Three Queens, Southampton, 9th May 2014

On 9th May 2014, Cunard's three 'Queen' cruise ships were all in Southampton together with the latest occasion being Queen Mary 2's tenth anniversary celebrations. They arrived in the very early morning, passing Cowes at the uncivilised hour of 0350, before arriving at Southampton. I saw on Southampton VTS that Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth would be facing each other on 38/39 and 40 so I decided to go over because this would be a unique shot...sadly not as it turned out. I didn't realise this was only temporary for the arrival photos and, by the time I got to Southampton, Queen Victoria was at the City terminal (berth 101) and, worse, starboard side to.


Conditions in the Solent were rough, with gale-force winds and choppy seas, which made for a nice bumpy crossing. Sister ship Red Falcon, complete with her new enhancements, passed us on her way to East Cowes.

(N.B. The full-size photos are mostly larger than usual, 1500 x 1000, so you need to click on them for the largest. I am also not posting all of them, so please go to my Flickr page if you want to see them all)

Cruise ship Rotterdam was in Southampton Water, having sailed at 1100. Her visit was just a fleeting one as Holland America ships never hang around for very long. Because of the gale, it was hard to stand up properly out on deck and even harder to hold the camera steady, so the Rotterdam photos are not among the best I've ever taken.

On arrival in Southampton, it was evident that the Queen ships were not well placed for photography. Queen Elizabeth was okay, as she was at the QEII terminal facing down Southampton Water - good for travellers to and from the Isle of Wight (one thing in our favour!) but not so good for those on the Southampton side - Queen Mary 2 was bow in at the Ocean Cruise Terminal, which was disappointing because it meant there were no good opportunities for a photo of her at all and she was the reason for all the fuss, and Queen Victoria was starboard side to at the City Cruise Terminal, berth 101, so with her back to everyone.

I walked down through the car parks towards Dock Gates 4 and 5 and, as I got to the new Dock Gate 5 (open but still under construction) I decided to try it on and slip past the security guard to see if I could get some decent photos without great big fences or cars in the way. I have to give it to him, he was quick even though he was also dealing with some other passers-by attempting the same. As the ensuing conversation went exactly as I expected it would (Him: 'Can I help you'; Me, playing the dumb tourist: 'I want to get a photo'; Him: 'No chance mate, go to Town Quay. Do you know where it is?'; Me: 'No problem') , I didn't pursue it further, there was no point and I know better than that, and walked back to Town Quay.

I headed back towards Town Quay and ran into my friend Slinky-Dave Shepherd and his mum, who were in Southampton for the event. They were doing a boat trip at 1530 from Ocean Village and asked me if I was going along. I said no, assuming the trips were sold out as I'd not previously booked one, hoping I'd be working instead. However, SDS's mum showed me Blue Funnel's phone number so I gave them a ring, they had plenty of spaces and I duly found myself on a boat trip round the docks.

Something's happened to the colour rendition here. It looks fine elsewhere. Odd.

The boat trip finished a little late, 1640 instead of 1630, so I hurried for the 1700 Red Funnel back to the island. In fact, I ended up having to run and made it onboard Red Falcon just before her engines started. Two days later, I am paying for running through Southampton as my knees are killing me!

Last but not least, I got back to East Cowes as Arcadia was rounding Calshot. If ships really do have a soul and can think, as some of the more romantic claim (and I am not completely immune to that way of thinking myself), I wonder what she makes of the three Queens and it being their day, considering she was originally supposed to be Queen Victoria?

