As we came out of the Ushant Traffic Separation Scheme and entered the English Channel on Betty, I spied a little vessel out of the window. By the time I got dressed and headed up on deck she was further away. It turned out to be Ocean Endeavour, a 12,907gt former ferry turned cruise ship. She began life in the Baltic Sea as Konstantin Simonov until 1996 when she moved to the Mediterranean and sailed as Francesca. She was sold to Mano Cruise in 2001, becoming The Iris. She then went to Kristina Cruise in 2010 as Kristina Katarina until being sold again four years later and gaining her current name. She was heading for Caen, due to arrive on the 24th having left Las Palmas on the 17th. After dinner, I was up on deck for Aurora. She had sailed two hours before us on the 13th, heading to Hamburg for a couple of days before returning to Weymouth anchorage on the 20th. We passed at 8.55pm and it was worth the cold! She would be following us into Southampton in the morning.
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