The Sea is Making Herself Felt Today--Crossing the Bay of Biscay.

This is the huge area defined by the west coast of France and the north coast of Spain.   Here the might of the Atlantic Ocean gets trapped , if you will, causing swells, today in the 15 to 20 foot range.  The commodore in his noon announcement described them as confused, as in coming at the ship from all directions.   Deck 2 is the lowest passenger deck and it's great fun watching the wave action from there as the ship slices through the water.  You get a real feel of just how fast this ship goes.   Her top speed is 30 knots, which she rarely does, her average is usually in the 22 to 24 knot range, which is 25 to 28 mph or so.  No other ships built today go this fast,  or handle heavy seas as well.    In Southampton yesterday  around  700 people  disembarked,  including the gentlemen from Morocco.  Everyone at our dinner table had grown fond of them--they are missed.     Replacing them are a couple from Liverpool, who I think will settle in just fine.    A lot of people got on in Southampton, mainly British, but also quite a number of German and French.  I heard that 200 people missed the ship due to the bad weather in Britain, and that they will be boarded in Rome.  At whose expense I don't really know,  but I would guess that if you had made your flight arrangements through Cunard they cover it all,  otherwise you're on your own.    It would be really awful to miss the boat!   It's one of the reasons I went to NYC three days early.