Well, today turned out to be a bit of a damp squib for me, in more ways than one. My own fault really. ☹
We got up at eight o’clock as usual, and went out onto our balcony where the sky was cloudy with patches of blue. It was only a gentle wake we could see; we were due to arrive in Cobh (formerly Queenstown) around 11.00am, so we had the morning at leisure.
I didn’t go up to breakfast, preferring instead to make use of the fresh fruit bowl and the tea and coffee-making facilities in our cabin. Afterwards, I went up to the Atlantic Spa where I had an appointment at 9.00am for a relaxing foot and ankle massage.
The massage was lovely; I love having my feet played with (lots of people can’t stand it) so it was sheer bliss for 30 minutes, and I hoped it would minimise the ankle and foot swelling I’ve been experiencing a little on this cruise.
At 10.30am we went along to the Oceans Bar to have another try at the carpet bowls, and once again we were knocked out in the first round. ☹
Just after 11 o’clock, we watched the progress of the Borealis into Cobh; we docked at the same place as we did when we were last here in 2015 on the Queen Victoria.
There is so much to see and do in Cobh. It has a strong Titanic connection, being the last port of call of that tragic White Star Line liner, as well as a strong connection with RMS Lusitania. It was in 1915 that the Lusitania sank just of Kinsale after being torpedoed by a German U-boat. Trevor and I were lucky enough to participate in the “Lusitania Remembered” cruise on Queen Victoria one hundred years after the sinking when there was a special memorial service held in Cobh. It was good to be back.
We had an excursion booked for 12.00 noon for a visit to Spike Island. I’d never heard of this before so it would certainly be interesting to learn something new. We had an early light lunch at the poolside snackbar of a cheese omelette each, before returning to 6227 to get ready to disembark for our excursion.
As I was changing into socks and stout trainers I looked outside at the sky which had large fluffy cumulus clouds with some blue sky. Then I looked at my lightweight puffa jacket and my cagoule hanging on their hooks on the cabin wall. I decided to wear the shower-proof puffa as it certainly didn’t look like rain and I didn’t want to wear the swishy cagoule if I didn’t have to.
Taking the lift from Deck 6 all the way down to Deck A where the gangplank and disembarkation station was, we made our way outside and I was immediately assaulted with a spray of water in my face. I looked around; they must have been washing the ship but I couldn’t see any of the guys in their harnesses with their hosepipes. It wasn’t spray from any ship-washing; it was raining, the strong wind making it horizontal. In the time it had taken us to descend eight decks it had gone from sunny intervals to squally rain! ☹
My puffa jacket is “light shower” proof but certainly not squall-proof, and in the time it took us to walk from the ship to where we would meet our guide I was absolutely kicking myself for not picking my cagoule! I mean, it had been there, right in front of me, and I’d rejected it! 🙁
Our guide told us we had to take short walk to the ferry point for our passage across to Spike Island. In the time it took us to reach the ferry terminal I was like a drowned rat; my arms were cold and wet where the rain had already penetrated my jacket, my eyes were surrounded by black smears where my mascara had run and the front of my jeans had large wet patches on them.
As we boarded the ferry there was standing room only, and I was surrounded by wet coats and rucksacks which made it even worse. Even though we’d all crammed under an inadequate shelter at the stern of the ferry, the horizontal rain still blew relentlessly into my face.
As we had a three-hour walking tour of the island to come, and I was already wet through, I told Trevor I would just go back to the Borealis; he would do the Spike Island tour without me. ☹
The ferry skipper obligingly took me back, and I disembarked and walked disconsolately back to the ship, neither looking left nor right; I just wanted to have a hot shower and change into clean dry clothes.
Back on board that is exactly what I did, and after I’d washed and blow dried my hair and put fresh makeup on I sat and looked out at the rain coming down; it did seem to have a abated slightly, but I still had to hang up all my wet clothes (including underwear) to dry. As I looked at my cagoule hanging on the wall it seemed to reproach me, and I was just so annoyed at myself. The moral of the story: even if it’s 30 degrees outside with nary a cloud in the sky, take a cagoule or at least an umbrella!
