Wednesday 10 August. Skerries to Ardglass. 47 nm

It had been a quiet night with only the merest gentle rocking. It was yet another beautiful morning. we left at 0730 and had bacon sandwiches on the way. No wind meant motoring for the first part of the journey, but that has its benefits. It means flat sea and loads of sea birds around. We are in the season where you see loads of guillemot mother and chick pairs. The mother makes a very characteristic guttural call, and the chick trills in reply. We’re starting to see more gannets again and also Manx shear waters, which are similar to guillemots in looks but behave differently, and have slightly hookier beaks. Anyway, the wind picked up a bit and eventually we were able to launch the chute. That gave us the speed we needed to get to Ardglass not too late. Remarkably consistent speed of 5 knots, and in a perfect direction. As we passed the entrance to Carlingford Loch, there was a pan pan message on the vhf in response to someone in difficulty on a kayak a couple of miles off shore. We were a lot further away but Fortunately it was resolved. We eventually got into Ardglass about 1700. About an hour after low water. Ardglass is a tiny marina, not manned full time but we’d had an email to say that we were very welcome and to go anywhere on the first pontoon. Although it is a 24 hour access marina…. it is quite shallow! Anyone like us (1.9m draught) is advised to stick to the central berths! What an absolute gem of a marina. The greens and fairways of the golf club to the left, together with golfers, bags and buggies, and the international flags. We were on a rising tide, but went slowly and crept into a berth that looked deep enough. Even so we’d gone down to 2.2 metres. I stayed on the boat, whilst J and Stan went to “ have a look “ at the village. They came back after a hour or so , and with fish and chips😋. We went to bed not long after, as 0500 start tomorrow.

What I learned today…….. that many sea birds need the support of their siblings in the nest as their legs grow first and fast. If this doesn’t happen for any reason they develop bent legs ….. no good for any seabird. 🐥

Sue x