[rant ahead]The day didn't get off to a good start, I found out that a job one of the employment agencies told me they were sending me to had fallen through so, instead of several weeks of paid employment, I'm "looking forward" to yet more weekday boredom and no money - and all my efforts at getting a permanent job have fallen onto stony ground. Added to which, having decided to take the vehicle ferry when I got to East Cowes for photography purposes as Holland America's Rotterdam was sailing at 1100, I found the free car park was mostly closed off with the remaining spaces all taken. Ten minutes and a tirade of f-words later I eventually found a space miles away, which was not ideal and meant I needed to hurry for the ferry. All in all I wasn't a happy person by the time I got on the ferry and was beginning to wish I hadn't bothered!
It also meant that I decided not to stay in Southampton for the fireworks and sailings later in the evening because I didn't fancy a longish walk through the town at night. This three Queens event was characterised by rubbish arrival and departure times. 2130 onwards is not good, especially for us islanders, and the arrivals were worse, bearing in mind there are no ferries before 0545 from the island. So that, along with Red Funnel's crappy timetable, meant island residents were unable to make the best out of the event. Plus there's the photography issue. Fireworks are all very nice and modern DSLRs have excellent low-light performance but photographers want good light for photos, not the dark. Red Funnel were doing a special event cruise from Southampton, using the Red Falcon, but, at £25 plus another £15.20 to get to Southampton and home for us IoW residents, that was not a happening thing as far as I was concerned. That, and the work situation, is making me think even more about 'de-islanding' myself and moving back to the mainland because I'm increasingly sick of crap timetables, adding at least an hour onto journeys and, especially, paying through the nose to get off the bloody place, even for a day out [rant over].

70D

I bought a 70D as a back up to my 6D last week, replacing a 600D I'd originally got as a back up in May but didn't like. It arrived at the shop while I was at work last Tuesday so my aunt, who was going into town anyway, collected it for me. However, as I don't see daylight from Monday to Thursday and yesterday was wet, I hadn't had a chance to try it out properly until today.
I went to East Cowes with my aunt and Monty the puppy this morning, mostly for a shopping trip to Waitrose but also to give Monty a walk and for me to point the new camera at anything nautical that might pass in front of the lens. Unfortunately ships were thin on the ground but the Red Funnel car ferry Red Falcon obliged.

Monty

Molly, at home before we left

The 70D is very much like my old 7D in a lot of ways, especially the AF system. It doesn't feel as robust as the 7D did and the controls are a little different but, otherwise, it's very similar. The image quality is much better than the 600D but - as to be expected - not as good as the 6D, because the 6D has a full-frame sensor while the 70D has an APS-C sensor. I don't have to do much to 6D images and never have to add sharpening but the 70D files need a little sharpening as the 600D, 7D, 40D and 20D (and my past Nikons) did before them.
I'm off to Southampton tomorrow - that's the plan at the moment - for Christmas shopping so hopefully I'll have more photos to post, although the weather forecast is utterly dismal.

Southampton, 7th December 2013

On a chilly but bright day it was off to Southampton to see Saga Ruby for what - for me - may be the last time. She was due to depart on her final cruise (at least with Saga) this evening, returning to Southampton for the final time on 7th January which, unfortunately for me, is a Tuesday when I'll be at work (I currently work from 0700-1730 Mondays to Thursdays). As her final departure isn't yet known but will probably be that same week, I decided to go over and get some last photos.

There was a nice little haul of ships to be had. Firstly, the outward-bound container ship APL Yangshan:

I was very pleased to see the back of Red Falcon once we'd arrived in Southampton, for reasons outlined at the bottom of this post. I went straight round to Mayflower Park to photograph Saga Ruby in the sunshine, which had made an appearance.

From the ferry just before we left.

And what I think will be my last ever shot of her. :(

The laid-up container ship Qingdao Tower is back on berth 40.

In the background Morning Camilla arrives, complete with an extra funnel looking very much like the top of Fawley Power Station chimney...

Car carriers Trinidad and Morning Camilla.

Red Falcon on her way back up Southampton Water, with the 1330 from East Cowes

Turkish tanker Yasa Seyhan just arriving at Hamble oil terminal:

Apex, which was assisting Lumen N:

Other ships in were bulk carriers King Wheat and Indra II, small general cargo ships Bramau and Huelin Dispatch, ro-ros Eurocargo Salerno, Bess and my old friend Grande Napoli, container ship APL Temasek, plus tankers Opal Express and Sten Aurora.

