Belgian Ferry Blog

If I would have taken the Facebook quiz that determines how many % you are lucky it would have probably been around 100. Not only did I have a day off between 2 days of work, I was able to experience a proper storm onboard the Pride of Calais. This might have been for the last time ever. Because I live over an hours drive away from Calais (especially in this kind of weather :crazy:

) it was difficult to estimate when I would get on the ferry. I arrived at Calais at 20 past 12 and made my way to the ticket office. I asked if the next sailing (12.50) was the Pride of Calais and it was which was very good news.

The lady behind the counter said the ship would leave at 13.15 because of the weather. I opted for Club Class this time because on the Calais it is worth every penny in this kind of weather. The expected boarding time came and went and soon it was well past 13.15 and no news yet. At 13.30 we could board and I knew that this time the weather would be quite bad. Not only was there a high whistling noise outside but I could feel the wind coming inside through 2 sets of doors and I was sitting a few metres from the inner door. There were about a dozen footies and as we boarded the bus you could feel it rocking cause of the wind. We made our way to the Pride of Calais and passed dozens of waiting lorries. I must say the Pride of Calais didn't look very good externally, it is clear that she in now in final stage of her service. We parked alongside the ship and we had to wait for the top deck to clear. Another bus had to follow us onto the ship. Once onboard I went to reception to inform them I wasn't leaving the ship at Dover.

I went outside to have a look and I saw that the waves around the sand bank outside the port were much bigger than usual. I made my way to the Club Lounge and there were quite a few passengers, mostly elderly people. After the last few lorries had made their way onto the top deck the captain came on the PA. To say it briefly, he sounded quite anxious about the weather. There was severe gale in the channel with rough sea conditions and a steep swell and he said that the ship would be making akward noises and motions during the crossing to people who aren't used to this kind of weather. I thought okay that doesn't sound too bad, but his announcement went on for about 4 minutes. He said that it would be best to just sit down the whole and not to move around due to the motion of the vessel and if you had to go around to use the handrails.

We left the berth once the Rodin had berthed. The wind at Calais was already 35 knots on average gusting to 40 and this in port. We slowly turned with near maximum bow thruster power applied as the ship rattled and shook in a way I had never experienced before. It was nice to see that despite the age of the Calais the crew still take pride in her and she remains quite well maintained inside and a brand new P&O house flag adourned the bow of the ship, always nice for a video cause it shows the force of the wind :thumbup:

. As we passed the pierhead at Calais I got my first clue that this crossing would be very rough. The waves were already up to a metre in height about 500 metres from port and as we went further along the coast the doubled in height and there were many breaking waves. We then turned towards Dover but the seas didn't build yet because the prevailing wind was from the SSW so we were in the lee of the shore for longer. However once we were a few minutes from the coast it started. The seas rapidly build and the wind increased to an average 45-50 knots with gusts in excess of 60 knots. I'm not very good at judging wave heights but as we cleared the calmer bit between the two shipping lanes the wave height increased to an average of 3 or 4 metres with some waves probably reacing 4.5 or 5 metres.

I went outside for a few minutes a few miles from Dover. I was the only one out on deck along with a few crew members

This is the only picture I took which clearly shows the sea state yesterday. The Dover Strait looked more like the Atlantic yesterday

. You can just make out the Kent or Canterbury in the background

We didn't even have a visible wake because the waves simply pushed it aside :mrgreen:

The visibility was very poor and you couldn't even make out the horizon. The captain came on the PA and said that we were in the Downs and we were waiting for our berth which was occupied by the Pride of Burgundy. Knowing this could take a long time I went outside despite and was surprised to see a paper on the door stating that due to adverse weather conditions access to the outside decks was prohibited. However they forget to put one on the door at the stern. The Seafrance Rodin was behind us and I was able to take some pictures of her manoeuvering into position.

This was taken in the Downs where we spent 1 hour waiting for a berth

The Seafrance Rodin just about to plough through a wave

After spending some time outside I went back in and noticed that the door of one of the lifejacket storage closets had been opened probably by the movement of the shp. Then the captain came on the PA again stating that we could get into port 45 minutes earlier because we could berth at number 6 instead. Due to the misty conditions we were very close to port before I noticed it. We hit a few waves and threw up some spray and through the windows I could see a familiar looking white hulk moving towards the entrance of the port. The Spirit of Britain was just leaving so I turned on my camera, left it and went outside to take some pictures.

Luck was on my side yesterday, because the Spirit of Britain left as we arrived.

