So while the gods played drum and bass in the sky yesterday evening we battened all hatches, discovered some leaky windows and had dinner.

It then cleared up so we motored out to Studland Bay where we anchored close in to South Beach.

This morning was glorious and hot. It wasn't long before we were all in the water. I rigged up Sea Biscuit and took Maria for a sail and the rest swam ashore. The rest of the day continued much like that.

By lunch time the bay was heaving. Never seen it so busy.

On the way from the mooring i noticed the engine didn't seem to be reaching full revs. I suspected this was most likely caused by fouling of the propeller. So we decided that about an hour before low water I would ground the boat so that I could inspect the prop as the tide went down. So at 3.30 while Ang and the kids were at the beach I put the boat aground, managing to find a space between all the speed boats taking up the shallows.

It wasn't long before I could feel the prop and sure enough it was covered in barnacles.

I'm sure we haven't had this many barnacles on the prop before, even by the end of the season. I wonder if the warm weather has something to do with it.

Anyway, I managed to scrape the prop and shaft clean.

While I was waiting for the boat to re float ang took the kids to the pub for dinner. A new looking MacGregor (one of those trailer sailor yachts you can put a huge outboard on .. Not my cuppa) came and anchored near us. They took a few goes, and then seemingly happy the couple waded ashore. Just as I was refloating I noticed this MacGregor drifting past. I alerted the lads on the motor cruisers in its path who were in the water with their kids and they grabbed it and dragged it back into position.

The anchor rode was only about 6 foot long and there was a fender attached acting as a marker buoy. The strop on this was about 2 feet long! The tide had come up well past this and we all laughed ... The fender would have been trying to float the anchor!

The couple emerged about 30 mins later and waded out to their boat in much deeper water than they'd left. I had this feeling the word "tide" is new to their vocabulary. I tried not to laugh as we watched them trying to climb aboard.

Anyway, we then weighed anchor and headed to deeper water for the night so we aren't bumping the ground at 5am. On the way I opened up the engine to full revs and was pleased to see them reached. The barnacles was all it was and it felt good to know I was able to fix that for free without an expensive boat lift!

Now anchored off Middle Beach all feeling very tired and ready for bed. Tomorrow? Maybe another day at the beach? Maybe Yarmouth or Lymington? We will see.