After leaving the Corbiere anchorage near Jersey, it was a quiet overnight journey round the Cherbourg peninsula (and Patsy was happy as we spotted Celebrity Constellation in the Channel, on her way to Southampton). It was formal night, a necessary evil of cruise ship travel and a hang over from the old days of ocean travel, so we put our posh clobber on and went to dinner. After dinner was over, we went to the Winter Garden - I wonder why it is called that, when it has a tropical ambience with banana plants and other rain forest vegetation painted on the ceiling? - where Patsy knows the banjo player in the Queen's Room Orchestra, an elderly chap named Stevie. The band were playing jazz numbers which, frankly, I can't stand but it was entertaining to watch Stevie do a charming little dance as he sang a number and it went down well with the other passengers.
We arrived in Le Havre early next morning and found it was pretty busy with ships moving in and out of the harbour. Patsy doesn't really do 'horribles', as she calls anything that isn't a cruise ship, so she left me to it as I photographed the comings and goings.
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| Hoegh Berlin, built 2005, 68871 GT, IMO 9295842, Bahamas flag |
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| Leto, built 2006, 35881 GT, IMO 9311880, Liberian flag |
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| Mare Picenum, built 2011, 81499 GT, IMO 9449405, Italian flag |
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| V.B. La Heve |
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| V.B. Sainte Adresse |
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| MSC Ingrid, built 1999, 53208 GT, IMO 9181651, Panama flag |
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| Coastalwater, built 2000, 2140 GT, IMO 9205158, Dutch flag |
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| Chembulk Tortola, built 2007, 11534 GT, IMO 9342786, Panama flag |
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| Guanabara, built 2007, 57462 GT, IMO 9384992, Bahamas flag |
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| V.B. Superenzo |
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| Amur Star, built 2010, 8537 GT, IMO 9480368, Malta flag |
As we waited to depart in the evening, I tried some more low light photography, including the cracking sunset, plus the arrivals of MOL Celebration and the dredger Victor Horta.
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| Victor Horta, built 2011, 5682 GT, IMO 9525704, Belgian flag |
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| MOL Celebration, built 2008, 86692 GT, IMO 9321251, Bahamas flag |
It had been a glorious day, weather-wise, with sunshine and light winds and the night was clear. I've already posted the photo immediately below but, as I am pleased with it, I'll post it again.
Unfortunately, this didn't last long, and the fog returned sometime before dawn. Queen Mary 2's horn woke me up at about 0400, with one blast every two minutes. I'd not long got to sleep so I wasn't best pleased, especially as I was feeling ill after having drunk far too much in the Golden Lion that night...can't complain, I suppose, as it was self-inflicted!
To be continued...
