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Friday evening 28th May 2010

After arriving and sorting the boat out I went to see what the procedure was for boats arriving out of hours. There is a board at the gangway which gives you a telephone number to ring for the Marina Superintendent. He took brief details about me and the boat and sent me a telephone number by text which was a specific to my phone and my boat and you ring it to open the gate. I had been warned by Tony and Sally in Cork that they have a strange system here. Its okay for locals because they are only paying a local call rate. Visiting boats from other countries are paying roaming charges and even with my Vodafone passport deal it is costing me a 75p connection charge and then what ever my normal rate would be in the UK. Ouch….that adds up if you go in and out a few times a day, so be warned! You obviously must make sure you have your phone with you at all times as well. If you decide to wait for someone else to open the gate and follow them through you might be in for a long wait. Its very quiet here and there only seems to be a little bit of activity on week ends when a few locals come down to check their boats.

The Marina Superintendent turned up about an hour later and I paid him for two nights. After mentioning that Tony and Sally had said you do good rates here for more than one night he said there was no problem staying an extra night or two. He would just leave my gate number activated on the system for a couple of extra nights, no charge. He gave me a key for the showers and toilets and I proceeded to pay him the 24 Euros for two nights. I wanted to pay by card but you can only do that at the Town Hall which is now shut for the weekend. I had two 20 Euro notes and he had no change so he just made charged me 20 Euros instead. A great deal I thought, Tony and Sally said it was good here, I can see why they stayed 10 days. n Irish Navy mine sweeper came in early evening and pulled up ahead of the visitors berths. Glad he didn’t come earlier when I was coming up the river!

It was now getting late so after ringing home I nipped up into the city centre to have a wonder around to get my bearings and find some food. Yep fish and chips again and an hour walking around. Seems like quite a nice place as city’s go. It was just starting to get dark so I headed back and rang the number to open the gate. Nothing happened and it went through to an answer machine. Two more times it happened and I was getting concerned because not only was I locked out this was getting expensive in phone calls. I rang the Marina Superintendent and left a message for him stating I was locked out. It was now nearly 10pm and then a local guy appeared and he couldn’t get his number to activate the gate either. We got chatting and he had had the same problem a week ago and saw how the Marina guy had reset it. When no one was looking he managed to get it to reset after three attempts and then we finally got it to work. He was staying onboard his Benateaux 36 for the weekend and invited me onboard for a coffee. We had a good old chin wag about sailing and each others boats and by now it was midnight. Really helpful and friendly the Irish I have met, its so refreshing. Back to my boat and phoned home again, and finally got to bed at 0130. So much for an early night to catch up on the 3 1/2 hours sleep the previous night.    

Saturday 29th May 2010

0800hrs In bed enjoying best sleep for days. Knock, knock on the side of the hull……..Hello…….Customs!

It was a grey drizzly morning and a man and a woman in uniform were standing on the pontoon looking very sheepish after realising they had woken me up. They apologised and took my details and asked for my passport and registration document. Glad I put her on the Small Ships Register now. They thought better of coming aboard as it would have been a bit cosy for the three of us, that’s a definite plus for small boats. They were very friendly and not at all officious and even started telling me about things that were available in the city. Well wide awake now so might as well get up. Drizzle supposed to clear to showers then brighten later.

Took my time and had some toast and coffee and had a chat with Tom who had taken my rope when I came in. He has got a river boat on the opposite side of the pontoon to me and seems to come down regularly through the day. A quiet man but again very friendly and helpful. Hoping the Marina guy might appear with an electricity card so I can use my laptop without draining the battery. Had another coffee onboard Fea’s boat again at his insistance and another good chat. When I mentioned I was hoping the Marina guy might show up with an electricity card he opened a drawer a threw me a couple. He wouldnt except any payment so in the end I just took one which would give me 10Kw, plenty to run a laptop. More Irish hospitality for you, what great people.   

