Premium sleep achieved! Asleep by 2130, didn’t wake til 0700 and didn’t get out of bed until 0730. I slept like the proverbial baby, soothed by the gentle rocking of the boat. The sun was shining, the skies were blue and the wind light. A beautiful way to start the day.
Suzanne and I decided we needed to go ashore for coffee, and Hugo needed to pay the £25 overnight mooring fee. The water taxi promptly arrived and took us over. Sadly, but not surprisingly, everywhere seemed to be closed. 0830 is not a time that the island opens for business. No matter, we bumped into a local who mentioned ‘a caravan, just past Braye Chippy, where you can get coffee’. So off we set, and after one wrong turn, we found “PJ’s @ the harbour”. This turned out to be an offshoot of Suzanne’s favourite cafe on the island so signs were promising. The coffee was ok, but the veggie sausage and egg breakfast bap was particularly welcome. We sat and chatted in the sun before meeting Hugo (who’d been flying his drone from the beach) and headed back to the boat.
We left quickly and efficiently, mooring is the easiest of departures, and off into the blue sea. Leaving at 0920. Everything is blue today. It’s beautiful. If only the motor was electric!
The weather was not perfect for sailing but for lazing on deck it was. The water was deep blue and glassy and the sun unrelenting. Only the sound of the motor was a slight distraction. It was beautiful out there and as we left Alderney, we saw first Sark and then Guernsey in the distance.
Then at 1156 - dolphins off the starboard bow! It was a fleeting visit but 3-4 dolphins breached and and swam past. They didn’t follow the boat sadly but it was still fantastic to see them. My phone photographs/video of them were poor again, but they count as proof at least.
 <-->That was the only real excitement until we rounded the southwest corner of Jersey. As ever coming into a new port I was discombobulated and struggled to match the map, may expectations of what we should be seeing, and what was actually visible. Luckily Hugo was at the helm and guided us into the St Helier marina. This is a busy and slightly complicated marina. It has a ‘sill’ which keeps water in the marina when the tide retreats but means you can only go in when the tide is at least as much over the sill as your own draught.
As the tide was just rising there was a big queue of boats to go into the marina, and much fuckery ensued with boats looking to go in. Hugo decided this was a good time to go and get fuel and luckily the large motor yacht we’d passed on the way in had finished refueling and was just about to leave. Hugo expertly held position in the channel until it went and then pulled alongside. The fuel attendants kindly taking the lines.
As we pulled off the fuel dock, the traffic lights indicating whether it was safe to enter the marina turned red and there was an announcement not to enter the marina. Hugo again had to hold station whilst first the lifeboat went out and then the big Condor ferry to Poole left. The lights turned green and we went back, over the sill and around to the visitor pontoons. As we approached, the marina tender approached and told us that we’d have to raft up with boats already in. We were given the choice of rafting port side to, or reversing in and rafting starboard to. Hugo, wisely (in my opinion - I hate precision reversing) chose to raft port side to.
The French gentleman we moored up to was very pleasant and clearly experienced with rafting - I believe that’s common in France but could be wrong. We tied up, connected the electrics and stepped across the neighbour’s boat and onto the pontoon.
After checking into the marina, and using the nice facilities. We split up and Elpie and I wandered into town for a couple of beers at The Pierson where a rather patient seagull was waiting for a dropped morsel of food.
Then we went for dinner at Hugo’s. Respectable food, and good conversation. Then we split again. Suzanne heading back to the boat with Elpie going back for a shower, Hugo and Mark off to see 28 Years Later, and I headed to a speakeasy called Blind Pig. Like all good speakeasy style bars it was out of the way and hard to find. A video on Google Maps helped (cheating) but on arriving the door was seemingly locked. A couple I’d followed in called the bar and we were allowed in. I think the locked door was a mistake. Very good cocktails and the barman was good company.  <--> Elpie joined for a couple of drinks and then we headed back to the boat - with a failed attempt to find somewhere to grab a coke and snacks before bed. All good though and it;s a bit of a late one, but no rush in the morning.
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