Solent Fun - champagne in the rain

The last week has been totally relaxed, wet but alot of fun. We spent a couple of nights in Yarmouth, explored a bit and ran from pub to pub in the rain. We then went to the Hamble for the rest of the week and based ourselves at the fabulous Swanwick Marina - great service and a top location in Bursledon. This was a perfect spot for a visit from our gorgeous friend Ellen, who hadn't been in a cockpit for 10 years since she sailed from the UK to New Zealand; so of course we had to go out for a sail even though it was a bit rainy. Sailing on a Saturday in the Solent was a bit of a shock for us who have not seen so many boats for a very long time.

Yarmouth, Isle of Wight

Loved this in one pub - should be standard in all restaurants

Gorgeous UK summer in the Solent

Bubbles on board -Andrew and Elster

Andrew testing our new Hook & Moor system!?!

Dingy Ride to the pub

Jolly Sailor - home of 'Howard's Way' 

Enjoying a pint in the Hamble

So much fun sailing with Ellen

First helm for 10 years!

Very serious Elster - great sailing skill!

We had a great sail out to the end of the Isle of Wight, stopped for lunch and then sailed straight back to Southampton water. It mostly stayed dry but wasn't a particularly nice day.

Lunch anchorage by Osborne House - QueenVictoria & Prince Albert's summer house on the Isle of Wight

Sailing back into Southampton

Girls in the cockpit!

Neatly Castle from Southampton water

Itchen Bridge - we just fit!

We are now in Saxon Wharf - right by the Oyster Yard in Southampton, while they attend to our warranty items. It's all go and we have had about ten people through the boat today but good progress has been made and we hope to be all done by the end of the week.

Sailing

We just got some pictures of us sailing Askari on handover - we love this one of Carolyn on the helm, off Felixstowe docks. That was a fantastic day at the start of our adventure.

Dartmouth to Yarmouth

We spent a further two lovely days in the beautiful and calm Dittisham (also known by locals at 'Dittsum' - think Devon accent....) We had a view of the very pink Ferry Inn on one side and the quay for Greenway, on the other. Greenway is the estate where Agatha Christie's mansion house sits. We had seals pop up next to the boat and tour boats including a paddle steamer passing and ferries from Dartmouth passing by. The weather was a bit rainy so a long lunch at the pub was called for and then it brightened up a bit the next day so we had a lovely walk over the hill, round a creek and across farmland to Dartmouth, followed by lunch and a ferry back to Dittisham.

Dittisham 

Dittisham

Dittisham

After lunch!

Our home in Dittisham

Walk to Dartmouth

Dartmouth

Exploring Dartmouth with a fuel can and a bit of rope!

We totally loved the River Dart; Carolyn went as far as to say it's her favourite place we have been (Andrew's fav so far is Mevagissey). We had a dilemma as we need to get back to the Solent and Wednesday had good wind, maybe a bit too much and rain or the following days were supposed to be light winds and of course rain... So we left about 8.30am in morning in the rain and wind - oh joy!

The trip from Dartmouth to Yarmouth was about 84 miles and took us 11 hours with very little tide assistance - amazing speed again Askari. It rained for the first hour and then we managed to get ourselves into a hole with dramatic rain clouds all around us and we sailed all the way in that hole. The rain came just after we arrived at Yarmouth, on the Isle of Wight. The wind was behind us at 20-25knots most of the way and the sea was about 2metres or more, so it gave us a chance to test our Atlantic Crossing set up, with the jib poled out and the preventer on the main sail. It was a really tiring day as we gybed the sails three times, each time we got a bit faster; there is a lot of bits of rope to get run correctly, but the set up is really secure. We also had to get our tide gates correct at Portland Bill and the Needles Passage - tick well done skipper, we had no overfalls to deal with today which pleased Carolyn alot - overfalls have fast begun the thing I get stressed about.....

View from bedroom window this morning

We often listen to the coast guard calls on the radio when we are sailing - today we heard an exchange between a war ship and solent coastguard - the war ship was sent to find a dinghy floating with a beer keg in it!!

Arrival at the Needles

Falmouth to Dartmouth inc Andrew's Birthday fun

We had two nights relaxing up the River Fal. One day we took the dinghy up to Truro the 'retail centre' of Cornwall - we got lucky as Andrew calculated the tide based on Falmouth but actually Truro has a different datum, so just as well the retail didn't keep us hooked any longer as we only just made it out! Truro was actually a bit sad, missing out on the tourist pound like most of the other places we have been in the South West. We did manage to find a climbing harness though which we have been trying to buy for the last month - much to Carolyn's amusement Andrew had to test it in the shop!

