Plymouth to Yarmouth (Isle of Wight that is, the other Yarmouth harbour isn't appealing)

After a few days of strongish winds from the west, it promised to be nicer for a couple of days before a big high pressure sat over the UK and introduced some strong Easterly stuff. What to do? Well, the original thought of going to Guernsey for a fuel top up at today's low prices was shelved as St Peter Port harbour in easterly winds with any strength is not very sheltered. Instead, we decided to head overnight to the Solent. The "Supermoon" meant that the tides would be very strong so we wanted to have 2 of them with us and only 1 against during our 18 hour journey! We also wanted to be in the areas that have the highest concentration of pot markers (start Point, Prawle Point, St Albans Head) in daylight. So many boundary conditions for one little trip! See how tough this cruising lifestyle can be?

So, a mid-afternoon departure was decided upon and a 1475 rpm cruise. That sort of worked out on paper (and did beautifully in practice too).

Heading out through the sound, we saw how much help the Fleet Auxiliary ships get when they berth:

We tend to get fewer tugs attending to us and as for the Police RIB just out of the picture.....

In our post about arriving in Plymouth, we showed you the dinky little lighthouse at the western end of the breakwater. The eastern end has something that looks like an A level metalwork project on some spare concrete though:

Pretty, isn't it?

Sure enough, we dodged lots of pot markers and even made it past Start Point and the myriad of pot markers around there before it got dark. Here is proof, the point and lighthouse - no flashgun could illuminate that at night:

Overnight, there was the much vaunted "Supermoon" and we were ready for a partial eclipse of the moon as promised on the TV and radio. Of course, some clouds came out to spoil it. So, here is our rather pathetic Supermoon out to sea:

The dodgy horizon level was due to the waves - no alcohol on passage, honest guv!

Stuff got marginally more exciting at dusk as some dolphins passed by but declined to play with us. The trip across Lyme Bay in the dark was fine - just lots of fishing boats to avoid which caused some stress for the crew. They love turning towards you, just as you have altered course to avoid them. We think they must teach that at fisherman school. Perhaps a little like Bob Newhart's bus driver school - old but still clever. Our track doesn't show the dodging too clearly though at this scale, just a few wobbles:

Dawn arrived on time - as we were off St Albans head, another pot marker forest. Dodging them and heading into the Solent was strange. Not because we had a big spring tide shoving us along but because we saw so many yachts and other boats about. Yes, back in the M25 of boating. We had already called Lymington and learned that as it was a Saturday, there were no overnight berths for us. Luckily, arriving at 8:30 am meant that Yarmouth harbour on the Isle of Wight had a spot. Just one mind - the place normally occupied by the Scoot Ferry overnight. Beggars and choosers and all that, so we happily stole their mooring as directed by the harbour staff who were amazingly helpful. The Scoot Ferry staff might not see it that way of course. We heard from one ferry passenger that the crew had won on the lottery one evening and so went celebrating and were too drunk to operate it the next day - see Isle of Wight radio article. Luckily they didn't try to moor alongside us in an alcoholic stupor - looks like their ticket failed to deliver this weekend.

A glorious morning, looking from our berth over the breakwater at high tide (a very high one) towards the pier:

We only add this one to show the blue sky. Yes, summer finally arrived. As did hundreds of yachts trying to moor for the night later on. The harbour was wonderfully busy including a rally of Royal Yacht Squadron boats. They might be the poshest yacht club in existence but they are no better at handling their boats than Mr and Mrs average we reckon after watching them depart the harbour. Most amateurish.

Overnight we had more Supermoon views - this time over the quayside in Yarmouth:

Funnily enough, we didn't stay awake to see the 3am eclipse.....

Maintenance news - nothing, sorry. Might give the big Lugger an oil top up after a few hours more running but nothing needed attention or caused stress.