New swimming pool

When plans for the conversion of the Dronning Ingrid into the Africa Mercy were drawn up in the late 1990s, they included the installation of a swimming pool on Deck 8...and yesterday, the pool arrived! It was fabricated in Tenerife, and lifted onto Deck 8 by a monster crane...

Here it is, below, being craned into place: longer, wider and higher than a 40 foot shipping container: I think it'll be 16 meters long and 6 meters wide when it's properly installed and operational.

Below: it's final resting place. The climbing frame will be re-erected on the site of the kids paddling pool.

Days of welding, fire-watch, and re-installation of fire-proof insulation and ceilings on the deck below are still ahead of us. The pool will have a staircase, and platforms and handrails surrounding it at water level (ie 3 meters above Deck 8), and the whole thing still needs liberal amounts of paint...but hopefully in the next month or so it will be finished and ready for use once we reach Togo. Olly