FCH's

Following our trip to Newtown, we thought to take our evening meal at the Culver Haven, where previously we had taken coffee and cake. On this occasion, I took pie and boiled potatoes again, just varying the turkey for beef, which proved satisfactory. Place fairly busy, seemingly a mainly early evening place and the proprietor was thinking of B&B to top up on. We also learned that the coastguard cottages (as was) were now mostly owner occupied; half residents, half second homers. From our point of view, plenty of scenic beauty and access to pub, but complete absence of shops would be a minor nuisance.

Outside, it was a fine evening with the sun sinking in the west. Wonderful views over the downs, the bay and the sea to the east. Some swallows taking their evening meal.

Plus we had two large cruise liners going out, about an hour apart, and one coming in. Both the outgoing ones looked to have seven or eight bottles a side (in the sense of references 1 and 2), so they must have been pretty big. We wondered if the mainly Filipino crew were invited to load test one of the bottles from time to time - as I don't suppose the paying customers would have been too keen. Spending a couple of days in one in the middle of a North Atlantic winter storm does not bear thinking about.

Later on, Google turned up a shipping version of the website that tells you about aeroplanes flying overhead, reference 3, and we learned that our two outbound ships were the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mary II, or some such. So fairly fancy. But I had not noticed any Cunard funnels, so maybe I had been confused by their modern shape. Not like the good old days at all.

But then, a couple a days later we spotted another outbound cruise liner from Ryde, this one a paltry four bottles a side job, a paltriness somewhat offset by what seemed to be a huge number of decks. And it turned out to be FCH Seven Seas Explorer, operated by a new-to-us outfit called Regent. Massive Internet footprint, including an entry in Wikipedia which tells us that this was one of the fanciest cruise ships afloat, accommodating a paltry 750 passengers, but having cost getting on for half a billion dollars. With the best bed alone having cost more than 100,000 of them. Made in Italy, thus proving that shipbuilding is not quite extinct in Western Europe. Registered in the Marshall Islands, a place otherwise best known for the Bikini Atoll and the world's first explosion of a hydrogen bomb.

PS: on this last occasion we were puzzled by the naval representative not flying the White Ensign while at sea. What is the Royal Navy coming to?

Reference 1: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/2015/08/zanussi-or-bust.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2017/03/fch-celebrity-constellation.html.

Reference 3: http://www.southamptonvts.co.uk/Live_Information/Shipping_Movements_and_Cruise_Ship_Schedule/.

Reference 4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Seas_Explorer.

Reference 5: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Islands.

Group search key: nta.