Lightvessel Varne (United Kingdom) - From the Independence of the Seas - August 16th, 2025
As we were heading back to Southampton on our last sea day before returning to port, we saw some great lightvessels in the English Channel. Trinity House, the organization in the UK that manages lighthouses and lightvessels, has a number of active (though unmanned) lightvessels (or lightships) in the English Channel. By virtue of having a shorter trip from Rotterdam to Southampton, we were able to get some nice pictures of lightvessels in the daylight. This is the Lightvessel Varne. From the Trinity House site: "Varne Lightvessel - Marking the dangerous Varne bank, a five and three quarter mile long sand bank in the Dover Strait, lying nine miles southwest of Dover." I have seen numerous lightships, but none that were in use. This is yet another in a long list of firsts for me on this cruise. These were taken on Saturday 16th as we headed back to Southampton. On board the Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas for our first back-to-back cruises. These pictures are from the sailing on August 12th, 2025: Independence of the Seas (Royal) from Southampton (UK) to Hamburg, Germany & Rotterdam, Netherlands. So many firsts on these cruises! Travels in August 2025.
Lightvessel Varne (United Kingdom) - From the Independence of the Seas - August 16th, 2025
As we were heading back to Southampton on our last sea day before returning to port, we saw some great lightvessels in the English Channel. Trinity House, the organization in the UK that manages lighthouses and lightvessels, has a number of active (though unmanned) lightvessels (or lightships) in the English Channel. By virtue of having a shorter trip from Rotterdam to Southampton, we were able to get some nice pictures of lightvessels in the daylight. This is the Lightvessel Varne. From the Trinity House site: "Varne Lightvessel - Marking the dangerous Varne bank, a five and three quarter mile long sand bank in the Dover Strait, lying nine miles southwest of Dover." I have seen numerous lightships, but none that were in use. This is yet another in a long list of firsts for me on this cruise. These were taken on Saturday 16th as we headed back to Southampton. On board the Royal Caribbean Independence of the Seas for our first back-to-back cruises. These pictures are from the sailing on August 12th, 2025: Independence of the Seas (Royal) from Southampton (UK) to Hamburg, Germany & Rotterdam, Netherlands. So many firsts on these cruises! Travels in August 2025.