Milford Haven

You never know how your day will go when you are out cruising on a sailboat. Yesterday The forecast was for light winds and I planned on sailing for the Grant Islands, 20 Nm west of me. Well I got to them about 1pm and made a judgement call to continue because the winds were fresh and I was doing a good 5 knots. Well I ended up making a 9 hour, 45 Nm voyage averaging 5 knots all the way to Milford Haven with the fresh wind behind me enabling me to use my huge Genoa under a deep reach. What a fabulous sail! The seas were fairly flat, it was a beautiful day with wispy clouds and warm temperatures and you couldn't ask for better conditions especially at this time of year. I think I saw one boat all day long and even that was on the horizon. I don't like using my engine except for going in and out of harbor and I look for days like yesterday on the weather forecast to do my longer journeys.

This place is very pretty but compared with the North Channel, I would rate it only as average. I would normally post a photo but because the cell coverage is so poor here, you will just have to take my word for it.

Today I am headed south about 10 Nm to De Tour Village in the USA to clear customs and buy some food. I have practically no food left on the boat after being at anchor every night for a while. I did this on purpose because you are not allowed to bring fruits, vegetables or meat back into the USA.  Most cruisers just go in to Town Harbor and the customs people come out and inspect your boat. I belong to SVRS (small vessel reporting system) so in theory, I just enter the USA and make a phone call and they give me a report number and that is it. I do have to file a float plan before I leave the USA and they still have the right to come out to your boat and inspect it, however in the last few times I have come back to the USA, no one has ever come out. I do have a decal on the outside of my companionway that I buy every year for about $25 and I am supposed to fly my yellow quarantine flag within 3 Nm of port until I am cleared. I can take down my Canadian maple leaf courtesy flag and remove the Canadian clearance number from my starboard side.