L'Austral

Le Boreal is our normal visitor at this time of year from Ponant Cruises but she had an incident in the South Atlantic in November 2015.  This involved the evacuation of the crew and guests into life rafts with Royal Air Force Sea Kings from the Falklands and a Royal Navy ship taking them to Stanley. She made her way back to Europe for repairs aboard the COSCO Heavy Transport ship, HLV Kang Sheng Kou.

So, L'Austral, one of her sister ships, arrived at midday from Brittany and made her way past Herm, and its White House Hotel, to anchor only a short tender ride from St Peter Port.

Normally many of the guests on board would be French and their  primary destination would be Victor Hugo's house in Hautville, on the outskirts of St Peter Port. The house is owned by the City of Paris and is open daily except Wednesdays through till the end of September. He lived in Guernsey for 15 years and the Island provided the background to some of his works. Some of the American guests on this Vassar cruise may have studied French Literature and this will be their chosen destination. The liner is chartered on a 'Stepping Stones of Western Europe' cruise with Dwight David Eisenhower II as a guest speaker.

What a glorious sunset does for the light as L'Austral left for St Malo on Wednesday evening. The large Tricolore flies proudly. The liner entered service in 2011 and caters for guests who do not want large liner cruises preferring this more 'superyacht' experience. She will end her cruise by sailing under Tower Bridge on Saturday and dock alongside HMS Belfast.