Back on Terra Firma...

and thank goodness for that!

Our journey on the boat got off to a good start; we settled into our cabins, had a nice meal and spent the evening having drinks and enjoying each others company. My SO and I have been on this minicruise before and had such a good time that we decided to go again with our boys; we were also joined by my Mum, two of my sisters and my sister's boyfriend. I'm not sure of exactly when I realised something wasn't quite right, probably in the middle of the night when I slid down the bed and hit my head on the wall. I really did my best to get some sleep, hoping that all would be well in the morning. When we got up in the morning it quickly became clear that all wasn't and nor it would it be alright for sometime. Having tackled the shower which had become a health hazard, we made our way to one of the restaurants for breakfast. After struggling to remain upright and trying desperately to avoid the other passengers who were also being thrown about, we finally made it there. We were not there long enough to eat because by this time everybody had started to feel incredibly ill and so began the continuous dashes to the bathroom. The staff on the boat were dutifully handing out sick bags and we managed to purchase some anti-travel sickness pills from the shop, there really wasn't much else to do but head back to the cabins and try to get some rest.
Not long after this, the Captain came over the tannoy system to give an update of what was going on. To cut a long story (and announcement) short, we were in a storm; quite a bad one actually - 2 points on the scale away from being in a hurricane. The Captain had made the decision to change course slightly to try and ease the journey; it did get a whole lot worse before it got slightly better.

I managed to take this picture during one of the calmer moments.

Things got better

On Monday we arrived in Spain having had a more settled night; we were all looking forward to getting off the boat and seeing it a bit of the local area as well. The thing with this minicruise is that it's all about being on the boat and the actual time in Spain is not very long. Still we made good use of our time there, especially my Mum who decided to take the 'shop till you drop' attitude; the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and I too decided that this was a good idea! The weather started off a little drizzly but quickly perked up and we had a great time in Bilbao.

Things got worse

Of course spirits were high amongst all of the passengers when we got back on the boat; these were dampened quickly with the announcement that the weather was looking dodgy for our return journey. I decided to brave the gym as I felt I needed to try and make the most of a bad situation; I lasted about 40 minutes before the feeling of being on the world's most badly designed rollercoaster got the better of me. And so it was back to bed, more pills, lots of water and try to sleep through it. In the early evening we ventured out of our cabins up to a room that was filled with massage chairs - now these were an absolute bargain at £1 for 5 minutes - and we made great use of them.

Things got better again

On Tuesday it was like being on a different vessel in a different ocean; the sea was calm, the sun was out and you could hardly tell that the boat was moving. We headed down to the sauna, pool and jacuzzi which up until this point had been closed because of the severe weather. After lunch we went up onto the top deck and took in the views and the sun and played some games. Thankfully this change meant that everyone was able to enjoy themselves even if it was a couple of days late and after traumatic times.Would I go on this trip again? Probably. I've been on it before and know that it has the potential to be a fantastic little break that isn't overly expensive. Nature is one of those things that is beyond our control; I won't let worrying about it stop me from travelling.

My youngest son JB taking in the ocean views.