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Missed breakfast again, so its wine for breakfast - this is becoming a habit. Last night we crossed the northern part of the Bay of Biscay which was quite rough by our standards with the ship pitching and rolling. I got through the night OK, but Claire had recurring nightmares involving the Titanic. The day was bright, sunny and warm so we were able to spend the afternoon on deck above the bridge watching the sea go by. There's not alot to see, land is too far off, there's the occasional ship and a few black-backed gulls. The highlight of the day was seeing the P&O ferry from Santander sail past heading north to Portsmouth :-(. We passed the time reading - Claire's getting into Vikram Seth's "A Suitable Boy" and I'm reading Nelson Mandela's "Long Walk to Freedom", and practising Spanish. Were not that far into the course yet so our conversation is limited to What is your name? Where do you come from? Where do you live? Not exactly stimulating conversation so its just as well there are no spaniards on board.
We don't see much of the crew, apart from a few of the officers on the bridge the rest seem to spend their time below deck. The Chief Engineer is an amiable chap and has promised us a look round the engine room once we get into the Atlantic. After dinner we went up onto deck to watch the ship arrive in Bilbao. There were a two electrical storms, one to the left over the Pyrenees(?) and the other to the right, which lit up the sky with flashes of lighting. We had to wait to enter the harbour for about half an hour, then a pilot from the harbour boarded and helped the captain to guide the ship between the narrow gaps in two harbour walls, then reverse park the ship in its berth. The Chief Engineer showed us his computer consoles where he observes the engine, monitoring all its systems, looks dead easy but he didn't seem keen to let me have a go. Bed at 12.30 - what an exiting life.
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