Category: The Black Sea

It’s been a cold, grey day at sea (what we call in the North; ‘claggy’). At noon today, we were in the English Channel with Guernsey somewhere off to our starboard side. There hasn’t been much of a swell, but visibility was very poor, and most passengers stayed inside, in the warm. People still need to be entertained, though, and...

Today is the 207th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, apparently – Happy Trafalgar Day! The Captain’s daily ‘Believe it or Not’ is: Ants can pull about 30 times their own weight and lift 50 times their own weight, and; in the republic of Albania, a shake of the head means ‘yes’, and nodding your head means ‘no’.   We’re...

The sea isn’t particularly rough (there are no white horses), but there has been quite a hefty swell for most of the day as we’ve headed due North, with the coastline of Portugal visible over to our starboard side. The Black Watch has rocked and rolled quite considerably; the sick bags have been out, lining the stairwells, and I suspect...

Today, we arrived at Gibralltar. It was an early arrival (7am), but I didn’t emerge until gone 9am. It was cold and raining, and a little bit like being back home, if it wasn’t for the fact that when you looked out to look at the awful weather, there was the Rock of Gibraltar rising up majestically behind the town....