During the refit the ship was placed in dry dock to enable the cleaning and repainting the hull, anchor and chains. They also did major work on the engine room, inspections on the generators, recertification of all safety devices and some very heavy duty cleaning jobs.

Not everything was completed and they are having to plan for a further more extensive refit period in the next year to finish items that were postponed and upgrades that had to be cancelled during this last refit.

Now that the refit of the vessel is complete the Marine Reach team has started on their evangelism tour of Sicily, Italy. They are currently hosting two DTS teams, one from Kings Lodge in the UK and the other from Quebec in Canada.

You can find out more about Marine Reach and their ministry on their web-site, www.marinereachministries.com.

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Upon arriving in Portland they went straight into a youth camp with some of the local youth.

Tours of the ship will begin on Wednesday and continue through to Sunday. They will be open for public tours from 9 – 4 Wednesday to Saturday, and 1 – 5 on Sunday. For individual visitors there is no appointment needed, but for larger groups it would work out better if an appointment was made before hand.

Other planned special events during the visit to Portland are:

• A special reception for medical professionals on Thursday the 8th at 7:30pm on the ship.
• Free Concert on Friday the 9th of April at 7:00 pm with “Five Star Street” and “Saving Sparrows” at the Civic Hall
• Free Concert on Saturday the 10th of April at 7:00 pm again at the Civic Hall with Proper Way Productions, and island dance act

You can contact the YWAM Ship tour on their web-site here to confirm these events and book tours for any large groups.

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While the ship is in Adelaide they will be berthed at the McLaren Wharf in Port Adelaide from March 25 – April 4 at Birth 4. While in Adelaide the YWAM staff and students will be visiting schools, churches and youth groups sharing about the ship and about the “I Want to Live” campaign.

There are three public events planned during the time that the ship is in Adelaide:

• March 25 – YWAM Ships Dinner at the British Hotel in Port Adelaide. Cost is $20 per head and includes dinner, music, live entertainment and tours of the ship. Read more.
• March 26 – YWAM Ships Youth Event at The Marketplace Church. This is a free event and includes an international hip-hop crew and a music fest. Read more.
• March 27 – YWAM Ship Family Event at the Lighthouse Square end of Commercial Road in Port Adelaide. The event will include tours of the ship, live music, speakers and family fun activities. Read more.

During the rest of the time that the ship is in Adelaide they will be continuing to collect glasses for distributing in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and running school tours of the ship.

After the fantastic response that the YWAM ship has received in their previous ports on their tour of Australia it is looking like their time in Adelaide should go pretty well. Hopefully I’ll be able to get some of our friends and family who are in Adelaide to stop by and check it out.

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In addition to the 820 people who toured the ship the YWAM team has had the opportunity to share with over 1200 people about the upcoming ship tour and about Youth With A Mission and the needs of the people in Papua New Guinea (where the ship will go at the end of the Australia Tour).

Some of the YWAM staff and students had the unique opportunity to share first and second year medical students at the University in Geelong. Since the YWAM the Pacific Link is outfitted with two small operating theatres the participation of doctors and nurses if crucial during the ships upcoming trip to Papua New Guinea. While in PNG the ship will be distributing donated glasses to people who currently can’t see and also performing life changing operations to correct vision and dental problems.

The next stop for the YWAM Ship will be in Adelaide, South Australia.

You can find out how you can volunteer and make a difference with the YWAM Ship here.

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Fortunately for the crew the trip from Darling Harbour in Sydney was a much smoother sail than the trip from Newcastle into Sydney. Unfortunately though it was not an uneventful trip as the anchor chain motor stopped working while they were trying to replace the anchor chain. I do not have an update yet about if they have got the motor running again.

The ship will be in Ulladulla until March 15 and while they are there they will be visiting the local Lions group and various church groups in the city. They will also be taking people on guided tours of the ship daily between 9am and 4pm.

The Lions group will be putting on a barbeque at Lions Park in Ulladulla on March 13 at 6:30pm where people can meet the crew and find out more about what the ship is doing. The Lions group is also working on collecting used glasses that will be taken to Papua New Guinea to help people there regain their sight.

You can read more about the YWAM Ship Pacific Link’s visit to Ulladulla here.

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The ship spent a very successful week in Newcastle where it was open for tours of the ship, and opportunities for people to meet the volunteer crew. YWAM was donated supplies to take on to Papua New Guinea and is still collecting glasses to donate to PNG where over half a million people could have their sight restored simply by being provided with corrective spectacles.

On the trip from Newcastle to Sydney the ship hit some pretty rough seas. The rough seas were caused by the tsunami that occurred because of the earth quake in Chile and tested the sea legs of everyone on the ship, some of whom are still pretty new. Here is a photo of the ship hitting some pretty decent sized waves:

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Below is a video of the arrival of the ship in Newcastle:

The ship can be visited next week at Newcastle’s number 4 tug berth.

The Pacific Link is a part of YWAM Marine Reach, YWAM’s growing fleet of small vessels. The vessels include:

• The Pacific Link (Australia and the Asia/Pacific Region)
• Amazon Reach the Bethesda (Brazil)
• Next Wave (Europe)
• Marine Reach Caribbean Ship (agreement on ship signed, ship coming soon)
• Ski-Boat in Kyiv, Ukraine (used to outreach to the youth)

You can read a bit about the vision of the YWAM Australia ship tour here. And then find out more on the YWAM Australia Ship web-site here.

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The ship will be dry docked in Messina, Sicily, Italy for the duration and the crew and volunteers will live ashore while they undertake the work on the vessel, build relationships with the people of Messina and prepare for the tour of Sicily.

They are looking for people to come and assist with the retrofit and work on the vessel, as well as the preparation for the evangelistic outreach into Sicily. If you are interested in finding out more you can contact them through their web-site.

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The tour will also be part of helping to re-establish YWAM Italy. Some of the events will be televised in Italy and it is hoped that it will encourage young people in Italy to find out more about YWAM and to look at participating in a YWAM DTS (Discipleship Training School).

As part of the evangelistic tour YWAM Marine Reach is looking for individuals as well as YWAM  DTS outreach teams to participate in this outreach opportunity.

You can find out more about the outreach opportunity and the YWAM Next Wave Sicily Tour here.

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Youth With A Mission will be touring Australia this year to raise finances and awareness of the new YWAM Australia Medical Ship, the Pacific Link, and the work that they will be doing in PNG. While on tour they will also be collecting donations of used spectacles for distribution in Papau New Guinea.

You can find out how to donate your used glasses at the YWAM Ship web-site here.

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