Day 3 - Eyemouth to Dunbar

Saturday 25^th June 2016 - Dunbar – Day 3

An early morning talk with the harbour master about conditions at Dunbar, concerning the boat drying out.  ‘Selene’ is a fin keel boat and does not take kindly to sitting on the bottom, as she would have a tendency to topple over.

I called the harbour master in Dunbar, who informed, he would find me a place, where we would stay afloat, so with this peace of mind, I went ashore to the chandlers. To purchase a larger courtesy flag, only to be told he had none.  I was amazed, no flag, I only wanted to show my affections to the Scots.

We left Eyemouth at 11.00 back through the canyon, on a very overcast fairly breezy day with wind from the north.  We headed offshore to make sea room before turning off St Abb’s Head to a north westerly course.

Torness Nuclear Power station

  A grand sail along the coast until 15.00, when the wind died, with engine running after an hour made our approach through the rocky outcrops, keeping well within the watchful beacons, protecting Dunbar harbour

Dunbar Entrance

  

Tricky

The actual entrance has on one side a sheer cliff with the ruins of a castle on the top and the other side the protecting wall, a little bit of a navigational challenge.

Berth with own skip and portaloo

The harbour master true to his word put us alongside the fuel berth, next to large painted sign “FUEL BERTH – NO MOORING”.  Long lines were attached to the quay with a 3 metre rise and fall of the tide and at the top of the ladder, a rope was attached which went around the mast, to keep us from falling over, if we settled on the bottom.

The harbour master, took me along to his office to check out the weather for tomorrow’s run and he let me check my emails on the office computer, a very nice friendly chap.

Ashore at 18.00 and a walk around the town which is fairly busy, well laid out and maintained, a pretty place.  Back near the harbour into the ‘Volunteer’s Arms’ where we dined between us on fish cake, lentil soup, steak pies with mash and peas, all very nice.  Washed down with ‘Bellhaven Best’ an a beer brewed in the town which was excellent.

Up again to the High Street and into the ‘Black Bull’ with the European football championship taking place, watched the game between Portugal and Croatia.

Harbour

On board for 23.00 and spent the time keeping an eye on our mooring lines, as the water disappeared from the harbour.

I kept watching our depth gauge and at low water, 01.00, we still had 0.2 metres under the keel and floating.  With the surface of the water lit up by the powerful quayside lights, I could see the sand and weeds at the bottom of the harbour, happy I went to bed.

An eventful day, a good sail, tricky navigation and a new harbour to add to the list, the adventure has begun.