051:42.650 N
005:02.205 W

Milford Haven Marina

We were so pleased to be able to join the rest of the world last night watching Sir David Attenborough’s 100^th birthday celebration on a small screen with a BBC app. Would have joined in the happy birthday singing at the end but was too choked up to even consider opening my mouth. To think he is back to work today, what a legend.

He is so much part of our lives, we often have ‘David Attenborough moments’ in the Minchin household; the arrival of the first Swallows, a Moon rise, the first Blackberry of the season ~ hopefully in the next few days it will be our first Puffin sighting.  All very precious and appreciated moments that remind us of the great man.

Bol and I are reminded on our previous trip with Harry (9) and Isabelle (8) sailing down the Portuguese coast. They were below watching a David Attenborough DVD of a bait ball being consumed when suddenly we found ourselves sailing right through a bait ball being consumed - by tuna from below and gannets from above! We both shrieked “come up on deck and see this”, it was a very special moment as the four of us watched this incredible scene unfold right around us.

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So ahead of the forecasted northerly we have come into the Milford Haven Marina, we passed awesome infrastructure along both shores with huge tankers on the move and at anchor. The entrance has lock gates but coming at high water means 2hrs of ‘free flow’ when the gates remain open, so there was an influx of yachts into the marina with everyone catching each other’s lines, nice.

Pleasant afternoon ashore visiting the local Museum explaining its very interesting history since being a deep-water port from the 1700s. Then the usual boat ‘admin’ required after being at anchor for ten days.

Some of you are kindly asking about Bol’s seasickness; we are delighted to say that he is managing it with a new mix of Kwells and a Tens wristband.

A Kwells tablet is taken before hand then every 6hrs, it begins to work within 20-30 minutes as his mouth goes really dry but that, and initial tiredness, are the only side effects. A huge improvement on the concoction of drugs he took before which ultimately never worked plus had horrible side effects including blurred his vision (scary if you only have one working eye). On the Bristol Channel crossing, he took 5 Kwells tablets over the time, the swell was pretty significant and he felt fine, what a game changer.

It’s peaceful in the marina here and we’re happy to hear the north wind whistling in the rigging!