Puffin-fest @ Aberdour

Okay… …you got me. That’s not technically a puffin, but HMS Prince of Wales [Ahem, Prince of Whales to you Mr President], which is typically the first floaty thing I snap when we’re heading down river. Be assured that the gratuitous fluffy-puffin shot comes later.

We set off late afternoon, it was a bit overcast, but very settled. We unfurled our Macwester Malin’s genoa when we set off, but brought it back in within minutes as there was no useable wind.

We started spotting puffins between St. David’s and Dalgety Bay, which is further west than normal. The admittedly more ‘fuzzy’ than fluffy puffin above was snapped at Aberdour, further east than normal. We typically see one or two puffins crossing Mortimer’s Deep, but we must have spotted six to eight, which is the most we’ve seen since the puffin wreck a few years back – good news!

The settled weather continued and the sun put in an appearance not long after we arrived at Aberdour. The crew presented me with some raw poultry plus matches, and it slowly dawned on me that I had better dig out my chef’s hat.

A passing fisherman very kindly presented us with a freshly-caught, recently-deceased mackerel, which went straight on the barbie. I’d like to tell you that it was the most wonderful mackerel that we’ve ever tasted, but it was dreadful. It was rubbery and dry …next time, it’ll be wrapped in foil with some herbs and butter.

The crew and I enjoyed doing nothing in particular; going for walks, catching up with local club members, and basically just taking it easy.

We watched the wildlife including herons, ducks, and thousands of tiny fish thread their way through the scenery surrounding our yacht. We saw sea swimmers swimming across the bay. We read. We played cards. We watched box set VoD.

During a discussion on the pier, the local harbourmaster told us about diving boards over to the west of the beach at Aberdour. We had wondered about these decaying structures for many years, but didn’t realise that these rusty relics had originally been diving boards. In the photograph above, you can make out the remains of two diving boards [left and centre] as well as steps that have been carved out of the rock.

It was cloudier on day three, and we managed to squeeze in some sailing without using the engine on the journey back home against a light westerly. Neither of us were keen to leave; as usual we were back home all too soon. Still, there’s always the next trip to look forward to!