Cobh

Beautiful, beautiful Cobh.

We were woken by the sounds of docking. Having a cabin so far forward we are always disturbed by the noise of the hawsers and thrusters and whatever else is used to tie us up. If the anchor is dropped the racket is even more deafening and the cabin vibrates as the huge chain scrapes through the opening in the ship's side. Each link is about a metre in length. I can't imagine what the weight of the whole chain plus anchor must be.

Anyhow, back to Cobh.

I was up first and I opened the curtains to see the most picturesque view yet. Cobh is small and the houses perch on the edge of the hill as it slopes down to the sea. Outside the window was a small grey stone church surrounded by quaint cottages. Charming!

The people of Cobh apparently like Australians for they had planned for our visit and had pronounced it 'Australia Day'. Celebrations included a program which included Irish dancing, an Army band playing and local artistes performing. There was a festive air and many local families were out and about enjoying the day as much as we were. Both Australian and Irish flags were for sale and many people had bought one of each. The pubs were full to overflowing and everyone, locals and visitors, mixed happily.

The houses in neat rows up the hill were mostly similar in design but all had doors of different colours. They made a very pretty picture. Standing proudly amidst them was the new church - a cathedral! The old church which we'd seen from our window had been turned into a museum. I can't imagine how a town the size of Cobh could afford to build such a huge church.

Most of the action was taking place in the commercial part of town, down along the water. Here the coloured doors were still evident and they were complemented by potted petunias everywhere. It was sunny and quite hot and the water was sparkling in the harbour.

We took a taxi to have a look at the town from a different angle. The gardens were neat and was everything was clean. Fields outside town were as green and surrounded by stone walls from which hung pots of, guess what? Yep, petunias!

We asked the taxi driver about them. Apparently there is a group of retired folk who tend all the potted plants.

Cobh has two main claims to history. It was the last port of call of the Titanic and the remains of the dock from which passengers were tendered out to the ship still stands. The White Star symbol is still evident on the dock building.

The other claim is that many of the people who died in the Lusitania sinking early in WW1 were buried in Cobh. We visited the cemetery and found their graves.

What a great send off we had! The dock was crowded with locals come to see us off and yet another band played as the crew prepared for departure bringing in the paraphernalia that is always placed on the dock, such as the Princess Cruises canopy, chairs, potted palms, etc. They continued to play as the gangways were raised and stored and the hawsers were let free. It was still playing as we pulled away while passengers and Cobhians (?) waved and shouted farewell to each other. Flags of both nations were everywhere.

As we sailed away we could see that the people of Cobh were not just on dock to wave goodbye but were all along the upper streets as well. They were waving flags and calling out as we passed.

Just when we thought it was all over there was a tremendous noise and a coast guard helicopter appeared almost on the deck with us. They hooted and circled the ship several times as they escorted us out to sea.

There was hardly a dry eye on board by that time and I think we would all have been overjoyed had the captain announced that we were returning to spend a lifetime with our new best friends of Cobh.

As soon as we rounded the cape and entered the Atlantic again the sea became rougher, again! We have five sea days now until Bermuda.

Yippee!