The weather has returned to being utter garbage (some bloody spring and summer this is) but yesterday, Saturday 9th June, was not too bad with a mix of sunshine and partial overcast. It was also pleasantly warm. It was my younger nephew's birthday yesterday so myself and my aunt went to Christchurch and then Newbury for two (
two! Kids are spoiled these days) parties.
As usual I went via Southampton - and it was actually surprisingly easy to get my car booked on the ferry only the evening before, considering it was the end of half term and the ferry schedule had been decimated by storms the previous day - and the docks were reasonably busy with four cruise ships and three car carriers in. The cruise ships were Oriana, Azura, Celebrity Eclipse and Grand Princess, while the car carriers were Tamerlane, Maersk Wave and Grand Dahlia. Fawley Oil Terminal was also busyish, with three tankers - Sallie Knutsen, Handytankers Miracle (cracking name) and Patea.
As usual, click on each picture for the largest version and better quality (the previews are compressed)
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| Fawley tugs - Phenix, Apex and Vortex |
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| Tamerlane |
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| Southampton tugs, including new arrival Svitzer Ferriby, which replaced Svitzer Madeleine, which has gone to Immingham |
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| Oriana - horrible shot, right into the sun. |
We were on the 1915 ferry back to East Cowes. Jessica B was arriving, while Azura was still in the Ocean Terminal. Looking at the Southampton VTS website on my phone, Azura was scheduled to sail at 1915 but appeared to be delayed. It appeared that the car carrier Maersk Wave was the reason, as she was about to depart.
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| Jessica B |
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| Azura |
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| Maersk Wave |
