Yesterday started off with the sound of watertight doors being closed, rapidly followed by the mournful sound of the ships whistle, indicating fog.
Those of us that were up and about early, watched the fog close in and then gradually get burnt off , and by the time happy hour was half over the sun was out. To all bad things there is a bonus-because the watertight doors were closed , it made happy hour a serious pain, so we reduced happy hour below decks to a minimum. The decks looked lovely though!
We passed by Dover and dropped the anchor near Deal- very pretty in the
sunshine- and the engineers got busy rigging the BBQ and creating punch, while many worker bees buzzed away in the Galley getting loads of different salads and things ready for an on- deck dinner.
At 1730 sundowners were served - don't know what was in it Mr Chipps but it certainly went very quickly! And at 1800 BBQ was served. A couple of people were noted to go back for thirds- but I shall name no names!
After dinner, Mate Steve auctioned off the chart from this epic voyage and a couple of ensigns, including the ( defaced) England world cup flag- made of genuine nylon! He raised quite a bit of money for the Trust, and Dan is now bankrupt, having reluctantly made all his bids "in sterling, to be paid in euros, in Antwerp"!
We raised the anchor at 0630 this morning and got under way, through one of the busiest seaways in the world- kept the deck officers extra busy- and we are currently off the Belgian coast. We are planning to anchor tonight and the pilot is boarding early so we can motor up the river to Antwerp.
Sue MP