Day 3 - St David's to Milford Haven

Day 3 St David's Head to Milford Haven 

Having passed St David's head in the night passage, we still had a long way to go to the Scillies and we were concerned about the amount of fuel we had left. What could be more natural than to steam up Milford Haven to get some more ?
On paper it looked very tricky, but in practice was much more straight forward than it looked. We were lucky to find the lock open and an easy berth awaiting us.
Equally, Windjammer Marina is the kind of old fashioned yacht chandlers that should by rights no longer exist, by which I mean nice people who know what they're talking about being helpful and selling useful stuff for reasonable prices. To say nothing of the  hilarious anecdote concerning over indulgence at Port Elizabeth Yacht Club !

Full of water, diesel, gas and fish and chips, we passed through the locks again - old hands by this time, and back out, down river to sea - leaving behind us an island of helpful cheery people in an ocean of otherness.

The skipper - still laughing about Port Elizabeth  yacht club.

The lock gates start to open

...and through we go

Dolphin encounter in the Irish Sea

28 May17. Fantastic encounter with a pod of around 10 - 12 dolphins literally in the midlle of the Irish Sea.

They stayed with us for about 5 to 10 minutes and gave us a spectacular display, swimming through the bow wave, diving under the boat and jumping clear of the water,often two or three abreast.
Fantastic - thankyou dolphins !

Its the end of the season!

Just one more sailable weekend before Annabella comes out of the water !

Thorpeness - in Suffolk.

This last week or so saw the weather turn really wintery - and I woke up in the forepeak last Sunday morning  really quite cold.  We had a few days off in Suffolk (without the boat). Look at those cloud formations - brrrgh.
It has been a long summer and a good season. In some ways not all our objectives have been met - but we're reacxhing the end better sailors and with a better boat, and we've had some good times, so well satisfied.
We've reached some conclusions about how to improve the boat - so watch out for our posts over the winter!

Dolphin Encounter

Brilliant dolphin encounter on Sunday 21st - a pod of around half a dozen grown ups on passage from Barmotuth top Pwllheli. Clearly something more interesting than Annabella to diving for !
It's always good to see dolphins and great to have a late season encounter.

Clearly something more interesting than Annabella to go diving for !
It's always good to see dolphins and great to have a late season encounter.

Apologeis for for low definition + shakey video, but wer'e only just getting the hang of this!
** more apologies - video not working on ios !**

An action packed return to Pwllheli

Something for everyone in return leg.
Starting out sunny and flat it soon became  overcast with winds freshening, backing and some squally rain.
A maginficent dolphin encounter as we passed Sarn Baedrig - with a pod of four breaking the surface line abreast swimming alongside and diving under the bow wave. Sorry - no pictures this time.
Many thanks to Bill for excellent work at the helm.
The weather closed in from this point onwards, with more rain and higher more variable winds, culminating in rather a hot landing at Pw. Many thanks to Ian of Rebellion for his help on hand!
And forgot to mention the puffins we saw - flying and diving into the swell !

Dolphin encounter

We've encountered dolphins quite regularly off the Lleyn peninsula, or rather they've come and found us. This must have be one of the most exciting episodes, partly because it took place in such clear conditions but also how close they came and their sheer exuberance.

Sorry about the rickety quality of the video, I wasn't really expecting to take it !