At Anchor on the River Fal

Dinghy into Truro

Hanging out in Truro

King Harry Ferry - QueensBirthday Celebrations 

We left the River Fal early on Saturday morning and interrupted the sail past that was being organised alongside the King Harry Ferry - brass band and lots of flags and dignitaries all up at 6.30am - very patriotic. We left the estuary in the fog and motored for a couple of hours before the wind picked up a bit and we managed a sail. We put the spinnaker up again for an hour or so before the wind died. We were met by a huge pod of dolphins near the Eddystone Lighthouse - so a few treats on an otherwise grey and boring trip towards Dartmouth.

Brightening up a grey day!

The sun had come out by the time we arrived in Dartmouth and it was just beautiful. We were pretty excited as we approached the entrance which has a castle on either side. Inside the harbour the Queen's birthday celebrations were in full swing - flags galore!

Castle at entrance to Dartmouth

Dartmouth entrance

Queen's Birthday celebrations on the River Dart

Next day we were invited for another Pacific Crossing reunion at Nick and Olga's in Stoke Gabriel (just up the river) to celebrate Andrew's birthday including surprise guests Matt & Togs, who live in New Zealand now but are in the UK for summer. The kids were crabbing on the wharf, so we had some fun with a crab race before heading to Nick & Olga's for a few drinks and lots of gorgeous home cooked food - including a birthday tiramisu for Andrew, serenaded by Nick on the ukulele

Arriving in Stoke Gabriel

Matt & Togs - last seen in the Galapagos 10 years ago

Crab racing

Birthday treats

Togs & Sasha

Happy Birthday to you!

Ukulele lessons with Nick

SaveSave

Fowey to Mevagissey to Falmouth

We had one more night at Fowey and Andrew being optimistic for warmer weather set up the BBQ; although we didn't BBQ that night as it was definitely too cold. We left at a sensible mid morning in glorious sunshine and a gentle breeze, but enough to sail across St Austell Bay.

Leaving Fowey

Port Mellon

At lunchtime, a mere 6 miles away we reached the cute little Port Mellon cove at Mevagissey, so dropped the anchor in a glassy sea for lunch.

At anchor Port Mellon

We had heard that Mussels could be found on rocks in the bay so launched the tender at low tide and went armed with appropriate mussel gathering tools in search of dinner. Sadly we couldn't find any, however we did find a very cute dolphin - we think it was a Risso's Dolphin, which has a rounded head. We then took the dinghy into Megavissey which has a drying harbour  - then when we were heading back to the boat we were treated by two Pilot Whales frolicking in the sun - they stayed a while and we managed to get some nice video. We also saw the biggest jelly fish ever in the bay and possibly a seal too - wow! We had such a lovely afternoon and the weather was settled so we decided to stay the night, have a BBQ and do some fishing.

Mevagissey Harbour

BBQ time

Fishing and a BBQ - how very Australian!

We didn't catch any fish but had a lovely first night at anchor. Next morning there was still no wind so we motored onto Falmouth - about 15 miles. On the way the Norwegian Navy and British Navy were engaged in some firing practice - it was quite loud and we could see smoke even though we were 5 miles away. Andrew called them on the radio and we were advised politely to get a bit closer to the land - we promptly did!

Entrance to Falmouth Harbour 

Falmouth Harbour - Pendennis Castle

Falmouth Quay - 3 pubs in one small corner

We took a mooring ball for the night just off the quay at Falmouth and went on a mission to re-provsion, as we had run out of fresh food, and also explore the town. The town was lovely and has some really nice restaurants and cute shops, parts of it are seriously old! It was our first really hot day - finally!

Next morning the weather was quite cold and gloomy, so Carolyn finally managed to get a bit of girl time with a hair cut n colour plus a pedi at a lovely salon in town, while Andrew did laundry on the boat (yes seriously) - a double treat! We then had a visit from Nick who keeps his boat in the harbour, before we decided to head up the River Fal to explore. Falmouth Harbour is actually a flooded river, the river itself is really deep and narrow, however it stretches into a huge expanse of shallow water -the depths can go from 2 to 22 metres.

This made us laugh!

Exploring the River Fal

Chain Ferry Crossing on the River Fal

We are currently anchored right up the top of the river, where all you can hear is birds - its really nice and away from the fog down at the estuary.