Isles of Scilly - Milford Haven, Wales

Well so much for my blog posts on the run.  Zetty looked at it and reminded me that I completely forgot about our stop in Plymouth among other things. I will edit that post in case you want to read about Plymouth.

From Mylor in Falmouth, we had a nice sail and motor to the Isles of Scilly.  We had to go there as my father always wore a tie to sailing events, a chart of the Isles of Scilly.  It was a great conversation piece as it was the site of the largest navel disaster in British history.  Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell ran his fleet aground after numerous offers by the lower ranking officers to change course.

We arrived in the early morning to Hugh Town on St. Mary's Island, the capital of Scilly's.  As the kids and Zetty spent the day on the beach, I replenished our children's supply of sea sickness medication at the local and only pharmacy on the Isles.  After a nice lunch at the Mermaid Pub, (the kids chose that one, it was a good choice), we set sail for New Grimsby Sound between the Islands of Tresco and Bryher.  It was the site of the British Naval Flying Boat squadron during WWI.  The Sound has quite a history, and is well sheltered and the best all around anchorage in Isles.  There are two castles within hiking distance, one from Oliver Cromwell's time, one named King Charles II's castle but actually from Edward the VI's time. We had so much fun hiking and exploring that we stayed for 2 more days.

Arctic Monkey

To my O.F.D. friends, ambulance boat, the only way I'll be a Captain. 

Hi ho, hi ho...

New Grimsby Sound from King Charles II's castle.

The winds went in our favor and we then set sail for Dale/Milford Haven in a nice 20-25kt breeze from the East.  Within 8 hours, the wind and sea went completely flat and we ended up motoring for the next 7 hours.  The breeze filled in again and we arrived in Dale just as the fog lifted and found ourselves next to a Q-Flex class LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) transport ship.  It turns out that Milford Haven is the largest port in Wales, third largest port in the UK and the largest LNG port in Europe.  Almost one third of the natural gas used in the UK is offloaded here.

After locking through to the marina, we quickly set about contacting the Webasto agent here to have our heater worked on.  We still have a small electrical problem with it and would like to get it sorted out before we get into colder weather up North.  After exploring and a trip to the local museum, we took the kids out for bowling and pizza.  Bowling isn't just a Wisconsin sport!

Showing off the form

Even the six pounder proved a little too heavy.
Rosie was bound and determined to get a face full of bowling ball, look out!

Leah and Rose had never bowled before and I don't think I've ever seen so much excitement!  Knocking over pins and not getting yelled at, heaven!!  The next outing on Sunday was to the much sought after elusive swimming pool.  The local Leisure Center to the rescue with a family swim from noon to 3.  Nice pool and we all swam until the lips turned blue.  I think it also served us well as a family disinfecting bleach bath soak.  The entire family is as clean as we've been for two months, a blessing in disguise!  Now if we can get everything working Monday morning...