We headed back to Southampton in the same calm conditions as we'd had for the duration of the cruise which, considering the diabolical weather we are having this 'summer', is something of a minor miracle and we were treated to spectacular sunset skies as we cruised along the shipping lanes.
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| Vienna Express, 93750 gt, built in 2010, German flag, IMO 9450416 |
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| Superb sunset - and notice the cloud shadow cast on the high clouds at the top of the picture |
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| Minerva Julie, 28960 gt, built in 2008, Greek flag, IMO 9380831 |
It is fun being on deck as we sail along, especially at night, so it was a late one with us calling it quits around 0100. We noticed Grand Princess, who was also heading for Southampton, miles behind us earlier in the evening and she eventually overtook us somewhere off the Kent coast around midnight.
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| Grand Princess (1998/107517 gt) overtaking us |
It was an early start as I wanted to watch us sail up the Solent - the sole cruise I had done prior to this one ended in Copenhagen and I wanted to be on deck as we sailed into Southampton. However, the weather was absolute crap - again! - so I found myself wishing I'd stayed in bed another hour instead of getting up at the uncivilised time of 0400.
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| The weather - yuck. This is supposed to be JULY! |
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| The Nab, at the Solent's eastern entrance |
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| OOCL America approaching the Nab |
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| OOCL America (1995/66046 gt) got the pilot first and we followed her along the Solent. She's at Calshot, about an hour later, in this pic. |
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| Southampton pilot boat |
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| APL Portugal (2009/94407 gt) on her way out of the Solent |
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| Usual stuff |
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| Maran Sagitta, 56957 gt, built in 2009, Greek flag, IMO 9414034 |
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| Torm Esbjerg, 29733 gt, built in 2008, Hong Kong flag, IMO 9364588 |
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| Dutch Emerald, 4670 gt, built in 2000, Netherlands flag, IMO 9191668 |
If anything the already vile weather was getting even worse as we approached Southampton and the rain really started to come down as we passed Dock Head. Tirranna, last seen in Zeebrugge the previous day was there, as was Grand Princess, who'd overtaken us late the previous night.
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| Tirranna peeking out at us |
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| Grand Princess |
Celebrity Eclipse was also in but, by then, I'd given up on the photography thanks to the weather and we decided to find some breakfast as Oriana headed up to the Upper Swinging Ground. I phoned my aunt to let her know that getting the 0815 Red Jet was a distinct possibility as we would hopefully be off the ship by 0730. As it was we got off about 0750, as we'd been late sailing late from Zeebrugge and hadn't made the time up overnight, plus there was a delay as they waited for clearance from the port. Clearance was eventually forthcoming so the crew opened the doors and we could head for home. We had decided to do self-disembarkation so there was no need to wait for, and subsequently hunt for, our luggage so we were out of the terminal quickly.
We joined the taxi queue although taxis were, at that point, notable for their absence. Where the heck where they? After a slightly frustrating wait in the rain, the errant vehicles soon began to appear and, luckily, we were third in the queue so were away quite fast once we were actually in the car. At Town Quay we went our separate ways, me home on the Red Jet to the Isle of Wight and Patsy home on the Hythe ferry to Dibden.
It was an excellent trip, particularly the sailaway from Southampton on Tuesday. The 'Magnificent Seven' all together in Southampton was a fabulous sight, despite the atrocious weather, and we did get lucky with some sunshine and calm seas for the rest of the trip. The appalling weather did have one beneficial effect and that was the spectacular cumulus clouds with sunset views we got the previous evening in the Channel - at least we got something out of it.
During the trip, Patsy casually asked if I would like to do a similar trip on Aurora next year. Yeah. Why not? :-) So, we'll be retracing our steps to Amsterdam and Zeebrugge in April 2013. She was initially booked on a short two-night trip but cancelled that one, amended the booking and added me to it.
I have one more post to do and that will be one about our lovely ship herself.
