We awoke at 0530 and as the tide had already dropped to 4 m, we decided to go whilst we still could. So we went about 500 m and re anchored in slightly deeper water. We had to wait a while there , otherwise the tide wouldn’t have been in the right direction for later. If anyone has ever had any need or desire to look at the terrain of the Thames estuary, it is an area of constantly moving sandbanks with muddy channels between them. That is presumably why there are so many wind farms too….. easier to build them on sandbanks! They don’t all dry out but the depth of water over them is only enough to sail over with a keel boat, at certain times of the tide. The area is studded with navigation marks basically telling you to ; leave me on your left (Red/ port) leave me on your right (green/ starboard) , go north south east or west of me ( black and yellow cardinals) amongst others. We had a list of 27 to go past so we literally ticked them off as we went along. Most of them have odd individual names such as “The knoll” or “Inner Whitaker” , which presumably have historic meanings. The depth of water never getting much above 10 m . We sailed some of the time, the wind was light and it was probably the hottest day of the year for everyone in the country. Despite the strange colour sea and having to concentrate to navigate, it was a beautiful day to be out on the water. I wore my “old lady” hat to stop my neck getting sunburnt. Eventually we turned up along the Crouch . A wide brown river taking us upstream to Burnham on crouch and presumably eventually ends in Crouch end?? What a surprise! As per usual the wind decided to get up to 20 knots as we approached the marina. We had at least been given a berth number so we could work out that we would most likely be blown away from the pontoon . We set our lines and fenders according and got ready. What we weren’t expecting was such tiny thin wobbly pontoons😳. Within seconds we were lying neatly alongside our neighbour, Sue having leapt magnificently onto the other boat and then round to catch the lines, meanwhile I managed to lasso a cleat at the back of the tiny pontoon and we hauled ourselves in. Once secured we went up to the HM office, paid our dues and had a welcome shower. Very nice facilities here! The day was still hot at 5 pm and we had a lovely evening sitting in the cockpit chatting with My brother David and Louise over smoked salmon and gin and tonics. Followed by boat chilli.It was great to see them both! Thanks for coming! Tim is rejoining the boat first thing tomorrow so we look forward to seeing him.
What I learned today…..they used all the stuff that came out of the tunnels for the cross rail trains, to create the RSPB s wild coast project on Wallasea island across from the marina. They brought it all up the river in barges. 🚝⛴🏝🦆
Sue x
Leaving Brightlingsea 
Typical east coast boat 
Brown sea 
Cardinal “ stay north of me” 
Another windfarm 
Approaching Burnham on Crouch 
Overlooking Burnham yacht harbour 
Angelique 