I decided I’d use the time productively and take my laptop up to the pool deck to do some of this blog. Around half two I texted someone who we know in Cobh, one Ronnie Khouja who is a dance teacher who knows our dance teacher Julie Venton. In February we’d all had a fantastic dance weekend in Blackpool, the highlight of which was dancing in the world-famous Tower Ballroom. Ronnie had told us at the time if ever we were in Cobh to look him up, so that’s exactly what we were doing. 😊
The afternoon passed pleasantly and it was ironic that, by three o’clock, the fluffy clouds, blue sky and sunshine were back. Trevor arrived back just before four o’clock and told me all about his visit to Spike Island, some of which I have related below. The photos (including the featured image, showing Cobh harbour taken from Spike Island, with the Borealis to the left) are all his.
Spike Island was used as an island prison on four occasions over 400 years, the first in the 1600’s holding Cromwellian prisoners. The second in the 1840’s became the largest prison in the world, and there has never been a larger prison in Britain or Ireland before or since. The third opened in 1921 and it held over 1200 Irish Republican prisoners during the Irish War of Independence.
The final prison opened in 1985, and amazingly only closed in 2004!
It also served as an island fortress. The fort is so large, the whole of Alcatraz island could fit inside!
The first fortification was built on Spike Island in 1779 while the American War of Independence raged and the Kingdom of Great Britain was on high alert. Over the centuries many superpowers have attempted to invade southern Ireland, attracted by the strategically vital Cork harbour. The current Spike Island fortress, built in 1804, is one of the largest military structures in the world.
At the end of the three-hour tour, Trevor said they were all taken into what had been the officers’ mess and were each given a glass of rum – he had two, because one of them had been meant for me!
By dinner time at 6.15pm, Ronnie still hadn’t called or texted back, but as we were in port overnight there was plenty of time.
It was another conversation- and laughter-filled dinner on table #222 tonight. We all felt comfortable enough in each other’s company now to relate the odd risqué anecdote or tell the odd rude joke. The time flew by and the waiters had to drop several hints that they needed to get the table ready for the next sitting before we left. 😊
Afterwards we hotfooted it along to the Neptune Theatre for tonight’s show which was billed as “unique theatrical magic… with an oriental twist”. As we took our seats in the front row, a lady came over and said to me “Are you Debbie?” “Yes”, I replied, astonished. “I’ve come to look at your shoes!” she said. “I remember you from February 2022 on this ship. You had some fantastic shoes!”. She went on to say that after she’d seen my shoes last year and written down the name of the brand, she’d then gone onto the Irregular Choice web site and bought some! Hey, I should be on commission – I really should! 😊
By the way, the shoes I had on tonight are called “Ban Joe” and featured a glittery rainbow coloured shoe with a large blue bow at the front – gorgeous.
The show tonight was very good. It was a husband-and-wife magic and illusion team; the guy is half-Japanese, half-British which was where the oriental twist came into the show. There were lots of umbrellas, silk scarves, ropes, hoops and gold confetti, to a background of gentle Eastern music. It was a pleasant little interlude.
Then, as ever, we went along to the Morning Light for the quiz with the rest of table #222: Colin, Angie, Richard and June. We scored 14/15 and were quietly confident, but two other teams also has the same score, so it went to the tie-breaker, which we lost. Oh well.
At 10.30pm I received a text message from Ronnie – he’d only just received my text. It took eight hours to get there! Now I wished I’d just phoned him instead, as he and his husband are not night owls so it wasn’t as if we could even go with a drink with them now. What an absolute pity – it would have been so good to get together with them again. As we’d had such a late night last night we determined to get to bed at a decent time tonight, so it was about 11.45pm when we settled down in a nice quiet cabin (suite!!) and slept soundly once again.