09/08/12 - Tenacious

Monday 6th to Wednesday 8th August. It was on an extremely calm Monday evening that we anchored in Start Bay. Having relaxed in the slightly warmer climate of Saint Malo, the opening of the onboard JST shop was perfect timing as we all purchased our jumpers and other goodies to tide us through the colder weather ahead, this also offered us the opportunity to see our voyage photographs which turned out well, some being slightly amusing!
Tuesday was punctuated by the arrival of outstanding exam results for the large Scottish contingent on board, a cause of much general rejoicing. It also offered us the delights of Dartmouth, as we motored into the river, guided by the pilot who came aboard off the mouth of the estuary. We did not enter the berth straight away; instead, for most of the day, we moored between two strong buoys in the middle of the river. This meant that we had to go ashore in one of the RIBs. As the rain poured down on us the ENTIRE day, it left us with much less to do as we attempted to find shelter just to consume a bag of chips. We then proceeded to run all around this seaside paradise which we had been introduced to, to try and find a restaurant to book for a watch dinner of 9 people. However, as we wondered around aimlessly, we ran into several more people and 9 soon became 27! We had to book about half a restaurant! We were then stuck in Dullmouth for slightly longer than necessary due to only a few people managing to fit on the last boat back at 15.30. At 1700, the ship moved to a berth alongside a pontoon in the centre of the town. This led to us discovering nothing more than a tiny library and a park bench! When we finally raced up the gangway, with our clothes drenched with the rain, we only had about an hour before our dinner. The massive portions of delicious food and such great company made the whole day worthwhile.
We were roused from our berths the next morning to a great breakfast which woke us up slightly after a long night of harbour watch, which was enriched by some interesting music choices. It was then all hands on deck to set the sails, as the sun shone on us from an almost cloudless sky. There followed the curiously named 'Happy Hour’, not cheap drinks but cleaning ship! We were all glad of Graham’s delicious lunch before coming on watch this afternoon.
Aft Port.