This morning, Wed 29 February, she was Out of Range somewhere between Santa Marta (Colombia) and her presumed destination of Aruba, but by 15.30 was back in view heading for Oranjestad.

This evening tied up at the cruise ship berth in Oranjestad, Aruba.

Sorry SOF, but I'm not seeing what you're seeing. What is presented on google images in different countries can vary, as well as the fact that it can vary from day to day anyway. Are you viewing from a phone or something with limited capabilities to get the link? A direct link to either the image or the site it's on would be much more preferable. Don't worry if you can't. Thanks very much for the updates.

No, not a phone, my normal computer. I am not good with images (or my computer refuses to do what it should) or I could transfer this one. I will try. Anyway this is how I find it, by way of Google Images. I gave what I believe was the direct link and you couldn't get that either. Hum. I'll go and get it again.

Currently she is still docked at Oranjestad beside two cruise liners, Island Princess and Aidaluna.

Hi Sponge.

Does this take you anywhere?

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/7287 ... ldonad.jpg

Or this?

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/sh ... re/page168

Google is applying censorship. I got stuck a couple of times. Probably because some d£@d bod1e$ appear among all the rest.

That's it, thanks SOF.

... but just a second... I'm currently being distracted by this....



....ahh, that's better.

This is the post in that thread with all the commando action pics:
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?192796-Colombian-Armed-Forces-pics-videos-and-more&p=5885078&viewfull=1#post5885078
(hint: if you right click on the number at the top right of the post, in that case #2513, then you can copy the shortcut link directly to that post rather than just the link for the whole thread page).

A couple of sample pics....









much more in that link.


There's loads of great pics there. They kinda look familiar. I can't remember if I've seen them before.
It wouldn't surprise me if someone thinks its great fun to make shoops out of them at some point

The bonuses are very distracting, I agree.

Glad you found them and all the rest.

Now I wonder what you get if you try this link:

http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw= ... ,r:24,s:45

I get...



Its from here: https://whyweprotest.net/community/thre ... st-1051526

I notice that the fat guy in the hat, bottom right, is the one who got the CoS Freedom Medal of Valour in 2011. He is Colombian police or army.

Since this thread is about location it is more or less relevant since the failboat just spent a month or so in Colombia.

Tonight she is still berthed in Oranjestad, Aruba.

SOF, it's Lt.Colonel Ricardo Antonio Prado Ramirez
of the Colombian National Police (Juvenille Division)
Also in this other Freewinds thread: viewtopic.php?f=282&t=53550

There has been much discussed about him on WWP.https://whyweprotest.net/community/thre ... 471/page-2

See also: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=48320 which has that pic you mention but large, on a full size mailer.

He appeared at the 2011 IAS event.
Jeff Jacobsen put a web page up on his site with a summary of the dox: http://www.lisamcpherson.org/colombia.htm

The WWP thread is a beauty.

This morning MV Freewinds is still parked at Oranjestad, now beside Noordam and Coral Princess.

It is looking good.

I wish.

After 5-6 days in Aruba the Sea Organisation Motor Vessel Freewinds left Oranjestad early today (02.31) direction Kralendijk in Bonaire, by-passing Curacao to the south.

This whole area with some minor exceptions (between Santa Marta and Aruba) is now covered by AIS tracking.

Edited to say this may not be true as Freewinds is in this area but since Sunday 'Out of Range'. She was approaching Bonaire but then on Sunday she vanished from the radar and is still 'Out of Range' today.

Since ships a short distance west are visible but she is not, it seems probable she docked at Kralendijk, which was stated to be her destination and which she was almost at when last seen, and has switched off her AIS.

Can Sponge confirm that ships at Kralendijk are normally trackable?

Today Tuesday 6 March Freewinds left Bonaire (Kralendijk) at 00.14 hrs and at 02.58 tied up north of the Bridge in Curacao (Willemstad). The Willemstad webcam has been down for a while but in any case there would be v little to see.

Her track is shown in detail between these two points which tends to confirms that she had her AIS tracking switched off when in Bonaire. Average speed about 17.4 knots, sometimes as much as 17.7 or 17.8.

Oh dear, just when the Bonaire's bio system was getting some relief from Freewind's scientology sewage, they're back again. I'll bet Sean Paton, local eco-warrior, isn't happy, unless the dumping policy has changed for the better recently.

As much as 17.8 knots eh. That looks like a pretty slow vessel by today's standards (or any standards) doesn't it?. Its original spec says 20kts (don't know if that's cruise or top speed but I think it is pretty likely to be cruise speed otherwise it would be fucking barge).
It's engines are old and inefficient, it's hull is dated (designed before computers) and a compromise cruise-ferry design, fuel is very expensive and prospective OT-VIII's are hard to come by. It must be a big money drain thesedays.


At some point in the history of the tracking that I've used ( http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/shipde ... =354993000 ), trips from Willemstad, Curacao to Kralendijk, Bonaire or Oranjestad, Aruba fell off the tracking as soon as the ship was into open sea (IIRC just north of Curacao when going to Aruba and less than half distance when going to Bonaire). It was obvious where they were going but the tracking never showed them actually getting to those two islands. The tracking would then pick-up at roughly the same area on the return journey towards Willemstad, Curacao (or if sailing past to go directly to Aruba). Without going back and checking I can't quite remember if it was always like that or that it changed. The fact that it went on and off at roughly the same points seems to suggest it is a coverage/range thing with the tracking system (unless they run to a highly disciplined Operating Thetan routine and turn it off manually at exactly the same points everytime ).
Today though, on that site above, it shows the full track all the way from Bonaire to Curacao

I wonder if someday CoS will just scuttle (sink deliberately) the Freewinds. That is, strip it of all valuable items, take it out with a skeleton crew accompanied by a good small boat. Everyone gets on the small boat, and remotely do something to sink the ship. After the Freewinds sinks, send a fake garbled Mayday about an explosion. Within ten minutes, cancel the Mayday, and say the ship sank and everyone got rescued. Then sail home on the small boat with a tale of "an explosion" and then a heroic rescue by the small boat's skipper.

It would be more practical to sell it for scrap or pay a professional company to openly scuttle the Freewinds. But that would make the Freewinds look like an obsolete tub, and CoS likes the illusion that it's a magical boat that has taken OT 8 students to mastery over matter, energy, space and time.