It was now midday so I went back aboard my boat and had something to eat and got ready to go into the city. Needed to pack everything I might need into my rucksack just in case the gate didn’t open again. A few more people around on the pontoon today, a little busier at the weekend. Need to go on a good walk to get my leg muscles working and go right around the edge of the city and then back into the centre a good hours walk. Sun breaking through and quite warm now. A group of people start assembling in a little square in the middle of the precinct dressed in nautical Breton style costumes. I stop and watch as they perform several ballads and songs to an appreciative audience. Its some sort of sea shanty weekend here in Waterford. They were very good and in time honoured tradition they packed up and disappeared into a local bar. 

After doing a little shopping and more walking I got back to the boat quite shattered and after a little rest tried out the electricity card. Success it works, I have shore power. You need to remember to remove your card from the machine once it has read it before it will work. Just as i sat down at the laptop an Irish Coastguard rescue helicopter came in and did a display with a small rib and then a afterwards a local tug put on a display with his water jets. Thanks guys! I know the Irish have been incredibly welcoming and hospitable but I don’t think it was just for me?…..or was it?

Wrote some posts to add to upload to this blog when I find an internet cafe tomorrow. Spoke to home again and turned in at midnight. A great day getting to know Waterford.

Sunday 30th May 2010

0830hrs At last a full eight hours sleep, feeling a lot less tired now. Spent most of the day writing posts to get this blog up to date while I have access to shore power. Sorry no photos taken today. Went ashore late afternoon and found an internet cafe and updated the blog. I didn’t realise photos cant be clicked on to expand and view when I do updates off line, but I will remedy that when I have proper internet access again by uploading them again. Had a shower and headed back to the boat and had a leisurely dinner aboard. Quite grey all day today but the wind has gone down now and the clouds are moving by much slower. Only real reference you have of what the weather is doing up a river. Looked at the weather for the rest of the week while online earlier and it looks like the winds are going to be mainly from SE to SW tomorrow, then NW 4-5 Tuesday morning NW 3-4 by early afternoon and dropping NW 1-2 by late evening. Possibly a good day to leave for Wales? Light and variable winds from various directions on Wednesday and S or SE 3-5 on Thursday. Light S or SW on Friday and light SW for the weekend. Tuesday might be a more steady wind and give an opportunity to sail without having to motor a lot of the way. Lets see how accurate Magic Seaweeds forecast turns out to be. The U-Grib forecast I used coming up from Cork was not very accurate but the Magic Seaweed forecast coming up from Dungarvan to Waterford was spot on.

The way I have the boat organised is working well and I am pretty snug and not wanting for anything, apart from perhaps some way of playing my mp3 through a some speakers instead of earplugs. Now I’m just getting fussy! Need to work out tides and best departure times for crossing to Wales. Might even move down to Kilmore Quay Marina first if forecasts are not accurate. Time for a late dinner aboard and some sleep.

Monday 31st May 2010

Grey but bright today with a SE wind increasing through the day as forecast, going to become wet and misty overnight with some heavy rain but clearing quickly with winds going light W or NW by morning. Thats the weather window I need to get to Milford Haven in Wales tomorrow before the winds go S or SE by midday on Wednesday. Its approx 80 miles from Dunmore East so it would be nice to get down the river tonight and start from Dunmore East in the morning. Otherwise I will be stuck here until the ebb starts at 0945 tomorrow and by the time I get to Dunmore East it will already be midday. Means going down at about 2100 hrs tonight and getting there in the dark but the channel is well marked and by then the fresh SE winds should have gone down and will be going around to light W or NW. Could be wet and misty though. Need to get across St Georges Channel before any SE winds start. Hope to leave Dunmore East around 1000hrs and average 4 knots to Milford Haven with an ETA of  0600hrs on Wednesday morning. Hoping to go North of the ‘Smalls’ so that I can divert to Fishguard easily if necessary. Will also allow me to cross the shipping lanes closer to 90 degrees.

Walked to the petrol station this morning and got 15 litres of petrol in three cans. Cost was 19.79 Euros but they charged me 68 Euros by mistake. Good job I checked my receipt before leaving the garage. They couldn’t work out how to refund my debit card so they gave me a refund in cash. I will be able to use the Euros in the channel Islands or Brittany anyway. Lugged the fuel back to the boat and had lunch and finished preparations, with a last check on the weather and update of the blog at the internet cafe. Its been very pleasant here and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a bolt hole on this coast. Feeling relaxed but looking forward to moving on again now.