Heading northwards in the Atlantic swell off the coast of Portugal we had a north-westerly breeze and swell from the same direction which generated both fore/aft and port/starboard movement in the various ships going the same direction as us. This is the Hunzedijk (Dutch registered cargo ship), bound for Eemshaven in Holland, rolling heavily with decks awash. Somewhat smaller than Boudicca, she wasn't coping quite as well as us.
That said, Boudicca was moving about a bit as well. In this short bit of video the camera tries to level itself which confuses things a bit but still gives an idea of our most 'lively' day of the whole five week trip ...
But there were compensations. On quite a few occasions many of us spotted dolphins all around the ship, but unless one was prepared to spend hours on deck with a camera ready to go (a few people did), getting photos of them was more luck than judgement. I was lucky to get this; three other dolphins had just been out of the water as well.
Then we headed across the (dreaded?) Bay of Biscay. Many other passengers had more experience than me - I missed out on our last cruise thanks to forgetting my passport! The consensus seemed to be that most Biscay crossings were okay, just the odd one might be a bit rough.
Our captain (and relevant crew) though had looked carefully at the weather predictions for the area and worked out that by going slower past Portugal, we'd arrive at Biscay in between lows when the sea conditions should be more favourable, and we could speed up again to ensure we still got to Dover on time.
It worked well and indeed our crossing was reasonably calm, which was good as the evening dinner was our last dressing up do. The artistic chefs produced some impressive foody displays with an elephant theme:
Earlier in the day we'd had a rather nice surprise, an invitation which put Barbara into a bit of a panic and had her searching the (rather expensive) on-board clothes shop for a new dress!
I eventually persuaded her that the outfits she had brought from home were actually very nice and that Captain Degerlund would not banish us from his table that evening for being improperly dressed.
The evening started very pleasantly with the Captain's Cocktail Reception where the senior ship's staff greeted all the passengers and we had canapés and sparkling wine with the Captain in the lounge before going to the big table in our Tintagel dining room, which embarrassingly was right next to our normal table and our dining companions, Elizabeth & Simon.
We'd already apologised to Elizabeth & Simon earlier in the day to say that they'd be on their own that evening for only the second occasion during the cruise. I'd had an inkling that we might get such an invitation because I'd had various 'dealings' with the Captain about dad's torpedo etc, and had hoped that if it happened, Elizabeth & Simon might have been invited as well, but it didn't happen.
So we ended the cruise on something of a high with a whole load of things ticked off my bucket list, most of which I didn't even know were on my bucket list!
That said, Boudicca was moving about a bit as well. In this short bit of video the camera tries to level itself which confuses things a bit but still gives an idea of our most 'lively' day of the whole five week trip ...
Then we headed across the (dreaded?) Bay of Biscay. Many other passengers had more experience than me - I missed out on our last cruise thanks to forgetting my passport! The consensus seemed to be that most Biscay crossings were okay, just the odd one might be a bit rough.
Our captain (and relevant crew) though had looked carefully at the weather predictions for the area and worked out that by going slower past Portugal, we'd arrive at Biscay in between lows when the sea conditions should be more favourable, and we could speed up again to ensure we still got to Dover on time.
It worked well and indeed our crossing was reasonably calm, which was good as the evening dinner was our last dressing up do. The artistic chefs produced some impressive foody displays with an elephant theme:
Earlier in the day we'd had a rather nice surprise, an invitation which put Barbara into a bit of a panic and had her searching the (rather expensive) on-board clothes shop for a new dress!
I eventually persuaded her that the outfits she had brought from home were actually very nice and that Captain Degerlund would not banish us from his table that evening for being improperly dressed.
The evening started very pleasantly with the Captain's Cocktail Reception where the senior ship's staff greeted all the passengers and we had canapés and sparkling wine with the Captain in the lounge before going to the big table in our Tintagel dining room, which embarrassingly was right next to our normal table and our dining companions, Elizabeth & Simon.
We'd already apologised to Elizabeth & Simon earlier in the day to say that they'd be on their own that evening for only the second occasion during the cruise. I'd had an inkling that we might get such an invitation because I'd had various 'dealings' with the Captain about dad's torpedo etc, and had hoped that if it happened, Elizabeth & Simon might have been invited as well, but it didn't happen.
So we ended the cruise on something of a high with a whole load of things ticked off my bucket list, most of which I didn't even know were on my bucket list!
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