A complete trip

28 July 2016

We are being spoiled all the way! First the sailing. After the help of the engine we have been playing around with sailing for 33 hours straight. Sail up, sails down, gaff topsails up and down. Yesterday the wind disappeared, but with a little help from the current we were able to reach the beautiful bay of North Haven on Skomer Island. 
We dropped the anchor and we made a walk in this nature reserve. At midnight the wind and current should return so that was our departure time! 
We lifted the anchor, set the mainsail, jib, topsail and top gallant sail. The current helped us more than the wind, but slowly the wind increased. We took away the jib and set the course. Sadly, the current has changed, so we are not going that fast anymore. But we will make up for it later on. 
Second is the nature. On the trip like this you expect to see some dolphins and gannets. But what we have seen already is amazing! Common dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, moonfish, seals (regular or grey ones, I’m not sure). And of course birds, gannets (adults and juveniles), kittiwakes, herring gulls, puffins (hundreds), little aulk, common murre and lots more but I don’t know all their names. 
Third the weather. Everything between 0 to 8 Bft, blue sky and sunny skies to completely overcast and fog, dry, drizzle, rain and showers. Anyway it looks like it is going to be very complete trip!