It was another beautiful sunny day and the harbour was full of activity. We were leaving today and it appeared many others were too. There was excitement and anticipation in the air. We filled up with water, sorted out the lines. The sill would be open about noon so no one was leaving before that. We had spent a long time thinking about how to get out of our berth without scraping our bow down the neighbouring boat or smacking the powerboat behind. We had a plan and I was eager to execute it and get it over with but I had to wait until the sill as open. I was on hot bricks. Tony was making a similar plan further along the pontoon. Boats with shallower drafts were beginning to leave. Eventually it was time. We eased ourselves back along the finger pontoon and enlisted the help out our neighbour to steady the bow line. Tony was making his move using many lines and several neighbours. He exited cleanly and now it was our turn. I was no longer so sure of out plan. It's a bit like standing on the edge of the 5 m diving board. You climb the ladder willingly with courage but the moment you have to jump is never easy. Our neighbour was standing by. The spotlight was on us. We were now the pontoon entertainment. I started the engines and Pete let go the lines. A bit of reverse and the wind took us back. Our neighbour did an excellent job on the bow line. Hard astern and we were out. Our plan worked which was lucky because there was no Plan B.

We were going to anchor in a bay on Sark this evening. First though we checked out Shell Bay on Hern. Tony stopped there for lunch but we decided to head on round the northern tip of Sark and get settled. On the way we looked in at Greve de la Ville bay which looked lovely and flat with mooring buoys but we knew the wind was due to veer so carried on to Derrible and Dixcart which would be sheltered we hoped. However they did not look at all enticing. The wind seemed to have snuck round the island and was blowing right into them.

We abandoned the idea of spending the night on a rocky lee shore, hoisted the sails and headed the 18 nautical miles towards Jersey. Behind the eastern edge we found shelter in St Catherine's Bay, dropped the anchor and settled in for a quite night.

Today's photo us of a fishing boat off Sark being followed by seagulls