2330 Lock out Cardiff Bay - Oxwich in search of bioluminescence and hopefully a safe anchorage.
We wanted to have a full day at Oxwich and didn't want to wait for the 1030 high tide at Cardiff on Sat morning as this would have added 6 hours to the travel time meaning we would have arrived at Oxwich at 1600 or so which would have been almost the end of the day, so we decided to catch the 0000 high tide at Cardiff and get there for the morning, having a few hours sleep when we arrive but still getting up around 11 would give us the rest of the day to enjoy the sea and the weather, so off we went! I put in a pilot course into my logbook, marked out the waypoints - which for the record were... Aberthaw Power station - avoiding the massive concrete tower, East Nash - east cardinal buoy, South Scar marking safe passage via Scarweather Sands, and finally arriving at Three cliffs Bay.
It was a wonderful sail (although no wind so under engine all the way), the senses really do come alive when you sail at night, the light all around you gives you comfort that you're not alone lol! Just as we passed Porthcawl we started to see bioluminescence which was amazing to see, it looked just like the colour of the warp drive coming from the back of the USS Enterprise, I definitely felt like Captain Kirk that's for sure.
Whilst the crew had a sleep - I kept myself occupied by listening to 80's music and drinking nice warm cups of tea. The visibility was perfect for most of the way - I did hit a little bit of fog just as we came into Swansea Harbour but nothing much and it lifted quite quickly.
Lots of satellites and a few shooting stars to see, in summary, the night sail was something I was quite scared of, however it was amazing, nothing to worry about, just make sure you plot your course and understand key waypoints along the way - because when you spot those in the pitch black you really feel comfort that you're indeed where you expected to be.
Day break - sunrise is amazing to see at sea and a sense of achievement that you have made it safely through the night :-)
Time to anchor - but careful, don't let too much out!
Arriving at Oxwich tired and ready for a few hours sleep - but first we had to down anchor, and didn't we just lol... we put down too much meaning we started to let out rope - normally this would not be a problem, but we didn't need that much out here, and of course the rope doesn't want to come in via the windlass, lots of faffing and pulling to get enough chain back up to allow us to re-attach it to the windlass, was too much to ask - finally I had the idea to tie up some spare rope and run that back to my jib winch - which proved to be a good idea and much easier than trying to pull against the anchor - anyway after about an hour two very tired people finally got the anchor set - and quickly headed to bed :-)
Time for swimming
After a good 5 hours of sleep we awoke with a spring in our step ready to get into the sea to cool off and for the first time since owning Dione go for a swim, it did take me quite a bit of time to actually get in, but Alison and Leah didn't hang about, it was fantastic, the water in Swansea is clean - blue and very fresh - unfortunately there are also a lot of jellyfish that also seem to share the love of the Swansea water! Anyway, after a few rapid Ecosia checks and a quick message to our marine biologist nephew we felt safe in the knowledge that they wouldn't sting us, so we finally got in.
Leah and Alison were the first to get in, at this stage I was trying to build up the courage lol!
We had a fantastic day swimming around, followed by a little trip on the tender and then a BBQ to finish off the day - it really was a fantastic day at Oxwich - and if time is scarce I would highly recommend a night sail if it means you get more time the next day to have some fun.
The sail back on Sunday was without excitement - long and slow as we didn't have the tide with us, however we did see the usual pod of porpoise who made the trip home another memorable one as they swam along at the bow - actually I think seeing this in person was a first for Alison and Leah.
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