Tern's Travels
Pacific Seacraft 37
| Vessel Name: | Tern |
| Vessel Make/Model: | Pacific Seacraft Crealock 37 |
| Hailing Port: | Falmouth UK |
| Crew: | Larry & Manice Stabbins |
04 July 2022 | Dingle, Kerry, Ireland
Dingle, Blasket Sound to Aran Islands
Dingle, Blasket Sound and on to the Aran Isles. 28 May - 1st June
11 June 2022 | Cahergal Ring Fort, overlooking Valencia
VALENCIA AND KERRY, 21-27 MAY
Valencia's main habitation is Knightstown where a large marina within a set of breakwaters was envisaged but never completed. The breakwaters make it a safe place to tie up but there are no facilities so the next day we went up the river, which is constrained by tide, to the marina at Cahersiveen [...]
11 June 2022 | On Sneem Sculpture trail
KENMARE RIVER, north shore. 19-20 May
After three days boat-bound at anchor in Kilmakillogue we were keen to move on so we motor-sailed NW in 15-20 knots of gusty SW wind to anchor in the N cove of Garinish Islkand in Sneem Harbour. It was still too windy and grey to make it attractive to go ashore but by the morning it was brighter [...]
18 May 2022 | Dursey Sound cable car support
Kenmare River
Once the wind eased and we could move on from Adrigole, Bantry Bay, of course, there was no wind and we motored the 15nm to Castletown Bearhaven to provision andget nearer to the west end of Bantry Bay. Sailing from each river northwards needs not only good weather as the swell can get so large, [...]
12 May 2022 | The Italian garden at Garinish Island
Glengarriff Harbour and Garinish Island (Ilnacullin) 7-12 May
Glengarriff is sheltered enough to be a hurricane hole. It's a must to visit but as strong SW winds were forecast it was a perfect place to be. It was a fine evening and were greeted by the resident seals as we anchored near Garinish Island. The next day was overcast but we spent most of the day on the [...]
12 May 2022 | Live fowl for sale in Bantry market- you can buy almost anything!
Adrigole and Bantry
In settled weather we were abl;e to continue east towards Bantry, stopping in the protected Adrigole harbour which is home to a large population of harbour seals. The potentially peaceful is setting disrupted by the noise from the busy coast road with its traffic from the fishing port of Castleberehaven [...]
North Sea Crossing, seeing stars again
28th - 31st July
Runde is an island on the edge of the coast, 15NM west of Alesund, and it is a bird sanctuary and study centre. We motored to it in a horrible headwind having misjudged the weather window, but once in the harbour we were very snug. By the evening there were three British yachts, kindred spirits, and we had the most sociable evening we had had since our time in Norway. Next day the other two yachts started to go south but we planned a day's walking on the island. On second thoughts we decided to also make a move with a view to rounding Statt and getting in a position to cross to Shetland when a weather window arose. As we passed Statt and got some more weather data on the radio: wind light southerly at first then SE 10-15 knots, we decided to carry on to Shetland.
Although we had to motor at first and again at the end, the majority of the 220NM trip was good sailing , mainly 60deg off the wind and fine weather. Passing through the oil fields is much less scarey than it looks on the chart and there were hundreds of very playful dolphins to brighten the sea. The night passage was just dark enough to see stars again for the first time since leaving Scotland in May, Caseopia nearly overhead.
Approaching Shetland the wind died and fog set in. We gambled on it being a sea fog and carried on to make our landfall in Baltasund on Unst, the northern-most Shetland isle. The anchorage is a large, natural harbour protected by Balta island at it's entrance and well lit so that coming in in the night was no problem, the fog was indeed at sea. Of course we had thought we would be arriving in the early morning but Tern was so quick, we arrived at 01.30 and so had a good sleep.
