Photographs © John H. Luxton 2006

What a difference six hours made on Saturday July 29, 2006. The first two photographs show PONT-AVEN in bound from Roscoff for Ringaskiddy around 11:00 on a damp, grey and misty morning. By 13:30 when photographed at the Ringaskiddy ro/ro berth the weather was improving. By the time she departed slightly early at 17:15 it was a fine late afternoon and hundreds of passengers can be seen lining her ample outside decks.

These photographs reveal just how neatly the PONT-AVEN's shelter deck windows have been plated over following her encounter with the freak wave in the Bay of Biscay this spring. It certainly is a very neat job and one can only just see where the windows were with the aid of binoculars. But it looks as though the fine shelter deck viewing area has gone for ever. A great disappointment for those who enjoy travelling on this superb ship.