Wednesday 19 April
Again a day of very little wind, so we motored on towards Carnsore Point’s wind turbines, and turned North to pass Rosslare ferry port. This is supposed to handle 80 ferries a week, but it seems the Pilot Book is out of date, as I only heard one all the time we were in the vicinity. My crew got very excited at the sighting of a minke whale, until it came close to say hello and turned out to be a 
bottlenose dolphin. It’s amazing how much bigger these are than the harbour porpoises and common dolphins that have swum with us so far…but still a lot smaller than a minke, and the dorsal fin is a quite different shape.
Somewhere Mate had always been keen to visit was Wexford, and we found the clear water mark at the beginning of the approach channel, just at high water, as the Pilot suggested. The harbour’s website insisted the buoyed channel must be followed carefully, as the bay was prone to silting and the channel changed shape frequently. Unfortunately there was only one other red mark to be seen, and trying to rely on the chart plotter almost proved disastrous when my hull touched a sandbank, and I nearly got stuck. Part of the log that sits just forward of my keel was broken, so I can no longer report boat speed and tidal flow. In the end we conceded defeat, and once again continued our passage to a more suitable stop. Thanks to the less fierce tides on this more attractive stretch of coast, and lighter nights, we were able to reach Arklow and tied up safely to a pontoon in the Avoca river. The marina here was very small, and I was happy to be left outside its walls. Just ahead was an attractive bridge, and the trees lining the riverside were in full Spring blossom.