The night was disturbed by the anchor alarm several times and as we weren't fully confident in our anchor's holding, we (or rather Mark) jumped up several times to check we weren't dragging anchor. We didn't actually move, only out and in with the tide.
The morning and the bay were beautiful, with the noisy sea birds in the cliffs. We had pulled up the anchor by 0815 and headed out west towards Milford Haven.
A boat approached at high speed and Mark said it was probably the Welsh pirates. Actually, it was the Castlemartin firing range safety boat and he only sped towards us so that he could read our name. Yep they were about to start firing or bombing some unsuppecting fish. Dangerous things those welsh mackeral, you can't trust them.
So he told us we needed to sail 3 miles out and that we would be tracked right around their territory by radar. Uh so much for an "unrestricted area" as detailed on the chart and we clearly heard the coastguard telling another yacht they wouldn't be firing again until the 15th June.
So we set our course for Saint Gowan cardinal and planned to round the shoal it was marking. But we cut the corner and the radio lept into life again - "Ty Mor you seem to be straying into our danger zone". Damn caught! So we corrected our very villainous ways whilst muttering obsenties under our breathe.
What I love about the VHF radio, and believe me I'm completely hooked on it, are all the things that are implied but not actually said.
So from Saint Gowan we trekked across to Turbot Bank and then straght into Milford Haven via the east channel, but word got out in dolphin community and before we knew it we were at the centre of a large pod ( Mark says 3 but I counted at least 7) all vying to be the closest to our bow wave and hitch a ride.
Once inside the haven we headed for Dale and anchored up for lunch and to get out of the wind for a while.
We followed another boat up to Milford Haven Pierhead lock (Neyland was full up). Both boats had to drift around for an hour waiting for a cruise ship to load all its paasengers after a lovely day out in Milford Haven. They were using their life boats as ferries.
Once safely inside the lock and tied up to a fishing potter boat, we got talking to the fisherman and he gave us 4 crabs, still alive and too small for him to land.
Once safely tied up (a bit tricky in the 20 knot wind), Mark started chatting to everyone and quickly gave 2 of the crabs away to a french couple who were,apparently very knowledgeable about cooking all manor of things from the sea.
Here we are tied up in Milford:
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