The Doom Bar and Dolphins
What a momentous day to start our adventure again, we were glad that we didn't get an invite to THE wedding as it would have been a difficult choice to make!
Just before 9am we slipped our lines, and said farewell and thanks to all of the lovely folk at Milford Haven Marina who had taken care of Teteli over the winter. The lock was open allowing free passage so our first morning of the season would not be too taxing. Soon we heading down the sound toward the small village of Dale which would be our stop over for the night ready for an early start on Sunday morning. An hour or so later we were tied to an old but substantial pontoon in the centre of the bay. Time for a drink and lunch followed by an afternoon with a good book supper and an early night - the alarm was set for 4:30am! The skipper busied himself with odd jobs that only a skipper can find and I settled into an Ian Rankin novel - and the sun was shining!
Sunday morning saw us up just before dawn heading out of Milford Sound just as the sun was rising behind us. The sunrise was beautiful but sadly the sun didn't last long being obscured by high cloud for most of the day- but it did stay dry and we didn't need oilies or thermals!! With light winds we hoisted full sail and made some progress however the trip was a long one - 70 miles - and we needed to be at the mouth of the Camel River by 19:30 in order to cross the bar and into Padstow Harbour. Padstow Harbour is behind a large metal flood gate which is only open for 2 hours either side of high water so if you miss it the options are very limited and usually involve drying out on the sand in the river so we needed to make at least 5knots for the whole journey. We also wanted to enter this unfamiliar port in daylight so we needed to keep our speed up. We knew we would get very little help from the tide as the passage was across the tide as it sweeps in and out of the Bristol Channel but we had to be aware of how far east or west it was pushing us to make sure we didn't miss the entrance to the river.
After a couple of hours and breakfast of hot bacon sandwiches and coffee the wind weakened a bit and swung a couple of degrees to bring it round towards the front of the boat. Normally when that happens we would have to start tacking but with a wind registering only F2 and the need to arrive at a particular time we had to use our engine. So began several hours of motoring across an empty sea, or so we thought! A splash next to the boat announced the arrival of the first couple of dolphins who raced to the bow and spent a while playing in the bow wave. In the distance we saw another couple of fins break the surface and then leap out of the water and then head directly towards us to join the others playing around the boat. Eventually we ended up with about a dozen of them splashing and leaping around the boat seemingly taking it in turns to dive under our keel and pop up at the bow before "riding" the bow wave and dipping away to let another have a turn! After about 40 minutes of this they all disappeared as quickly as they had arrived and we settled down to look at the blank horizon again. After half an hour or so we saw some dolphins jumping in the distance and with guided missile precision head straight for us for a repeat performance! This continued for about 4 hours and made an otherwise boring journey one of the best!
Our Dolphin Escort
After nearly 13 hours we closed on the Newland Rock and with the very helpful chartlet produced by Padstow Harbour up on the iPad screen we prepared to cross the fabled Doom Bar into the River Camel. The Doom Bar is in fact a large shifting sand spit that crosses the river making the water more shallow for a while and causing a swell and some confused seas if the conditions are wrong or the wind is strong. The advice is not to attempt to cross it until at least two and a half hours before high water. We chugged in over a very benign sandy bar the echo sounder recording a least depth of 7.4m and apart from the bouys we didn't notice it at all! That however is not a cause for complacency as the very busy lifeboat crews around here will tell you - the Doom Bar can and does bite the unwary sailor! The hardest and shallowest water was in the final narrow approach to the harbour where you pass so close to the shore you can almost pick the flowers growing at the waters edge! Here the skipper worried a bit as the echo sounder dropped to 3.4m but that is still a 2m clearance for us!
By 8:30 we were safely tucked up in Padstow harbour tied comfortably to the North Quay. After a quick meal on board we fell into bed exhausted but happy to have made it to Cornwall. It was then that we realised that Teteli had not been in England since we left Amble in June 2017!
