We had an ambitious plan for two days. We finally had some calm weather.

0830 Leave the dock at Hamilton Marina to catch the ebb tide through Solway Passage
1030 Arrive at Whitehaven Beach
1035 Anchor down
1038 Drop Dingy
1040 Attach Outboard
1042 Pack backpack for beach walk
1045 Dingy ride to beach.
1050 Begin beach walk
1051 One hour ten minutes unscheduled leisure time
1200 Consider swim
1201 Wade in to waist
1202 Abort plan to swim!
1210 Dingy ride back to boat.
1215 Outboard up,
1218 Dingy up
1220 Anchor up
1225 Off to Shaw Island on flood tide. (14 miles South)
1430 Anchor at Shaw for overnight.
0530 Out of bed
0630 Raise anchor and head for MacKay Marina (42 miles South).
1600 Arrive, fuel and tie up at MacKay Marina.

Why the rush? Check out the picture for our next blog for the answer.

We actually had a great time on Whitehaven Beach. The sand is so fine it squeaks when you walk on it. Apparently the finest sand on earth. While we were there, a ferry beached itself to drop off one load of passengers and pick up another, a float plane landed and dropped off it’s passengers for a beach picnic and a dive boat arrived with a load of snorkelers. There were also campers, kayakers and other cruising boats anchored in the bay. This is a busy place! But it is not hard to see why. The beach is one of the most impressive we have seen and everyone was having a great time. As it goes on for miles there was lots of room for everyone.