I thought I'd missed Independence of the Seas but as I arrived at Egypt Point I could see her in Southampton Water. She made a real racket as she passed Calshot, which I could plainly hear over the car radio (tuned to Radio Solent's football coverage - Saints scraped a draw at home to Sunderland, which was an improvement as we were losing when I left the house).
Next was Explorer, looking a real little minnow compared to the mighty Independence of the Seas.
Aurora was not far behind Explorer. By now the sun had reappeared, sort of, although it was getting pretty low.
Following Aurora was the obligatory car carrier, Canadian Highway, a sister of California Highway which was in Southampton two weeks ago.
Last, but not least, was Seabourn Sojourn. This is the first time I have seen a Seabourn ship, outside of the film Speed 2, set aboard Seabourn Legend.
Summer's nearly finished and, although it has been a cracking summer for weather - in a complete contrast to last year's woeful effort - I'll be glad to see the back of it, for other reasons!
