After arriving in Guernsey we were moored on the “waiting pontoon” in the pool. We drew too much water at 2.2mtrs to go into the Victoria Marina which is the main visitor marina. We had the option of going in and sinking the bulb of Songbirds keel in the mud, which I was told was the norm, but we opted to stay outside on the waiting pontoon and dinghy ashore. I was keen to test out the dinghy and talked to the local Tohatsu agent (Mark) about picking up a 2 stroke outboard. You can’t buy a two stroke in the EU any more, but Guernsey is not in the EU, so Mark said no problem we can order one for you, it will be here next Tuesday…brilliant. He loaned us an outboard until it arrived so away we went smiling.
Having a few days to do some touring we set of to discover some of the Islands of the “Bailiwick of Guernsey”. First up was Guernsey, so we set off on a round the island bus tour on a hop on, hop off basis…stopping in Fort Grey… Matt decided he wanted a swim, we didn’t bring any swimming gear thinking there is no way we will be swimming but it was a warm day so “Mr Jocks” came onto the scene and Matt stripped down to his shorts and in we went. Shar was crying on the beach with laughter watching to grown men slowly enter the water due to the cold and sharp rocks (see photos). We did get in but it was seriously cold. After the swim we travelled around the rest of the island taking in the sights and doing quite a bit of walking between buses arriving back at the boat ready for a beer. Next day we were going to dinghy across to Herm Island a couple of miles from Guernsey but the weather looked a bit off so we decided to dinghy around to Beaucette Marina for a coffee….not a good move…. we made it around okay but the weather turned fowl and the return trip was cold, wet and a rough ride home…all good fun….for ducks. I tried to convince Matt to stay a little longer but he needed to get home, so we waved him off as he headed off on the overnight ferry to Portsmouth.

Herm and Sark (including Brecqhou) are islands to the east of Guernsey that are part of the Bailiwick. These boast that they don’t have any cars, which they don’t…..but tractors are there in big numbers. They are a fantastic place to go and unwind, even though the boats unload large numbers of tourists, they soon disperse and you can find quite a number of spots to be by yourself and enjoy some wild and natural areas of the islands. Sark is the island that gets most of the publicity for attracting the tourists and is beautiful, but Shar and I preferred Herm which was much quieter and had a more laid back pace and less tourist attractions.
In the week we were on Guernsey, we picked up a new cruising guide for the West coast of France. This was to take over from the Shell Channel Pilot book we had been using so far, which we have found is a must, to give you a heads up on each port visited. We met Mike and Sue, a lovely couple who had just picked up their Island Packet and were doing exactly the same as us, slowly sailing back to Australia, we hope to catch up with them in the Med next year. Roger flew in the day after we picked up the new outboard, so we were ready to set off for Jersey the following morning. On a parting note, if you are interested have a look at the history of the “Bailiwick of Guernsey and Jersey“ on the internet, it’s a very interesting read.