Day 2, 08.10.2018, North Sea,
Heike has been on the Baltic Sea run with AIDAaura for the past few weeks. For the last 10 days, Roland, Heike’s father, and Freddie, Retha’s daughter, have been along for the ride but their trip was over so I collected them from the ship drove them to Hamburg Hauptbahnhof and then moved on-board myself. In the evening, we pulled away from the dock and down the Elbe with a big farewell firework display.
My fellow passengers must be quite well-heeled to stump up the cash for the tickets on this trip. An inside cabin for two starts at 28,000€ and it goes up to 90,000€ for the best views. We have a suite and an enormous balcony near the bridge. It’s a good price but it requires at least one of us to wear a uniform.
Day 3, 09.10.2018, English Channel,
Sea day. I waved at the White Cliffs of Dover as we sailed by.
Day 4, 10.10.2018, Western Approaches, Bay of Biscay,
Sea day. Westwards out of the English Channel and turned south at Ushant to cross the Bay of Biscay.
I first ventured out into the Bay of Biscay in Graptolite in early September 2007 heading from Falmouth to La Coruna. My crew with me were Dan Bendig and Ian Jack. The weather forecast was perfect but it was a horribly rough crossing with locker doors ripped off their hinges and salt water washing into the freshwater tanks. I nearly called off the entire voyage but it turned out that the worst was over.
