When we got up this morning at eight o’clock, we found that the Queen Victoria was already docked in Gibraltar. We had been to this British overseas territory twice before, in 1995 and 1999 so we looked forward to renewing our acquantance of this little piece of Britain abroad. We didn’t have an excursion booked…
Author: bollingerbabe
Mountains and Mijas
It was another early start this morning, the alarm going off at 7.00am as the Queen Victoria headed towards the port of Málaga. It was a long time since we’d sailed into Málaga; in May 1995 in fact, on the Seawing. I should imagine the port will have changed beyond recognition. In any case, this…
Strolling around Seville
Got up at 7.00am to find the Queen Victoria slowly manoevring her way through the buoyed channel and into her berth in Cádiz, Spain. We had last been to this historic Spanish city on the Queen Elizabeth in 2010, but today we would be travelling further afield to explore the Andalucian city of Seville or,…
En Route to Cádiz
Today saw us spending another long and leisurely day at sea. But what a difference from Wednesday! The Atlantic was still fairly lively (isn’t it always?) but at least we could walk around the Queen Victoria without feeling as if we were going to fall over. 🙂 After getting up about 8.15am and breakfasting in…
Exploring La Coruña
BILLY & CAROLE’S DIAMOND WEDDING Got up this morning about 8.00am to find the Queen Victoria docked in La Coruña, in the Galician region of northern Spain. We had been to Vigo before, but never to this port. The weather was cloudy but mild. We got washed and changed into our gym gear. Yes! We…
A Home on the Rolling Deep
A life on the ocean wave,A home on the rolling deep,Where the scatter’d waters raveAnd the winds their revels keep. Henry Russell, 1838 Woke up several times in the night; if it wasn’t because I was rolling from side to side in bed it was because of the torrential rain that lashed our balcony, accompanied…
Southampton Sailaway
At 3.45 this morning, the alarm suddenly shattered the darkened silence with Alexa chirping a cheery “Rise and shine!” as the last vestiges of sleep left me and I swung my legs over the side of the bed and made my way to the bathroom. Ordinarily we would have taken no pleasure at being awoken…
Hemera to Home Again
There’s not much more to write now. We rose at 7.00am and I got showered and shampooed my hair before getting dressed. Trevor then popped into the unoccupied cabin #4 where everyone’s luggage was being stored, and he retrieved our two cases and brought them back, laying them open on the bed for us to…
On The Way to Zakynthos
Today would see us spend nine full hours cruising non-stop in the Ionian, to ensure we reached Zakynthos (Zante) this afternoon as planned. The wind had dropped considerably from the strength that had prevented us leaving Nydri for the last three nights, but Skipper Yanni warned us we would still be in for a fairly…
Left in Lefkada
Not a lot to write about today. We wondered if we were going to be able to set off and continue our gorgeous cruise around the Ionian, but Captain Yanni showed us the area we’d be sailing in on his marine weather forecast app; to my untrained eye it just looked like a lot of…