Falmouth to Scilly Islands

For the foreign readers (and those who failed GCSE Geography perhaps), the Scilly Islands are a group of islands and rocky outcrops precariously stuck out in the Atlantic ocean, about 28 miles off Lands End. The tides were quite “springy” so we wanted to take full advantage of them and leave just before the tide turned to run towards the west. Yes, 6am departures are not fun but you do get some lovely early morning sun and still harbours to enjoy:

Passing the Manacles rocks we were frantically dodging scores of small pot markers and ended up nice and close to the buoy to find some clear(ish) water:

Normally we would give it a little more space.... Heading down to the Lizard, the flybridge was abandoned in the interests of staying warm. Tea helped and as you can see, the autopilot was still being altered frequently thanks to the local fishermen. We haven’t worked out why Patrick looks so drunken though, sea trips are always "tea-total":

Rounding the Lizard peninsular we passed one of the classic craft from the Falmouth event, looking good out to sea:

The run past Lands End was as calm as you will ever get it. Sunny too. So, the crew was left on watch whilst the rest of the entourage caught up on sleep. One downside though – no dolphins came to play. As we approached St Marys, everyone got more interested and began to admire the views. Julie also looked at the tiny aircraft leaving the airport knowing that she would take one back to Newquay later in the week.

We entered St Marys sound with a lovely wooden yacht:

The rocks in the area are quite impressive – perhaps someone wearing a baseball cap here?

Continuing our lighthouse theme, here is Peninns Head:

Our plan was to head into St Mary’s harbour and then try to pick up one of the 10 larger mooring buoys they have laid for bigger craft. The harbour has a reputation (and we remember this as reality not folklore from our last visit) for being very rolly polly. You are exposed to the typical SW’y Atlantic ocean swell but as it was pretty calm, it should be OK. Anchoring off the harbour can be tricky, some poor holding and a nice rocky fringe to greet you if the anchor drags. Heading towards the harbour, a French catamaran decided to pass us as fast and close as he could, probably to get to any vacant buoy ahead of us:

His antics did nothing to improve our love for his nation. Nothing at all. We may have mentioned it once or twice to Julie as well. As it happened, his monster fuel burn and hooligan behaviour was in vain. All the bigger (green) buoys were occupied. Frustratingly, several were taken by small yachts despite plenty of free buoys in the “small boat” area behind them. So, we turned around, grumbling about aggressive French drivers and irritating small yachts but the glorious scenery soon made up for it.

To help you orientate yourselves, here is the layout of the islands:

We planned to anchor off St Agnes for the night but the crew fancied New Grimsby sound so tried to ring the Tresco harbour master on the published number. Several times. Just as we approached the St Agnes anchorage, he replied and said that they had one of their two heavy duty moorings free.  So, we pottered out around Bryher where we saw our first puffins of the year (4 in all - not quite like being surrounded by them off Skomer but still good).

We headed into New Grimsby Sound where the two crew members did an excellent job picking up the mooring and then securing us against anything short of a hurricane:

We simply love this place. It is so special. Arriving in brilliant sunshine helps too. We ended up just off Hangman's Island, which still has a nice gibbet in place – you can just see it on the top in this picture:

The views from the mooring are great. Looking to the west, you see Cromwell's Castle (and out into the Atlantic, next stop America):

Astern is New Grimsby Sound, Tresco to the left and  St Marys in the distance:

We were even treated to a stunning sunset:

All in all, one of those very special days afloat. The sort that makes all the polishing etc. seem worthwhile.