Our next challenge will be to round Lands End and the skipper is already busy looking at tide times and weather forecasts however at the moment it looks as if we shall be enjoying the sun in Padstow for a couple of days as the tides are not that favourable and there are a few question marks over the weather. Never mind it could be a lot worse and a mooring in the centre of Padstow for a few days is not too hard to cope with! It also gives us ample opportunity to try the alternative Doom Bar in the pub just along the quay from here. If anyone reading this is in Padstow over the next few days do pop along and say hello!
Farewell to Milford Have
Just before 9am we slipped our lines, and said farewell and thanks to all of the lovely folk at Milford Haven Marina who had taken care of Teteli over the winter. The lock was open allowing free passage so our first morning of the season would not be too taxing. Soon we heading down the sound toward the small village of Dale which would be our stop over for the night ready for an early start on Sunday morning. An hour or so later we were tied to an old but substantial pontoon in the centre of the bay. Time for a drink and lunch followed by an afternoon with a good book supper and an early night - the alarm was set for 4:30am! The skipper busied himself with odd jobs that only a skipper can find and I settled into an Ian Rankin novel - and the sun was shining!
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| Dale in the sunshine! |
Sunday morning saw us up just before dawn heading out of Milford Sound just as the sun was rising behind us. The sunrise was beautiful but sadly the sun didn't last long being obscured by high cloud for most of the day- but it did stay dry and we didn't need oilies or thermals!! With light winds we hoisted full sail and made some progress however the trip was a long one - 70 miles - and we needed to be at the mouth of the Camel River by 19:30 in order to cross the bar and into Padstow Harbour. Padstow Harbour is behind a large metal flood gate which is only open for 2 hours either side of high water so if you miss it the options are very limited and usually involve drying out on the sand in the river so we needed to make at least 5knots for the whole journey. We also wanted to enter this unfamiliar port in daylight so we needed to keep our speed up. We knew we would get very little help from the tide as the passage was across the tide as it sweeps in and out of the Bristol Channel but we had to be aware of how far east or west it was pushing us to make sure we didn't miss the entrance to the river.
After a couple of hours and breakfast of hot bacon sandwiches and coffee the wind weakened a bit and swung a couple of degrees to bring it round towards the front of the boat. Normally when that happens we would have to start tacking but with a wind registering only F2 and the need to arrive at a particular time we had to use our engine. So began several hours of motoring across an empty sea, or so we thought! A splash next to the boat announced the arrival of the first couple of dolphins who raced to the bow and spent a while playing in the bow wave. In the distance we saw another couple of fins break the surface and then leap out of the water and then head directly towards us to join the others playing around the boat. Eventually we ended up with about a dozen of them splashing and leaping around the boat seemingly taking it in turns to dive under our keel and pop up at the bow before "riding" the bow wave and dipping away to let another have a turn! After about 40 minutes of this they all disappeared as quickly as they had arrived and we settled down to look at the blank horizon again. After half an hour or so we saw some dolphins jumping in the distance and with guided missile precision head straight for us for a repeat performance! This continued for about 4 hours and made an otherwise boring journey one of the best!
Our Dolphin Escort
After nearly 13 hours we closed on the Newland Rock and with the very helpful chartlet produced by Padstow Harbour up on the iPad screen we prepared to cross the fabled Doom Bar into the River Camel. The Doom Bar is in fact a large shifting sand spit that crosses the river making the water more shallow for a while and causing a swell and some confused seas if the conditions are wrong or the wind is strong. The advice is not to attempt to cross it until at least two and a half hours before high water. We chugged in over a very benign sandy bar the echo sounder recording a least depth of 7.4m and apart from the bouys we didn't notice it at all! That however is not a cause for complacency as the very busy lifeboat crews around here will tell you - the Doom Bar can and does bite the unwary sailor! The hardest and shallowest water was in the final narrow approach to the harbour where you pass so close to the shore you can almost pick the flowers growing at the waters edge! Here the skipper worried a bit as the echo sounder dropped to 3.4m but that is still a 2m clearance for us!
By 8:30 we were safely tucked up in Padstow harbour tied comfortably to the North Quay. After a quick meal on board we fell into bed exhausted but happy to have made it to Cornwall. It was then that we realised that Teteli had not been in England since we left Amble in June 2017!
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| Padstow |
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