Day 35
Some of the fiercest weather conditions of the Atlantic Ocean can be witnessed in the Biscay Bay. The area is home to large storms during the winter months and there have been countless ships wrecks reported from the area as a result of the gruesome weather.
KaranC [https://www.marineinsight.com/life-at-sea/why-the-bay-of-biscay-is-dangerous-for-ships/]
The Bay of Biscay has a fearsome reputation. So, being someone who prefers fair-weather sailing whenever possible, I had taken a morbid interest in the area for some time before boarding Astor. I had followed weather reports, wave height charts, wind predictions, specialized information about the Bay of Biscay specifically. I had steeled myself to be ready to cope with whatever the ocean was going to throw at us.
We slipped away form the London Cruise Terminal at Tilbury while passengers were all engaged in their lifeboat drills. Quietly slipping down the Thames, we entered the Channel about tea time. It’s a very busy waterway and I was glad to be confident in our crew’s capabilities, the ship’s navigation facilities and her obvious seaworthiness.
It was a very pleasant evening and we slept well. By morning we were approaching the dreaded Bay. Tilbury to the Bay is not a very long time to get one’s sea legs. During other voyages we had found that we became so used to the ship’s soothing motion that we only noticed the lack of it when we disembarked to go ashore and wobbled like drunken sailors. We were not at that stage as we approached the feared area.
Leaving Brest to port, we proceeded at a steady 18 knots towards Madeira as we arrived at the northern entrance to the Bay. So far, so good. Nothing much had changed. No wall of mountainous seas; no screaming hurricanes. Have we taken a wrong turning??
The sky was quite grey and covered in cloud, there was a breeze blowing and the waves were not more than one metre high. It seems we had managed to enter this sea on one of those, relatively rare, occasions when it was relatively calm. Being an optimist, I, of course, couldn’t believe it would last the entire crossing. Surely the worst was just ahead and would be really scary! We sailed on. And on, and on. The caption told us it was one of the calmest crossings he had made and that we were very lucky.
I’m very happy to be lucky!! Madeira here we come!!