Blogs from North Sea, Atlantic, Oceans and Seas - page 2

Ahoy land-lovers. We have been out at sea all day today, and had a very relaxing time of it. Well, pretty much restful. David got up about 8:00 and got some coins from the Customer Service Desk so he could do a few loads of laundry. Our theory was that it’s better to do this before everyone else got lots of dirty clothes too – we had all the London and travel outfits to rewash. Unfortunately, there were others who had the same idea (also had pre-cruise clothes to wash), so he had to go to the Laundromat one deck down – the machines on our deck were already in use. Anyway, he got three loads started washing and then went to get some breakfast in the buffet. Janet got up and passed David in the ... read more

On Monday, the August Bank Holiday, we sailed back to Brightlingsea with one reef in the main and two in the genny. Twenty four miles in three hours twenty, grey sea and grey sky, shallow water when we got there which forced us to anchor and wait for a rise in the tide. All the while the wind rose. In the harbour entrance one yacht was already aground; we crept in with only twenty centimetres under the keel. What a contrast to yesterday but how typical of our trip. We have taken our chances and they have been slim ones, sometimes. The wind has not been kind this summer. In the Channel, which was to be our cruising ground, it relentlessly pushed the sea up towards the virtual cul-de-sac of the Dover Strait, bringing almost uninterrupted ... read more

Shoreham, Littlehampton, Eastbourne, Ramsgate, then out of the Channel at last to Essex and the sheltered waters of the river Colne. This is where I learned to sail and where the sun has at last come with us. No three metre rollers here, no shipping lanes. Crews 2 and 3 have been and gone. Thank you Alison for a hundred miles; thank you Jeff for taking the plunge (your first sail and our first dunk off the back of the boat). Now we are simply the two of us again and Brightlingsea is our kind of place. This morning we took the water taxi from the pontoon to town and did the shopping in an old fashioned high street - fishmonger, green grocer, baker. I got a haircut too - we've been away a while. This ... read more

JUST SOME SHOTS.... read more

One more day at sea before docking in Southampton and yet another fine cruise has come to an end. In our 6 days aboard the Grand Princess, we have now solved the mystery of the 'missing bong'!! A few days ago I wrote about the lift ‘binging' but not ‘bonging' when it arrived at a deck. I was premature when suggesting that this was another slight defect in the refitting of the ship a month or so ago. This is an ingenious idea to assist visually impaired people who struggle to see the red ‘LED' directional arrow at the side of each individual lift door. A ‘bing' means the lift is on the way up whereas a ‘bing bong' means the lift is on its way down. Fantastic IF you know what this means in the ... read more