Kingswear to Plymouth

The lovely spell of weather was continuing and although we were having a good time in the river Dart, we'd decided to move on. The plan was to spend a week or so in Plymouth to allow us to dig out the bikes, raid some bigger shops and do some different walks. The tide times mandated an early but not too early morning start. Then we saw this information about an exercise on oil spill response:

As we were berthed right next to the spot they had chosen, we decided that leaving before 9am would be sensible. So much for a lay-in and lazy morning. Still, it was worth it, we headed off the berth and tucked in behind one of the trip boats that was also heading towards the harbour entrance, enjoying the sun and calm conditions from the flybridge:

It was all very tranquil and enjoyable as we left the river:

even if the crew was being pesky with the phone camera

:

As it was so calm and sunny, we finally had a flybridge trip with an interesting coast to enjoy as well. The weather allowed us to go close in to Start Point which can get pretty bumpy in windy / wind over tide conditions. We just needed to keep a careful eye out for the many pot markers that you get inshore in this area. It was worth it though.

As we were nice and close to the lighthouse, we had to take a picture for the collection:

You can see how flat the sea was. Just perfect motorboat weather really. 

As we passed Prawle Point and the Salcombe entrance, so the quantity of pots ramped up dramatically. We were fairly busy dodging them and the odd yacht that was either drifting along (no wind) or wearing out their little diesel engine.  Much as we used to like Salcombe, the way it has turned into London-on-sea is less than appealing. Some folks that we bumped into in Dartmouth had just left the place and reported it as manically busy on the water, especially the bigger mooring buoys in "The Bag" and the anchorage just north of that. We really didn't want to be part of the reported mayhem so we pressed on towards Plymouth. Not as pretty or rural but plenty to see and do plus the attraction of some proper food shops as well. Totally unlike Salcombe.

As we approached Plymouth, we were slowly being overhauled by this rather lovely craft, Yolanda. The skipper waved as they passed doing around 1.5 knots more than us so a very slow motion kind of thing:

Yolanda became more than a passing "little ship" later on.

We headed into the eastern entrance after giving our wing engine some much needed exercise too. There was a warship inside the breakwater doing some crew transfers with a support vessel - they actually called us to advise of their intentions to turn inside a cardinal buoy in that clipped "we are all frightfully good chaps" accent that so many naval officers seem to have.  We were in water that was way too shallow for them so we were not in their way - again, a very naval thing to do. We were even wished a good watch - we must look like a serious boat.

There were a surprising number of yachts about as we headed round to Mayflower marina where we had booked a slot again. As we rounded the breakwater, we saw that our neighbour was to be Yolanda - good job we waved back in a friendly way and gave their boat a thumbs up when they passed us.

The trip was lovely. Flybridge all the way bar when we had to pop inside to give the wing engine a run. Calm, sunny, happy days. Pretty quick too as we took the tide with us all the way.  One of those trips that makes you realise just how lucky we are to be able to "play boats" when we want to. The evening military parade wasn't bad either:

We had an evening chat with the Yolanda folks, learned that what had looked like a typical Dutch steel boat was in fact American and aluminium, then we just chilled. Great day.