Made it!

Woke up at 06.30, rolled over and went back to sleep!
Eventually I got up at 08.00. I didn't have far to go today so was feeling lazy.

Strangely it was raining when I woke but it had stopped by the time I was ready to leave at 09.30 and it had taken the heat away so now it was now only warm.

The flow in the river helped when leaving the pontoon and all I had to do was point the bow out slightly and hold position with the engine. As the water hit the keel, Eureka was slowly pushed sideways away from the pontoon and off I went.

Again, once outside it was foggy but this time the fog stayed for most of the day. I turned on the nav lights just in case with visibility mostly down to about a mile
The tide was with me as I travelled inside the banks adding 2 knots to my speed as I headed north.

I discovered on the way that there is a Mizen Head between Arklow and Wicklow Head, which means that at Roches Point, you can turn left as well as right for Mizen Head.
This one doesn't look half as impressive as our one in Cork though.

I had to keep an eye out again for pot buoys which are all along this section of coast and I could also hear a ship approaching sounding its horn but couldn't see it, except on AIS.
It was travelling south at 17.8 knots on a converging course. I turned a little to port to put more room between us and as it passed, it came slowly out of the fog before disappearing again almost immediately.

At 13.35 I was about 8 miles south of Dun Laoghaire but couldn't see it until I was only 2 miles off the harbour when the fog at last began to lift.

About 10 miles south of Dun Laoghaire with visibility down to 50 meters another ship sounded its fog horn. It sounded like it was right in front of me but I could see on the plotter that it was a mile away, safely off to starboard. This one passed without ever been seen.

Shortly afterwards the fog began to lift and the large piers of the harbour began to appear ahead of me when I was still 2 miles off.

I contacted the marina as there had been berths allocated to the owners assoc. They gave me directions and kindly offer to send someone own to take my lines.
I was tied up by 16.00 and found that only one other Moody had arrived so far.

Keith, the owner of 'Oransay' a M42 came over to welcome me in.
He informed me they had sailed from Plymouth and were heading for Scotland, stopping off at Dun Laoghaire to catch up with friends at the rally.

Later when Maeve arrived, we joined him, his wife and his crew for coffee. Brexit was a hot topic for them as Keith was a brexiteer while his crew Eric was a remainer. Little did any of us know that was ahead for all of us.
Sadly Keith told me they were on their last cruise as they were going to sell their boat due to their age.

Later I treated Maeve to a slap up meal in Burger King and we wandered happily back to Eureka in the early hoursRead more