Greetings from West India Dock. We left Tilbury this morning, for the final leg of our voyage, up the river to London.
Happy hour was fairly intensive as it was the last real one of the voyage, but it was carried out with the massive enthusiasm that has marked this trip. Once we had done that, it was basically a case of admiring the scenery for those that were not on watch. Once we passed the Thames barrier, the surroundings began to look quite impressive. Captain Simon had booked a lift of Tower Bridge, so we could sail through, but it was always with the proviso that the weather might preclude that possibility, and in the end, it did so. With a spring tide and fairly strong gusting winds, he decided that it may not be in our best interests to go through the bridge, so we did a 360 turn, and went back down the river. However, the cameras were all in overdrive, as all the crew made the most of the photo opportunity. Once we reached the lock for West India Dock, we managed to tear Gilles away from his pedicure for long enough to help with the fenders!! and we passed through to tie up behind a Brazilian war ship at West India Dock.
A lot of the crew went ashore for the evening - a shame the Jubilee line's escalators broke down - Yves Pierre is a big guy to carry up 5 flights of stairs!! However, it didn't spoil the crew's enjoyment at all.
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Oh yuck! A 6a.m. start for everybody! Bags packed and up on deck and then Happy Hour ( OK happy half hour), a final offering from Graham of cheesy bacon rolls, and then the bus arrived. It was time for farewells (and some were quite tearful), and our crew set off on their journey home.
Everybody has had a great time, and although there were a few translation problems, on the whole everybody made a massive effort, and made this a voyage to remember, for all the best reasons.
Update By: Sue Medical Purser