Friday 16 August 2013
Port St Peter, Guernsey, Channel Islands, UK

After another room service breakfast and an efficient tender ride to shore I am ready for a 10am walking tour through the seafront and commercial sections of Port St Peter, the main city on the Isle of Guernsey, ending at Castle Cornet, part of the island's maritime fortifications.

 

The local guide, a native of Guernsey, has lived here for over 60 years and knows local history and folktales really well.  The Channel Islands were the only parts of Britain occupied by German forces during WWII and there is ample evidence of the enemy's presence all over the islands.  Most of the bunkers and German settlements are along the coastline outside the city, but the residents of Port St Peter retain vivid memories of personal loss and heroism.  Besides guiding the group to a number of monuments dedicated to events of the war along the harbor, our guide also has many photographs and newspaper articles from the time that make those events more real.  As we move away from shore and into the city proper, war memorials give way to modern economic reality and the lure of 21st century shopping.  All the usual brands and stores are here, with the added incentive of tax-free shopping, since the Channel Islands do not contribute to the British tax base and, in fact, issue their own currency (which makes pretty souvenirs but is useless elsewhere in the world).  The tour ends with a visit to Castle Cornet for coffee and raisin cake in the cafe and the shooting of the noonday gun, a daily occurance which is sure to break the eardrums of anyone who gets too close.

All morning we have been beset by misty rain and drizzle and as it gets to be time to leave the Castle, the rain comes down harder.  I really can't complain; as I mentioned in the last blog entry, this is the first real rain since I left New York on the QM2 on 27 July.  Besides, the bad weather gives me the excuse to stop in all the shops on the way back to the tenders and the ship in time for a late lunch of pizza and salad.

Just before dinner the Captain announces that we will spend the night at anchor in the harbor off Port St Peter, instead of departing for Zeebrugge, Belgium (our last port before Amsterdam).  The original scheduled allowed for two nights at sea and arrival in Zeebrugge at 8am on Sunday.  The new schedule means we will spend a peaceful night at anchor and leave Guernsey at 8am on Saturday, still arriving on time in Zeebrugge on Sunday morning.  Because the distance to travel is very short, the Captain would have to reduce the speed of the Prinsendam to 8 knots, which is not good for the efficiency of the engines and frustrating to other ships in the English Channel.  Leaving in the morning will mean travelling at about 15 knots, much better for the engines.

At 7:30pm I join my new friends for a very good martini in the Ocean Bar, followed by dinner (with apologies to SV): a glass of quality French champagne, tomato and salmon carpaccio, tomato  caprese salad, New York strip steak with all the usual accompaniments, and Key Lime Pie.  At 9:30 I attend the finals of "Dancing with the Stars at Sea," a contest running on all Holland America ships throughout 2013.