Silver-Cloud

On June 26, 2025, a tour operator has rescued dozens of passengers of the 'Silver Cloud', who were stranded on an atoll off northern WA's Kimberley coast. They were exploring the waters near Adele Island, a small, low-lying island 150 kilometres north of Cape Leveque, in small boats, but got caught by the outgoing tide. The cruise, was four nautical miles away, when tthe boats were caught by the rapid outgoing tide . They had to get out and make their way across coral beds to make it to new zodiacs and get to the ship. Several of them suffered twisted ankles andlots of scrapes, when crossing coral-filled shallows to reach safety. A small group of passengers had to wait hours into the night for the tide to turn. The 'Silver Cloud' has 20 inflatable boats, which were used to ferry some passengers to safety. Others had to wait hours in the small boats, in darkness, before the water rose enough to make it back. Report with photo: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-27/silversea-cruises-passengers-stranded-at-adele-island-off-wa/105468440

Silversea has installed high-power permanent magnets from Miko Marine on Silver Cloud to enable crew to deploy excursion boats more quickly and efficiently. Silver Cloud has two crane-launched inflatable Zodiacs, both of which are now equipped with two Miko MAM-0035 magnets that are housed in stainless-steel casings to prevent seawater corrosion. Each magnet has a holding power of 500 kilograms. Miko Marine’s magnets have been used to create additional mooring points on Silver Cloud’s hull, which enables Zodiacs and other boats to be held close against the ship before being relocated to the point where passengers must disembark for excursions. This means there is no need to pass lines to the ship and gives Zodiac crews full control of the operation. The magnet is fitted with a break lever that enables it to be immediately released from the hull by the boat’s crew.

The "Silver Cloud" suffered an engine failure caused by a faulty pump on Nov 19, 2017, while en route to Antarctica. It was the first trip after a massive overhaul the ship underwent during a three month refit at a shipyard in Malta, to convert it for polar expedition voyages. The ship had left Buenos Aires on Nov 16 and was off Puerto Madryn at the time of breakdown. Power was restored to the ship in about an hour, permitting the "Silver Cloud" to return to Puerto Madryn in southeast Argentina for repairs. However, the following day, Silversea concluded that the replacement fuel pump part would not be delivered in time for the ship to cruise to Antarctica. According to the itinerary, the ship had started in Buenos Aires for a 16-day trip, including calls to the Falkland Islands, the South Shetland Islands and the Antarctic Peninsula. Now the cruise was cancelled. Silversea will provide full refunds to all passengers, as well as organising and paying for flights back to Buenos Aires and on to guests’ airports of origin. It also offered overnight accommodation and expenses in Buenos Aires, a refund of outward air fares, and a discount on future bookings.