SURPRIZE

The remnants of the storm made for a spectacular sunset and I retired to bed after a convivial evening with Miss Molly and Mithril putting the world to rights and bemoaning the proliferation of unreliable mooring balls.

I woke up at dawn and as usual get up and have a look around to see if there is anything of note to deal with.

I also look to see if there are any new arrivals especially if they are unusual.

Last month it was a replica Cornish lugger and this morning it was a big grey French warship. At first I took it to be a mini aircraft carrier carrier, but Mr Google soon found out the true story. It is a helicopter carrier.

The Mistral class is a class of three amphibious assault ships, also known as a helicopter carrier, of the French Navy and Russian Navy. Referred to as "projection and command ships" (bâtiments de projection et de commandement or BPC), a Mistral-class ship is capable of transporting and deploying 16 NH90 or Tiger helicopters, four landing barges, up to 70 vehicles including 13 AMX-56 Leclerc tanks, or a 40-strong Leclerc tank battalion,[3] and 450 soldiers. The ships are equipped with a 69-bed hospital, and are capable of serving as part of a NATO Response Force, or with United Nations or European Union peace-keeping forces.

Three ships of the class are in service in the French Navy: Mistral, Tonnerre and Dixmude.

Wiki.

Based on the number 9013 on the side this one is the Mistral.

If conditions are still favourable I will make the short hop down to Dominica tomorrow morning.