[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Dawn"]
[/caption]I'd been trying to contact Castlemartin Firing Range all week. All I could get was a recorded message which gave the firing details on that particular day. On the way down last year, we'd been directed 12 miles offshore. Vince told me last week that they'd told him 4 miles. When passage planning, using the Bristol Channel tides to best advantage, it's really important to know where you'll be at each hour of the tide.
When we eventually got through to the range (they told us to wait at first as the guy with the information was 'in the shower'), they told us we'd have to stay just 1.5 miles away from the coast between Linney head and St Govan's head. This was no problem, and would allow us to leave a couple of hours later than if we had to go 12 miles out.
I can only assume that the differing distances offshore are determined by the type of ammunition being used. Anyway, we made our plan, and decided to leave at 11:00 hours.
It can get lumpy in Southerly winds as the ebb lets the water out of the Haven, and today was to be no different. Waves crashed onto Sheep Island as we headed out towards the Turbot Bank
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Sheep Island"]
[/caption]The sea soon calmed, and was a pleasant slight-moderate as we headed SouthEast, straight into the wind. We contacted the range, confirmed our plan with them over the VHF and they were happy. We then settled into our long motor towards Oxwich, with 2 hour watches, both of us taking turns to rest after a sleepless night before.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Off watch"]
[/caption]As we headed across Carmarthen Bay (no dolphins) and then past the Helwick bank, I realised we'd be later than I'd planned reaching Oxwich. That would mean anchoring in the dark, which was no problem, but, with no moon, picking our way between the lobster pots near Oxwich point and in the bay would be difficult. Still, too late to do anything about it now.
I was joined by some strange birds. The behaved like normal herring gulls, but had odd grey patches near the bill. Not sure what they were, but they looked lovely against the autumnal skies.
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Birds"]
[/caption]We got to Oxwich around 20:15, totally dark, apart from the bright lights of the Oxwich Bay Hotel, which made spotting lobster pots in the dark even harder. Louise stood in the bows with a torch and we avoided incident. We dropped the anchor and had a bite to eat. With the alarm set for 01:45, it was to be a short night. For the second neight in a row, neither of us slept well, so it was two very tired members of Ishtar's crew who climbed from out bunks in the wee small hours. Still, we'd be back in Cardiff by 09:30, and could rest all day!
