The grand plan had been to go to the Scillies from Kilmore, but the weather forecast for the SW for later in the week was for very strong easterlies, which would give us a real problem getting from the Scillies to Falmouth, and could trap us in the Scillies...which would have been a bit of a problem. Accordingly we decided , reluctantly, to abandon the Scillies and go across to Milford Haven, where we would at least be on the mainland if we were trapped by weather.

 

 We also had a more immediate issue for the coming day, in the form of fog forecast for everywhere we could go. The UK met office was particularly alarmist, forecasting fog banks across the Irish Sea. This was much more extreme than the internet forecasts we were getting , and so we spoke to the Irish Coastgaurd, whose met forecast was much more measured and less extreme. Since we had 4 forecasts from different sources, and only the UK Met Office was a 'no go' we decided to proceed, with the plan to return if visibility remained poor after a couple of hours at sea....we would still have tide for such a return.

 

So, off we went in the murk and mist at 0600, and thankfully no wandering trawlers to contend with.No wind, and mist for a couple of hours and then the mist lifted a bit and we had ' moderate' visibility for the whole crossing, which was under motor in almost still airs.This could have been very boring, but was relieved by some bad and good surprises.

 

First the bad ; our navigation lights failed, and we needed them in poor visibility and if we were delayed and arrived at night. We have an emergency set of battery powered lights so it was into the locker to find them and then rig them for use if needed. Not the best way to pass an hour in a gently rolling sea.

 

Then the good ; we were joined by a big pod of dolphins who stayed with us for perhaps five hours as we motored along. They did all the usual dolphin things...leaping, rolling, riding the bow wave and squeeking and clicking away as they swam past the cockpit. My attempts to take pictures were useless, but John seemed to have a real bond with the little devils and got some good shots as you will see. We were also joined by a lone finch on its migration from somewhere to somewhere else. Seemed a bit of a cheat to hop from ship to ship, but he stayed with us a while, and even perched on John's arm.....No pics unfortunately before it flew off into the yonder.

 

This trip involved some interesting navigation as we approached S Wales, and we came in just N of the traffic seperation scheme off  the tip of SW Wales, and then came through Broad Sound between Skokholm and Skomer bird sanctuary islands, avoiding the aptly named Wild Goose Race. You always know when entering an exciting area because of the number of wreck symbols on the charts. There was no real wind but the sea still had a big swell with lots of swirling eddies in the tide, so we definitely would not try this in a strong wind. Anyway, lots of gannets, puffins and the like, and we were soon entering Milford Sound.  Since we had plenty of time we decided to go to Neyland Marina at the end of the Sound, which is well away from the various oil and gas terminals, and turned out to be a delightful and peaceful spot.

 

This trip was 70 miles and took just under 12 hours under engine, and we had missed the worst of the forecast fog.

--

Brian Whitefoot

 

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