Holyhead to Neyland (Milford Haven)

Our plan was to leave around 6pm for a run south to Milford Haven, taking two tides with us when we were rounding the headlands and one against whilst out in Cardigan Bay where the streams are gentler. For once, it worked perfectly.

There is a busy and very big firing range (Aberporth) on our route and we also planned to cross it during a "No firing" time - always a good idea!! Have a look at firing range charts to get an idea of how big this area really is. Huge springs to mind.

We had a lovely calm departure and run down the Irish sea. Overnight, not too much traffic to avoid and often the radar picture was almost empty bar the land, around 15 nautical miles away.

As the daylight returned, so did the dolphins. One large(ish) pod came and played with our bow wave for about 10 minutes or so:

Then a couple of mums and their little ones did the same. Wonderful. Just wonderful. Yet again the South Wales lot are much friendlier than the Scottish or North Wales versions. Perhaps that is because the North Wales lot are dolffiniaid not dolphins (look it up!!) The crew was keen to spot them despite a keen early morning breeze as you can see:

The sun came out, the dolphins vanished and the sea got more interesting. There was a swell from the south west and some little waves across it from the easterly breeze. As we rounded St Ann's head and headed past Skomer towards Milford, it got pretty bumpy. wind on the nose and some chunky waves too (wind over tide), causing us to nod our way towards the port and on to Neyland where we backed onto a berth with Royal Marines rigid raider craft astern of us. not a good idea to hit one of those...

The trip took 19.5 hours (almost bang on the planning). It was very calm bar the hour and a half running into head seas approaching Milford. No maintenance news and the navigation PC is approaching a gold star now. Let's see if it continues with its good behaviour.