ILIDA II (ΗΛΙΔΑ ΙΙ)
-Joy Cruises (2010-2022)
current BALESINA for Alphaland Balesin Island Club
Built in 1983 (age 41). Was registered in Corfu. Current line: None in Greece, sold to Alphaland Balesin Island Club for service in the Philippines
The hydrofoil ILIDA II was built in 1983 in Georgia (then part of the Soviet Union) as the KOMETA 55 for the Soviet company Azovskoye Morskoye Parohodstvo. She was deployed on the Mariupol-Yeysk line on the Sea of Azov, where she remained for 11 years. In 1994 she was sold to the Greek company Union Shipping and she was renamed ASKLIPIOS. She was deployed on the Rhodes-Symi-Kos-Kalymnos-Bodrum line on the Dodecanese. In 2000 she was acquired by the Kos-based company Laumzis Sun Cruises and she was renamed PETROS L. She continued to operate on the Rhodes-Symi-Kos-Kalymnos-Bodrum line until her sale to the Corfu-based company Joy Cruises in 2010. She was renamed ILIDA II and she became the successor of the younger hydrofoil of the company, namely the ILIDA, which had been destroyed by a fire while undergoing her annual refit and she was later scrapped in that same year. The ILIDA II was deployed on the Corfu-Paxoi line on the Ionian Sea. In 2015 she did not operate at all and she remained laid-up in Kavala. The following year she was deployed on the Kavala-Thassos line on the Northeast Aegean Sea, but she only stayed for a season there as she returned to the Corfu-Paxoi line in 2017. Following the completion of the 2022 season, she was sold to the Philippine company Alphaland Balesin Island Club. She was renamed BALESINA and she arrived in the Philippines in 2023, whereupon she began service on the Patnanungan-Balesin line on the Lamon Bay.
PHOTOS (2022):
The ILIDA II seen docked in Corfu (9/2022).
The ILIDA II seen docked in Corfu (9/2022).
The ILIDA II seen docked in Corfu (9/2022).
The ILIDA II resting in the port of Corfu (9/2022).
The ILIDA II resting in the port of Corfu (9/2022).
The ILIDA II resting in the port of Corfu (9/2022).
The ILIDA II seen in Corfu (9/2022).
The ILIDA II seen on the Ionian Sea, as she heads from Paxoi to Corfu. This turned out to be my final picture of the ship in Greece, as she was sold a few months after I saw her to Alphaland Balesin Island Club in order to continue her career in the Philippines (9/2022).