking it back in the Caribbean with a colourful cocktail, listening to some jerk from Florida tell you how he picked his trophy wife while a band plays foxtrot versions of Coldplay’s latest 45 in the background as the soundtrack to the last weeks of a rich old chick’s final romance with a heartless scoundrel with his eye on an inheritance. Sounds idyllic, right? Yeah – that’s until Poseidon, God of Oceans, turns up to kick your ass. He doesn’t care how big your boat is, you’re disturbing his watery slumbers and must pay. IN BLOOD. Or at least by suffering some violent lateral motion.

The Oceanos

So you’re chillin’ out maxin, relaxin’ real cool when the ship starts to tip to the left faster than Hugo Chavez. At first you think it’s just those cool, cool margeritas you chugged down while trying to catch the eye of the pretty greek waitress. Then all of a sudden you find yourself dangling from the railings and you realise this goes way beyond drunk. In fact, you’re aboard the Oceanos. And not only is the ship sinking, but the crew and captain have already absconded without telling you. Unbelievably, this is what the passengers of the ship found themselves facing in 1999 when Captain Arvanas and his crew got off the ship even before many of the passengers were alerted. Luckily for the passengers, nobody died after merchant shipping and helicopters were alerted to the unfolding disaster. Unluckily for Captain Arvanas he was found guilty of negligence by the Greek Maritime Board.

The Titanic

Yeah yeah. Not only are going to drown in the inky black waters of the arctic circle, but one day a long necked Canadian’s going to rape your memory in song. The prototype of the shitty cruise, The Titanic’s maiden voyage had it all – unimaginable luxury, fur coats, diamonds, Kate Winslet nude and various ethnic minorities to wait hand and foot on your white ass. But Evil Capitalist Pigs decreed that spending money on luxuries like, you know, lifeboats and stuff . We think that even Rupert Murdoch might blanch at a dick move of that magnitude.

The Sapphire Princess Impales a Whale

Everyone likes kebabs, right? OK so they taste better after a beer or three but putting meat on a spike is the eating style of the future (you heard it here first). There’s always some douche looking to go one better than the next guy, and there’s no bigger douche than the captain of the Sapphire Princess cruise ship, who hauled into Vancouver with a sperm whale speared on the front of his boat. We like to think he leapt ashore and triumphantly urinated on the quayside, but there’s no evidence that that ever happened.

Your bet has been cancelled…

Casinos are pretty sharp operators. After Clooney and Pitt cleaned them out 3 times in the last decade, they’ve tightened up procedures and have a host of new ways to scam customers out of their hard-earned. This was taken to its logical conclusion aboard the Crown Princess. When some cardshark started winning big, the captain turned his ship into a monster wave in the ultimate dick move – almost tipping the ship over. Despite the many broken limbs, croupiers were said to be ‘relieved’.

Grand Voyager

We don’t care how good your “sea legs” are – in weather like this, you’re going to be hurling chunks

Tom Cruise

Did you see what we did there? Did you? Har-di-har!

so here we are at starting from the bottom.

5:

4:

3:

2:

1:

Here are a few tips to help avoid a nasty accident

1: Try and take some lessons before you go on your skiing holiday

2: Take a rest day on your 3rd day of your Ski holiday as this is when your likely to feel tired

3: Don’t exceed your comfort zone by skiing above your abilities

More than 220 people took up the offer, which was wrongly posted on their website on Sunday, booking over 1400 room nights that could cost the owners of the hotel, Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) up to 90,000 Euros.

The company has vowed to honour the 1 cent a night rate, with a spokeswoman stating: “Although a pricing error, IHG is committed to honouring the 1-cent rate for guests who have a valid confirmation”.

The Crowne Plaza Hotel is situated around 20km from Venice in the Quarto D’Altino province of Italy. The main income for Venice and its surrounding area is tourism, attracting an estimated 15 million travellers a year.

Talking about their camping experience, one of the girls said: “We have been quite lucky with the weather and we are absolutely loving being first in the queue”.

Adding that, “The tickets will be saving us about £600 – this was too good an opportunity to give up. I wanted to go to Australia anyway and we heard about this at around the same time. Anyone who thinks we are mad for camping out is just jealous!”

The happy campers passed the time playing cards and reading, with another camper saying: “Camping out might seem a bit extreme but it has been a really good laugh. It has been a real festival atmosphere – everyone has been having a few drinks and enjoying themselves”.

A similar scheme was introduced in the 1950’s, where thousands of Brits took advantage of a £10 assisted passage to Australia by boat, earning them the nickname of £10 Poms.