The 'Spirit' seemed to cope very well with the weather

After she had passed I went back inside just as we covered the last few metres to the harbour entrance and she was still rolling quite a lot. We were able to berth without many problems but the noise whilst we were at the berth was quite loud. The wind was howling and you could hear the mooring lines being strained by the movement of the vessel.
The Rodin came into port just as we were securely on our berth. Next in line was the Seafrance Nord Pas De Calais and she did make quite an entrance. Too bad I didn't get a picture cause she heeled over so much at one point you could count the number of lorries on her weather deck. She then positioned herself in the harbour and we were watching her trying to get into position to berth. It was quite scary to see her come so close to us, remembering the engine failure she had suffered yesterday. She had to use tugs and her anchor just to get into position. As she came near the berth it was clear she was going hit the pier and she did. You could hear her scraping along the pier and the paint actually came off in the process. Finally she got into position after what can only be described as very skillfull manoeuvering by her officers.

The Seafrance Rodin pluning into the swell

The Seafrance Rodin berthed very quickly

I had a drink and I feared that the usual scenario would be repeated where the outbound crossing is rough but the return is calm. It looked like it was calming down but it was only for a few minutes as the wind was soon back up to speed and gusting to 45-50 knots once again. Waves were breaking over the southern breakwater and the water cascaded into the port. We had to wait for the Dunkerque Seaways and Pride of Burgundy to depart. The Burgundy looked as she was going through Western Docks but she turned around with both tugs on stand by. She ploughed through the entrance and caught a few big waves completely covering her bow in a wall of spray. Then it was our turn. We didn't really catch any big waves because we just went over the top of them. This was due to the fact that the Calais was fully loaded with 55 lorries onboard, 50 cars and 5 coaches. The strike at Eurotunnel mentioned by the captain probably contributed to this. What a day to go on strike though :lol:

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Once we were well clear of the port the seas started to build again and at times she rolled quite severly with stuff sliding and falling down all over the place. The wind hadn't dropped in strenght whatsoever and was still up to Force 10. We had to slow down along the French coast to allow the Burgundy to berth at Calais. The Spirit of Britain appeared from the fog once again and I rushed outside to take some pictures.

The Spirit of Britain passed us off Calais as we waited for the Pride of Burgundy to berth

Eventually we were allowed to enter the port and both tugs at Calais were on duty which is quite unusual but then again the wind was still gusting to 90 km/h and there was noticeable swell in port. This meant we had to disembark via the upper car deck but a lorry was blocking the bus and it took almost 30 minutes after berthing before we could get off. The drive back home was not very pleasant, there was torrential rainfall all the way from Calais to beyond Dunkerque and you could only drive at 80 km/h to prevent any mishaps. Eventually I got home by 23.00 but it was worth it. The crew of the Pride of Calais still take pride in their despite although they are looking forward to be tranferred to the Spirit of France in October. I hope that the Calais will remain on the service following the rumours that both the European Seaway and Pride of Burgundy could be leaving the Dover fleet. Who knows what will happen.

Greetings
Michael

I went to Canterbury with a friend last week. We were very fortunate with the weather because it was a very dull and grey day on the Continent but a sunny and warm day in the Southeast. It must have been a very busy day because we could not book a retun on the 17.20 from Dover (Spirit of Britain) nor for the 16.20. So eventually we decided to book for the 17.55 return (Pride of Burgundy). The price was ehm very steep, 56 euros for 2 foot passengers. I actually didn't believe what I heard when she said cinquante six euro. :shock:

There weren't that many footies on the outbound sailing but there were 7 coaches and quite a lot of cars and caravans. Add to that another 40 lorries and the sailing became rather crowded. The plus side of being a foot passenger is that you often board before the car/coach passengers so you can get something to eat and drink before the queues build up. There was a light northerly breeze Force 3-4 with a slight sea and swell. We left on time and after an uneventful crossing we arrived in Dover on time.

We then went to Canterbury by bus because there were no trains going to Canterbury that weekend due to engineering works on the line. We had lunch at le Marquesa (or something like that), a very nice Spanish restaurant that serves excellent food at democratic prices. I would really recommend going there and trying it for yourself.

We then returned to Dover by bus where my friend went to KFC cause he had never eaten anything from KFC.
Afterwards we went to the beach to enjoy the lovely weather.

But when we arrived at the terminal we were told we were too late and that we had to take the 18.40. This was strange because we arrived at the terminal more than 40 minutes in advance and normally you can arrive 30-35 minutes before departure and still catch the ferry. I think this was due to the large number of foot passengers (2 buses). The upside of the later departure was the fact that I could travel on the Pride of Calais again.

We had dinner and despite the fact that the burger my friend had was as dry as a bone and not very good, it was still an enjoyable meal. We then spent some time on the outside decks and I was able to take some pictures of the Spirit of Britain passing close to us just outside Calais.It was a very enjoyable trips despite the steep price and the very late departure.

You can find the pictures of that day below.

Greetings
Michaël