Sunday, 11 August

In stark contrast to the previous day, when I woke up on Sunday the ship felt as though it was barely moving.  While the coffee was brewing, I stepped outside and saw that the seas were, in fact, very calm.  Without a fixed reference point it was difficult to tell how fast we were going, but it did not seem very fast at all.  Oddly, based on where the sun seemed to be rising, it appeared as though we were still going more east than north.  Of note, though, when I checked my iPhone compass, it said we had passed over the prime meridian just a while ago.  Longitudes would now be east instead of west. 

Just before breakfast, at about 07:55, I went outside to get a position check.  Once again...land ho!  There was France off the starboard beam.  And there was an Orange telecom icon on our iPhones.  We were clearly in the English Channel.  Our position was 50-50-53 N, 1-26-51 E.  As we advanced, we hit the spot where ferries shuttle between France and England (Dover & Calais?  South Hampton & Dieppe?), and there were 5 or 6 visible going in both directions.  After this, we would truly be on the last leg of the voyage.

English Channel ferry crossing in front of us

Being Sunday, we had ice cream after lunch.  For the most part the day had been pretty nondescript (aside from the fact that we had passed the English Channel).  The seas were relatively calm, and the weather was OK.  Ellen and I had spent most of the morning reading, writing, and working on the jigsaw puzzle.  

We continued the puzzle after lunch and throughout the afternoon, with Sebastien pitching in.  We finished just before dinner.  

Our after-dinner position was 53-22-45 N, 4-42-58 E.

Shortly after dinner, Chris, Sebastien, Roland, Ellen, and I gathered in the passengers’ lounge for one more evening group gathering before we all went our separate ways the following day.  And Roland gave us a little yodeling and overtones concert.  I would say that for Ellen and me, Roland was by far the most interesting passenger.  So much so that I reserved an entire post for him.