The idea of this trip is to have a mini cruise on the Van Gogh and see the Eden Project.
We originally thought that we would be leaving early Friday morning by coach from Farnham. The reality was it was extremely early! We had to catch the coach at 01:15 and travelled overnight to Harwich. The coach drivers told us there wasn't time for a stop on the way so we would be going straight to the port after the final pickup. In practice we arrived at 6:30 am and were told when we got there that we wouldn't be boarding until about 9:15. I think the coach drivers just wanted to get away. Anyway, it wasn't all bad as we had a nice breakfast and had earned the right to board the ship first (being the first coach to arrive).
The ship was very nice; food, cabins, comfort and facilities are great. Everything apart from alcohol is included and the food is pretty good (although Stu2 didn't like his burger). There is some reasonable weather when we first set out but in the back of our minds is the weather report forecasting gales later.
The storm didn't really hit until just before dinner and started off quite mild. By the end of Dinner we had lost 3 of our party (of 9) to seasickness. This wasn't just bad weather, we're talking force 8-9 (9 is Strong Gale). A lot of people were very ill, but the crew really seemed to be looking after people very well. Unfortunately the cabaret entertainment had pretty much been cancelled with only "Blankety Blank" not being affected.
Due to the storm, queasiness, and no cabaret, everyone returned to their cabins by 10:30pm. I slept like a log! The next morning the sea was calm again and most of us made it to breakfast. We had been delayed by a couple of hours and were worried that we wouldn't have much time at the Eden Project. In the end it turned out fine, we left Eden Project an hour late but still made it back to Farnham just about on time. The coach driver was really good and we chatted to him most of the way back.
It would be easy to look back on this as a bad experience but it just doesn't feel like one. It feels more like it was an adventure. I think maybe had I have been ill, I might have a different view but overall, it was "an experience" and we survived it.