Category: 2020 – Covid-19

After having to self isolate for 14 days because of being in contact with a family member who tested positive for Covid-19, we thought that a day out was high on the agenda for our first day of freedom. Where should we go? Well, in the end, we decided a return visit to Weymouth would be good and a coastal walk along the opposite side of the bay to Portland providing somewhere different for us to explore.

We made an early start from home and arrived in Weymouth just after 9:00, after a hearty breakfast, we then made a 10-minute drive to Bowleaze Cove. From there we walked the coastal path for 2¼ miles to Osmington Mills and with heavy showers forecast, we made sure we had the appropriate clothing. As luck would have it, full waterproofs weren’t required on this occasion because we seemed to dodge all the bad weather, we could see the showers rolling in across the bay, fortunately, none passed directly over, but the threat was always there.

At Osmington Mills we had hoped to have a drink and a quick snack in the Smugglers Inn before making the return journey. Very disappointed to get there only to be told no walk-in customers today, only pre-bookings and they were fully booked. With 50 plus empty picnic tables outside and pubs in other areas being told to close, it was a very strange reception.
There was nothing to it other than to make our way back to Bowleaze Cove and enjoy the sunshine, the weather being much brighter on the return leg.

We got much closer to the ships today which the photos don’t seem to have captured very well. Still, it was great to get out into the fresh air after 14 days being stuck at home.

We took a trip out yesterday for a change of scenery, Portland Bill was our destination and its somewhere we have always enjoyed visiting, apart from the fact its a nice coastal venue, it was also a great day for a walk. While driving across the Chesil Beach road we spotted all the ships anchored in Weymouth Bay. Loads of them just sat out there and it is really a sad sight. They should be all over the world and not sat just off the coast of Dorset and empty of passengers. If I had got my brain into gear I should have gone to the Osmington end of Weymouth to get a better view of the bay but as it happened we ran out of time any way.

Weymouth Bay has been selected because basically it’s a free anchorage while offering a safe location for the ships, the bay providing a natural shelter from westerly storms by Portland and Chesil Beach. It has been reported that there have been anywhere between 5 and 10 cruise ships seen at anchor in Weymouth Bay so it has previously been more crowded than this.

After getting home and reading up on the situation, there are even local boat operators taking sight seeing trips out to view them. Maybe something to do another day…….

From what I can determine from the photos and the marine traffic website, the list includes, Queen Mary 2, Queen Elizabeth, Carnival Valor, Britannia, Marella Discovery, Marella Explorer.

I decided to write this post because I felt an urge to record what has happened this year and at the same time just make at least one contribution to the blog in 2020.

The very last thing I wrote on this blog was on the 12 November 2019, little did I know how the world was about to be turned upside down in the months that followed by a global coronavirus pandemic that was given the name of Covid-19. These were the words at the end of my last post……………….

We now have nothing booked so I have no idea when the next instalment will be or even what it will be, fingers crossed we don’t have to wait too long.

By the end of 2019, all we had managed to book was a cruise that wasn’t sailing until 2022 (some 3 years ahead), with nothing else for the preceding two years.  All I can say for certain is its very unusual for us not to have at least one cruise in the pipeline that isn’t too far away and you could almost say it was like we had some sort of subconscious premonition that something was about to happen?

When 2020 arrived, all we had in the calendar for the year ahead was a land based holiday to see family in South Africa and a long weekend in Budapest but because of the coronavirus situation neither have happened. Foreign travel simply has not been an option for us in 2020 so we have just knuckled down and got on with our strange existence, fortunate to still have a jobs and able to work while also having the small saving grace of being able to put some money aside for future experiences when this all blows over or a vaccine is found.

Being in lockdown and working from home has given me the opportunity to spend a little time on the blog, lots of sorting out of photos and not that many of you will have spotted but I have also changed the WordPress theme as the old one was a little dated. I have hopefully managed to keep everything looking as close to the original as possible and it shouldn’t need updating now for a long time.

So, what next? Well currently I cannot even bring myself to consider looking at cruises, with most of the cruise lines at the moment abandoning any of their itinerary’s until the end of November and some even until the beginning of next year, it would be foolish to even look at anything until a vaccine is widely available.

This will only be the second year that we have not taken a cruise since we started in 2006, the previous time was in 2008 but at least back then we actually managed to set foot on a ship with a visit on HAL’s Eurodam. The nearest we have been to ship this year is when we went for a walk from Sandbanks to Old Harry Rocks and spotted 3 ships (Aurora, Arcadia and Queen Victoria) anchored off the coast of Bournemouth.

Its not been the easiest of times but at least we are all fit and healthy here, and I hope that this post finds you safe and well too. No doubt, you will be just like us, waiting for the green light to pick up where we left off.

Fingers crossed we won’t have to wait too long.