The 2013 UK cruise ship season is now under way, with returnees from world voyages and long cruises arriving back at Southampton before setting off on their summer programme of cruises.
Today, Saga Sapphire, Oriana, Arcadia and Ventura were all in Southampton and were scheduled to sail between 1600 and 1630, so I went to Cowes to see them go past. Unfortunately the sunshine of the morning and early afternoon didn't last and it clouded over again. There was, despite the fact that it was neither warm or particularly sunny, a shimmer, which played havoc with photos taken at the longer end of the zoom range of my 100-400mm lens.
One reason for making trips to see cruise ships, is that other things often fall into place and there are other ships to photograph as well, such as the car carrier Asian Breeze (UECC's latest colour scheme does their ships no favours)...
...and container ship NYK Altair
Iberian Reefer was on her way in, via the Needles Channel but the shimmer meant her photos didn't come out well.
Of the cruise ships, Saga Sapphire was first, she went via the Needles...
...followed by Oriana...
...Ventura...
...and, finally, Arcadia, by which time the light had all but gone...
...so we headed home again.
The return of the cruise ships is always a welcome sign of spring, as was the near constant passage of Swallows and Sand Martins on migration, who were flying along the Solent past Cowes. It's sad to see the departure of both our ships and our migrant birds in autumn but they always return and it's a happy time when they do.
