Discvovery Day 6

Day 6 Cobh.

Caryll had been before but went to Cork and this was my first visit here. Since we hope to be back here in August on Nautica, we decided to explore Cobh rather than get the train into Cork. In view of the weather it was a good decision as there is a lot to do in Cobh indoors.

We arrived around midnight so we got up at 7.30am and had our usual breakfast in the main dining room. I had taken to having a sausage (very nice), piece of  bacon (also good) and then either mushrooms (which I love) or grilled tomatoes – you couldn’t have both since they were served on alternate days!

The weather was back to our norm of gale-force winds and torrential rain. We walked along the seafront to the Titanic Experience which was open. This was quite moving – we were there just two days after the 101 anniversary of the sinking and to stand at the jetty where her final passengers embarked the tenders to take them to Titanic moored out in the harbour,was sobering to say the least.

 

Cobh is also the port where the bodies and survivors of the Lusitania were brought and this is covered well in the Heritage Centre in the old station. The Titanic and Lusitania memorial are within a few yards of each other on the main promenade. We walked up to the cathedral and since a service was just starting, stayed for half an hour. When I opened the door to come down, I was nearly blown off my feet. The wind had become much worse and I was seriously worried about getting back down the exposed hill. We both made it safely and hit the shops. At one of the craft shops there was a fascinating demo of glass cutting – Waterford Crystal style. We also went to the small local museum housed in a redundant church just above the berth. Caryll stayed ashore to find WiFi and headed back to the ship to pack as we were disembarking the next day – we thought!

Both of us having pretty much completed packing, an announcement came over the tannoy again – not the captain. There was no way Discovery could sail tonight in the high winds so we would stay in Cobh and they would assess the situation at 1am. Passengers were free to go ashore until that time. Great I thought – a night in an Irish pub, great music and a pint of Guinness!! I stood and looked down the gangway – the wind was lashing the ship, waves were flooding the pontoon we were moored against, rain was horizontal – nothing was worth facing that! In fact one lady was blown over on the quayside and injured her wrist.

 

However – having made that statement – nothing was said about what to do next – should we unpack? When were we likely to get home? It was probably a good hour before another announcement was made – we should keep our luggage and put it out at midday on Thursday. We went in to dinner and then watched a little of the “Eurovision” show, in between watching the wild weather outside. Decided to go to bed and see what the morning would bring.