Disgusting footnote: I had decided to take the car ferry across instead of the Red Jet (to avoid Newport traffic and for free parking at East Cowes) and ended up wishing I hadn't. I'd had two cups of coffee before leaving home and on boarding Red Falcon's 1030 sailing I headed for the toilets. On opening the door, I quickly closed it again, as it was swimming in water and heaven-knows-what-else...so I tried the disabled toilet - exactly the same result but with a crew member attempting to unblock the toilet. There was obviously a problem, confirmed by a PA announcement to the effect that the toilet system had packed up, which in itself had a knock-on effect - no catering because, apparently, the law stipulates that, with no toilet facilities there can't be any catering either. I suppose that makes sense because what goes in has to, er, come out.
One deeply unpleasant side effect of the lavatorial drama was witnessing a bloke taking a leak on the outside deck, which I could have done without seeing; it was disgusting and uncivilised and I am sure that arrangements could have been made for anyone that desperate! I reported it to an officer, telling her she might want to get someone to hose off the outer deck at the aft, 'Cowes', end, her first response was 'You're joking' and when I assured her I was not, her second response was an entirely justified 'Bloody hell'. The problem was fixed later in the day and the drainage will be permanently repaired overnight on Sunday.
Red Falcon, incidentally, is due to have completely new interiors, improved seating (not before time), an improved pet area (again not before time - why should pets and their owners be confined to a crummy, draughty area on deck?) and, if this is a success, the other vehicle ferries will get the same treatment.

Something else that disgusted me was finding a length of fishing line, complete with hooks, strung across the walkway on the western side of Town Quay. Fishing is supposed to be banned on Town Quay but I have seen worm-drowners deliberately flouting the laws and continuing to fish with seeming impunity. Breaking the by-laws is one thing but, whether through ignorance, laziness or malice, deliberately leaving fishing line and hooks lying round where wildlife, pets or people could injure themselves on them is fuckwittery of the highest order. If an animal - wild or a pet - or a small child had got hold of those hooks they'd have caused quite nasty injuries, and wildlife suffers greatly, and needlessly, from discarded fishing lines and hooks. I removed this stuff and binned it and I'll be emailing ABP, who Town Quay belongs to.

On a happier note, Town Quay is FINALLY being repaired. I hope it means the end of that infernal fence!

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I'm getting a 70D to go with my 6D sometime next week. I did have a 600D which I'd bought to use as a back up but I ended up not using it, simply because I couldn't get on with it. The 70D's controls are more akin to the 6D's, unlike those on the 600D.

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Something I hadn't mentioned on previous posts - barring any airline, air traffic, weather-related or other trouble, I am going to Rotterdam next month and sailing back on the new Norwegian Getaway, sister of Norwegian Breakaway, then I am doing a one-night cruise from Southampton and back. I am being joined by my friend Patricia and there's also be other friends on the cruise as well. Only a very short trip but should be fun.

Cowes fireworks

Before I go further, here's an up-front confession - I am not a big fan of Cowes Week and usually avoid the place like the plague when it's on. I lost interest in it years ago when the Royal Yacht Britannia was decommissioned and therefore no longer attended, and there's no Navy guard ship either. A load of yachts just don't 'do it' for me and the town gets very crowded. The last time I went to either Cowes town during Cowes week was in 1991 or 92.
My sister and her two kids were visiting last week and my aunt decided to book us - me, her, sister and the two boys - onto a Red Funnel cruise from East Cowes, which went out into the Solent for a good vantage point. We could park the car on the car deck for an extra fiver, which saved having to hunt for a space in the town; it was lucky we left home when we did because there was a large queue into East Cowes which started at Wootton.

While we were waiting at the terminal, there was a display by the Red Arrows, followed by the last airworthy Sea Vixen, a former carrier-based aircraft dating from the 1950s and 60s.

The plane photos were taken with the Canon 600D with 100-400mm lens and the firework photos were taken with the 6D and 24-105mm lens.

Red Osprey - our 'party ship'  for the evening - was a little late getting into East Cowes, due to sheer volume of car traffic aboard, not to mention river traffic and she had to be escorted in by the police! We watched her unload - and unload, and unload.
Eventually she was empty and the staff wasted no time in getting us aboard. As we drove on, we have to turn round so the cars were facing the right way for disembarkation later and, just before the display began, the upper car deck was opened for passengers to watch the fireworks from.

Red Eagle was doing a cruise from Southampton

Once the fireworks were over, we waited in the Solent for Red Falcon (on her usual run from Southampton) to arrive, unload and depart which meant we missed the traffic queues out of East Cowes.

Summer's finished, Cowes Week has been and gone, as we say in our family...