There is good news for those who frequently use the Calmac ferries in Scotland, or should I say for those who can't keep their eyes off smartphone and tablet screens. The company is planning to install Wi-Fi on-board their vessels. To me it's a logical step and in fact I had expected to see Wi-Fi on the MV Finlaggan when she was launched. For reasons not known to me it seems to be quite difficult to operate Wi-Fi on-board. Calmac wrote in their press release: "We hope to tender and transition to a new service model during 2013 and the formal procurement process for this has started. We share everyone's frustration that we cannot progress this as quickly as we would all like but we hope that everyone will appreciate that there are significant technological challenges and costs associated with it and we have to get it right." So as soon as Calmac overcomes these significant challenges we can use our laptops, smartphones and tablets on-board, providing we can keep our eyes off the beautiful landscape.

For the amateur photographers among us Calmac is running a photo competition for their new 2014 Calendar. Besides inclusion in the new calendar you also have the chance to win Calmac travel vouchers, Amazon camera and photo shop vouchers or a framed print of the image you submitted. Images have to show either scenic views from the west coast of Scotland and/or the vessels of Calmac. You have 8 weeks to submit your entry, the competition deadline is 5pm Monday 20 May 2013. Each week Calmac will showcase a selection of images on the CalMac facebook page. For rules, submissions and other info check out www.calmac.co.uk/calendar-competition.htm. My entry to the competition is the image in this post taken on-board the evening ferry to Islay.

The last ferry related snippet is about the new Summer Timetables, which came into effect on 29 March and are valid to 19 October. For an overview of the Islay timetables and others visit the Calmac website

Tag: ferry calmac