A little queasy …

It is time, once again, for RudyMenTerry to arise. Captain Clarke and I find ourselves aboard the wonderful Borealis cruising towards Bilbao where we will arrive tomorrow. When we boarded the ship yesterday we were not filled with a huge amount of confidence when the captain (of the ship) welcomed us on board and explained that during the night and today we were to experience “rough to very rough” seas. It turns out he wasn’t wrong!! During the night and today we are certainly experiencing “rough to very rough” seas. Captain Clarke was very much under the weather this morning, I have not faired a lot better and we are both feeling a little queasy. Despite the ship being of a reasonable size and having stabilisers (apparently), it is currently bobbing about in the sea like a cork in a whirlpool. We had a knock on the door a short while ago and we were advised to make our way to mid-ships where it would be somewhat calmer. That we have done and it is from here that I write this missive.

What is slightly worrying is that we have not yet sailed even close to the Bay of Biscay where we anticipate rough waters! We did, of course, elect for this cruise and we will enjoy it, regardless of the stormy weather. It is apparently currently blowing a force 8 gale outside (we will not be venturing out to find out!) and there is 5 metre ‘swell’ on the sea (according to our informative Captain). So, to explain – we are on this cruise heading for Bilbao. This is the first of two cruises that we are undertaking ‘back to back’. This first one is a gastronomic tour of northern Spain where will visit Bilbao (Getxo in Galician, the language local to this northern part of Spain) and then onto Gijon and La Coruña before returning to Southampton. We will then be staying on the ship and heading off on our second cruise up to the arctic circle in search of the Northern Lights. I do realise that you have been able to see the Northern Lights just by opening the front door several times this year, but there is nothing like the real thing. Having worked for a time in northern Sweden, I have been lucky enough to have seen them before, but for Captain Clarke this will be a new experience.

So, why are we doing two cruises back to back? Well, it all has to do with the last cruise we did. We didn’t want to do a cruise but we were invited by Captain Clarke’s parents who were celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary and wanted the family to be with them. We went. We were not looking forward to it. The idea of being trapped in a tin bath with a whole load of people we didn’t know and didn’t want to know, the food (I have some dietary issues), the potential for sea sickness, the idea of having forced activities upon us and a whole raft of other reasons meant that we didn’t want to do it but … we had the most amazing time and really, really enjoyed it. So much so, that we booked another cruise before we even got off the ship! The problem was, that we didn’t think it through very well. We had booked a cruise that spent a significant amount of time in the Bay of Biscay in November. Everyone we spoke to kept saying “You’re brave!”. We’re not!

As a consequence of this, we decided to change it. We moved our booked cruise from November to August when we were due to cruise to the Amalfi coast in Italy. Once again, we were scuppered. I had to attend a conference in Antibes 6 days before we would have arrived back in Southampton. We looked at all sorts of ways in which I could jump ship in Tangier and get to Antibes but it just wasn’t going to work. Once again we had to move the cruise. We faced a bit of an issue though. To move the cruise again we had to spend at least 75% of the original cruise cost. We couldn’t find a cruise that cost 75% of the original cruise cost apart from one to Madeira and the Azores but that spent most of its time at sea which wasn’t what we wanted. Consequently we found this cruise to northern Spain and the following cruise to search for the Northern Lights which I think has probably cost 175% of the original cost!

So, here we are. Feeling a little queasy, bobbing around in the Atlantic Ocean and very much looking forward to getting out of this storm. At the moment we are sitting in the mid-ships. We have just completed the morning quiz (where we did not perform at our best!) and are now contemplating our activities for the rest of the day. Tonight’s show is a solo violinist who, apparently, comes from Riverdance and will be a mixture of music and comedy. Last nights show by the ships entertainment crew was fabulous with a journey through music of the 1960s and 1970s. We really did enjoy it, so we can remain hopeful of a good show again this evening. This won’t be a daily missive, as we are here to relax as much as we can, but you can expect the odd update throughout our time on board the Borealis.