Having been asked to arrive at 14.30 hrs I was told by the car park attendant that the rush had been over for an hour! So our embarkation in Southampton on a warm sunny afternoon was swift and within 20 minutes we had cleared security, registered and were in our very pleasant port side cabin!
The vastly changed (after the debacle of the Costa Concordia earlier this year) Lifeboat Muster Drill over we then enjoyed a leisurely sail down the Solent in warm sunshine bound for our first port of call Cobh (Pronounced Cove) and better know to me as Queenstown but more of that in another blog.
Since the required speed to be in Cobh on Friday 7th Sept was less than 10 knots (About 12 mph) the sail along the south coast on Thursday 6th Sept in glorious sunshine was at a very sedate pace in a perfectly calm sea with just the feint hint of a ripple on the surface. We had wonderful views of Lizard Point and Lands End on our starboard bow with a fine sunset accompanied by a large pod of Wrights Dolphins (I think that is the name for the smallest species of dolphin found in our coastal waters) feeding off our bow with Gannets plummeting from the air above plundering their fish. It was a delight to watch 5 or 6 dolphins all arching out of the water in perfectly synchronised in line abreast. They would certainly have taken gold for synchronised swimming!!
We docked as scheduled at 7.30am in Cobh at the deep-water quay. The Great Island on which Cobh stands on a hillside is the largest in Cork Harbour. In ancient times it was known as “Oilen Ard na Neimhid” a name deriving from Neimhid the leader of the legendary third invasion of Ireland but more about Cobh in a future blog since our first shore excursion today was to Kinsale.
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