There are some days when one wishes that I was not commanding a ship, this was one of them.  We made our way south, down the Sound of Raasay towards the anchorage off this ‘wee’ town.  We had been in gale-force winds on our way from Flam and I had been concerned about tendering all the while.  We arrived off the anchorage in deceptively light winds and dropped our anchor; 7 shackles of chain laid out. 

Tendering started and it wasn’t until 2 hours later that the wind began to increase.  Providing a ‘lee’ to our tender platform, we lie with the wind on the starboard bow, thereby leaving the port side platform relatively calm.  Mid-morning and we start dragging anchor, albeit imperceptibly, but we’re dragging, (its not holding on the bottom).  On joystick, still tendering, we move back to where the anchor lies, heaving in the chain as we do so.  Anchor sighted, we move further east and drop it again, this time 8 shackles of chain in the water.  All goes well, we sit there nicely, that is until the wind picks up to 35 knots, about 40 mph and we drag again.  I’ve had enough of this……Heave up the anchor again, but this time I elect to sit there on joystick, providing a lee for the tenders while we do so. To cut a long story short, 2 hours late, having had to ‘swing the magnetic compass’  and recover our starboard tenders in atrocious conditions, Portree rapidly looked pleasingly smaller as we made for Belfast. 

Karen went ashore though and had a lovely day, (as did the guests, oblivious to our trying day)

North through the Sound of Raasay, in gale-force winds and seas and a turn to the west before heading south-west down the coast of Scotland, putting the wind astern and consequent relative ‘calm’.  Belfast, a port I used to visit in the 70’s when I worked on ferries during my summer break from the University (when studying for my certificate exams).  Those days, one wouldn’t go ashore, too dangerous for a Brit then…..

I went ashore with Karen, for a wander, taking one of the ship provided ‘shuttle’ buses.  It is cold and sunny.  We go to St. George’s Market, all hustle and bustle, fishmongers, butchers, food stalls and stalls selling everything from 6,000 year old ‘bog oak’ jewellery to clothing, trinkets and heaven knows what else.

A walk to the city centre, a lovely coffee at a streetside cafe and a walk around the centre.

The main shopping centre street is lined with these, several of them, each with a famous ship, built  for the White Star line, (Titanic was one). Each name is on the ‘stem’.

An evening ashore, dinner after visiting the Titanic museum, built here in Belfast by Harland & Wolff shipyard, famed for their building of magnificent liners of a bygone age.  Dinner on the “Nomadic”, the last surviving ‘tender’ which took passengers from Maritime railway stations out to the liners, which were too large to come in to port.

 

 

Then a late departure towards Cork and Cobh and it is from here that I write.  Guests are ashore enjoying the Irish countryside and castles and I will leave you with some photos I took on the way in.