With settled weather forecast, and in order to break up a long passage from Peel to Holyhead, we had a 12:30 departure planned to head around to the south east of the island. The anchorage is by the airport but the pilot guide said that noise from the airport was minimal. We were aiming to leave Peel with the last swing bridge during the first high water of the day opening at 13:00. But a quick check with the harbour master and he said there was a risk that they would close it early given the high pressure system lowering the tidal height.
We headed out of Peel Harbour and made for Calf Sound which we should make around slack water. With a favourable wind and tidal stream we made better progress than anticipated and entered Calf Sound with the tide running against us at 1.8 knots - fine for Sùlaire to push on against.
We arrived in Derby Haven some 4 hours after leaving Peel and took a couple of attempts to set the anchor on the sand, rock and kelp seabed. The bay has a very gradually sloping bottom and we arrived just before low water so a long trip in the dinghy to the beach beckoned followed by a long haul up the sand and we were ready for our walk to Castletown. Bea enjoyed a last stretch of her legs and we enjoyed the pretty town of Castletown which was at one point the capital of the Isle of Man. Robert the Bruce had to retake Rushen Castle, where the town takes its name from, three times during the Scots’ control of the island.
We were hoping that after our long walk there wouldn’t be such a long distance to carry the dinghy back to the water but alas it was another trek down the beach. Back on board, and after rustling up a quick smoked salmon linguine, its time to plan tomorrow’s passage to Holyhead.
Night…night!
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