Holyhead to Milford Haven

We left Deganwy on Monday the 12th at 9AM bound for Milford Haven.

Route from Deganwy/Holyhead to Milford Haven

There are 2 routes. Shortest that goes from east to west through the Menai Strait which is on the south side of Anglesey Island. The other is going north of the island. To go the shorter route timing is imperative as there are strong tidal considerations to be reconned with.
In our case it ment waiting several hours after we had come out from Deganwy.
We went the longst route. The forecast was for NW winds once we got around Anglesey that would had given us a good sail southwards. Sadly we experienced headwind from exiting from Deganwy,
all around Anglesey - wind shifted direction to stay right in our nose continously.
After we had passed Holyhead harbour, we got into an area with heavy overfalls.
We were heading into 15-20 knots wind and with currents going with us life got pretty sour.

 Ocean Viking approaching Holyhead marina.

So we turned around, rang the marina at Holyhead and they confirmed they had space for us at the pontoon there.  This used to be a large marine, but the whole thing sank some years ago in a storm
and it hasn't been rebuilt yet. We got a space after cirkeling 30 minutes waiting for another sailing vessel was departing. The mooring was very "lively" as there was a bit of swell and it became difficult to sleep.

Holyhead Marina

We left at 9AM the next day to benefit from the outgoing HW and southgoing current.

 Holyhead lighhouse

We negotiated the overfalls off Holyhead hedland and with a WNW breeze we got a good sail that lasted 5-6 hours. The wind calmed for an hour or so, then turned to S and increased. At the same time current was against us - speed got down to 1-2 knots - seas went up to 4-5 meters and was very confused. The poor seastate contiued all the way to the inlet to Milford Haven which we arrived after 30 hrs in poor weather. At times it felt like being inside a washing machine, especially in the darknes of night.

Milford Haven Dock Marina is in the old harbour. It's non-tidal and accessed via a sealock.
Video is from the sealock as Grete watches the forward mooring while water is rushing in.

We were both very tired when we arrived. On top of it all, Grete dicovered our bed was soaking wet. Turned out both our aft lockers - accessed via hatches on deck - was half full of sea water. Somehow water on deck found its way in there and there was a small hole that allowed water to come in through the wall that seperates the locker and our bed in the aft cabin.

Water in port locker.

Everything had to come out of the lockers, water to be bailed out and dried up.
Bed had to be stripped out and our new de-humidifier put to work.

Emptying the lockers og stuff and seawater

After that we ordered take-away indian food - ate and made up bunks in the saloon and went fast asleep. - That is Geir did. Grete did some reading, went to sleep.. then woke up at 4AM and checked the aft cabin. It was dry and she fixed the bed and got in very pleased about herself.
Well, I (Geir) woke up 10 minutes later - got my bedlinnen under my arm and went fast asleep in the aft cabin.

Today I visited the local chandlery. Bought some new gaskets to put on the hatches and some paint
to give a protective/sealing cover on the inside of the lockers.
Another thing we discovered was that the hatches has a rope mounted from the hatch to the rim of the locker. The bracket that holds the rope is in an impossible position as it lands on and deflates the rubber gasket on the rim of the locker allowing water to come in. I removed the ropes/brackets - not needed. Glued new gaskets on the inside of the hatch that now mates with the exsisting ones. Hopefully this will keep the water out. Next is painting the inside of the locker.