Speedwell of Rhu Ship's Log

17 th to 18 th of July 2016 - New Grimsby Sound

We slipped our mooring around 11.30, as soon as we had enough height of tide to get over Crow Bar. We headed out of the harbour and picked up the transit to get us safely across the bar. As east coast sailors, waiting for the tides to give enough water to get across sand bars is not new to us. However, being able to clearly see the sand and rocks at the bottom is. We did find it quite disconcerting. However, we got safely across and passed Hats south cardinal buoy, before heading out of the centre of the island groups.

We slowly motor sailed around St Martin's and it's neighbouring rocks, which gave us the opportunity to get our bearings and a sense of the islands, before entering New Grimsby Sound through it's north entrance.

	ST MARTINS
	ROUND ISLAND AND MEN-A-VAUR

It is possible to take a boat across the Tresco flats, but this would have required us to wait for more tide to get us over and we were keen to get out for a sail. As it happened, there was no wind, so our sails looked a bit sad. We found a nice secure anchorage with two other boats. During the afternoon we rowed across to Bryer and had a walk around it's rugged north and west coasts. Unfortunately the cafes were all closed early as it was Sunday, so we rowed back again to Speedwell for our cup of tea.

HELLS BAY ON A CALM DAY

There was a glorious sunset and slowly a few other yachts came in to pick up mooring buoys. Very few chose to anchor. 

The following day we paid a visit to Tresco. This was a longer journey, so we used the outboard. We went to the Abbey Gardens, where we shared our morning cake with the sparrows, a blackbird and a thrush. There is a particular Bryer Thrush which is closely related to the song thrush. Our theory is that all the sparrows, thrushes and blackbirds (and seagulls for that matter) in the Isles of Scilly have evolved to eat the remains of scones and pasties. Here is a selection of our photos taken on Tresco:

And finally:

THE TRESCO CHILDREN

The sun shone all day so, on returning to the boat, we both got our swim suits and went back to the beach for a quick swim. The sea was bluer than blue can be and, if it wasn't for the temperature of the water, we could have been in the Med or Caribbean. During the afternoon and evening a large number of yachts arrived, using all the visitors morning with some being forced to anchor with us. A few struggled to set their anchors due to the large amount of weed and one gave up and left all together. The wind picked up over night, but the shipping forecast seemed good for a sail to Ireland the following day. Just a few fog patches.

OLD GRIMSBY SOUND

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