Bolghatty Marina
Jackamy
Paul & Derry Harper
Wed 26 Jan 2011 04:39
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09:59.111N 076:16.096E
Tuesday 26th January
After a fantastic buffet breakfast in the
hotel we completed checking in with immigration, customs and the port
authority. There was so much form filling throughout the process,
Paul believes that he signed his name over fifty times. Once the
bureaucracy was completed we set about relaxing by the pool with Miss Tippy,
where we met a lovely couple, Ron and Jean. Although they now live in
Essex, Jean was born in Shropshire and Ron in Aberystwyth so we
had a lot to talk about. We had such a nice time chatting with them that we gave
Ron directions to the house in Aberdovey and we're hoping that one day they'll
knock on our door.
 Our ride to
immigration
 Looking out at the boats from
the hotel whilst chatting to Ron and Jean
Unfortunately we didn't have
much time by the pool as high tide was 15:00 and we needed every millimetre
of water we could get to get us round to the marina as we've heard that
it's a very shallow channel. It would have been nice to remain anchored at the
hotel but with all the large cargo boats maneuvering around the port, the
authorities didn't want us anchoring in the channel, which is
understandable.
The waterways were full of boats,
all different shapes and sizes, as we made our way 2 miles deeper into the
harbour. We had cargo ships and cruise ships lined up at the docks to our
starboard, fishing boats dotted all around and tour boats appearing from
every direction. And the water was full off water hyacinth which had obviously
become dislodged from mangroves or something similar and it was flowing in with
the tide.
 A fishing boat........An egret
resting on a clump of water hyacinth
 Fishing in
Coracle's
 Following Miss Tippy to the
marina
 A traditional boat full of
school children having a tour
The first section of the channel
we had no problems, then as instructed we took a wide berth around a little
island and suddenly the depth dropped and we had 20 centimetres between us and
the bottom. Slowly we edged our way round and headed for a set of white stakes,
which we were to keep to our starboard. Before long we had no water beneath the
boat, our speed reduced considerably and we pushed our way through the mud to
the marina. After assessing our first designated berth and deciding we had no
chance of getting in we dropped our anchor and backed in alongside the pale blue
and white fishing boat you can see towards the right of the picture below. This
was easier said than done as again we were actually sat on the bottom and
struggled to line the boat up to reverse back. Once we were able to maneuver
freely it all went smoothly with men on the pontoon to take our lines and
Commander Jose overseeing everything. Jose the manager of the marina has been
fantastic since and after being introduced just once he has remembered all
of our names, he seems like a good man.
 Bolghatty Marina
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