Isle of Man

We had been planning on crossing over to Dublin, but the wind forecast was from the west, so we changed plans, and decided to head north, to the Isle of Man.  In order to have the current in our favour for the 50 mile crossing, we were up at first light, and underway by 6:00 AM.

En Route to Isle of Man

We arrived in Port St Mary, on the southern end of the island, early in the afternoon, in the fog and rain.  We tied up to a mooring ball, and launched the dinghy, to go ashore.  It was a very wet day, but we did manage to walk around the town, and meet a few other sailors at the pub.

We had a rather rocky night on the mooring ball, and decided to move first thing the next morning, to tie up alongside the pier.  It was rather intimidating, since the wind was blowing strongly, and we needed to tie up to a stone wall, the top of which was 20 feet above our heads, and crowded with fishing boats.  We eventually got tied up, thanks to the help of a construction supervisor working on the pier.  Probably one of the most stressful times I have had in a boat.

I have been spoiled by marinas built of floating pontoons, where the dock rise and fall with the tides, saving us from needing to concern ourselves with the changes in water level.  Here, we needed to accomodate a 30 ft tidal range, every 6 hours.

We fortunately have some very long lines on board, so I was able to run lines well forward and aft of the boat, up to the bollards on the pier.  As the tide dropped, I would pay out a bit more rope, so we wouldn't be left hanging from the pier.  Once we were at the bottom of the cycle, I just monitored things, and we actually stayed nicely alongside, even when the lines went slack at high tide.  The experience was a great confidence booster - I'll definitely be more at east the next time we need to tie up to a fixed pier.

Poor weather kept us there for a couple more days, but it was an enjoyable place to be.  One day we took an old steam locomotive to the capital city of Douglass, and we met a number of locals and other sailors.  One of the highlights of the trip so far was the confidence Emily developed climbing and descending the ladder to the boat at low tide.

Arctic Tern and the fishing fleet

On Belay

Train ride to Douglass

Thomas the train lives on the Isle of Man