"CAP FINISTERE" sailing the Bay of Biscay, photos 17.12.2013

"PONT-AVEN" sailing the Bay of Biscay

"PONT-AVEN" cruising the Bay of Biscay as promised before, this trip goes back to the 15th of October, another crossing from Portsmouth to Santander, a rough ride for a part of the trip where we encountered 7/8 force winds with waves that reached 4 meters, quite common for this time of the year, the ship once again performed impeccably.

"PONT-AVEN" cruising the Bay of Biscay

The Bay of Biscay is one of the most difficult seas for ships to confront during bad weather, not on this occasion when the regular "PONT-AVEN" was once again travelling the Bay, despite being February it was a relatively warm afternoon and evening with temperatures approaching the double figures, more like spring really, so enjoyable to travel by sea in these conditions, photos 18.2.2013

"BARFLEUR" to resume service with BRITTANY FERRIES

 It was recently announced that the "BARFLEUR" at present on charter with DFDS/LD LINES on the Dover/Calais route is to resume service with BF on the Cherbourg/Poole crossing next March, good news for the frequent passengers, for both regions on the Channel and of course for the BF crews. There has been some complains about the DEAL SEAWAYS not being able to cope with the 45 minutes turnarounds on the Dover/Calais, the fact is she was not tailored for that type of ferry service, she will do well as always when she resumes service on the route she was built for

                                   Barfleur at sea in May last year

                                  On board the DEAL SEAWAYS, 16.6.2012, probably no need to change the name

           

                                     DEAL SEAWAYS at sea 16.6.2012

                                     DEAL SEAWAYS arriving Calais 16.6.2012

Top photo, "BARFLEUR" departing Poole 21.5.2011

"BARFLEUR" chartered to LD LINES/DFDS

Unexpected post on this blog, the BARFLEUR arriving at Calais on the 17.6.2012, the ship is on charter with the new joint-venture LD LINES/DFDS on the Dover/Calais route, she does five crossings per day and together with the NORMAN SPIRIT they are the only competition on this busy service to P & O FERRIES, after the collapse with SEAFRANCE. I have travelled on the "DEAL SEAWAYS" her ridiculous new name and was pleased to see her back at sea, she still flies the French flag and is registered at Cherbourg, I hope she will go back to BF sooner than later

Remember the beautiful "QUIBERON"

Seen here at Plymouth on top and leaving Ouistreham second photo, is the beautiful BF ferry "QUIBERON", both photos from 2002 last year that the vessel was in service with BF. The ship was named after the rock-strewn bay on the west coast of Brittany about 100 miles from the city of Brest. "QUIBERON" was built in 1975 as the NILS DACKE, she served BF between 1984 and 2002, I have fond memories of this beautiful ship, sailed several times on QUIBERON one of them from Saint-Malo to Portsmouth in 2001 where we were overwhelmed by an amazing storm. "QUIBERON" ended her days at Alang in 2010 named D'ABUNDO