We had allowed ourselves three nights in Jersey so we had plenty of time to have a good look round the island. After a day exploring St Helier we decided to strike out further afield and took the EasyLink bus, stopping first at the Jersey War Tunnels, home of the German Underground Hospital. The occupation of the Channel Islands from 1940-45 is still fresh in the memories of many and they have memorials and museums on all the islands dedicated to that period. The underground hospital was just about ready for use when liberation came, and is now home to the Captive Island exhibition - illustrating life during occupation. Our next stop was on the north of the island at Greve des Lecq (Beach of Stones) - a popular holiday spot with dramatic coastal scenery. We took the coastal path towards Devil's Hole, site of a 19C shipwreck. Small fishing vessels land on the beach and are recovered by tractor.

On Saturday it was time to see Daniel and Isabel off to the airport for their return journey home - we had left ourselves quite a tight schedule as we had planned to meet Debbie and Della the following day - in St Malo. Fortunately we had enjoyed blue skies and light winds all week, and we decided to take advantage of the fine weather and make an early evening passage to St Malo.

We locked out of St Helier marina as soon as the sill opened, three hours before high water, and made the passage east-about the Plateau des Minquiers. We had wondered whether this shallower inland passage would be suitable but when we saw Condor ferries plying the same route we felt fairly confident there would be enough water - they even seemed to be using some of the our waypoints.

It was a straightforward passage the 38 miles to St Malo and we turned into the Avant Port five minutes before the inward lock opening at HW+1/2. The pilot book warned of a big drop in the lock and the need for long ropes but we had only about a foot to go up before we could enter the sheltered Bassin Vaubin. We rafted up alongside another motor boat on the "over 12m" wall, but only after agreeing to let him out at 8.30am the following morning.

Cruising Statistics

Distance: 38nm

Total to date: 1052 nm

Avg Speed: 13 knots

Duration: 3 hours

Diesel: 200 litres (est)

Wind: NE 2-3

Mooring: €37/night

Electricity:Free

Waypoints
(European datum)

St Helier leading light
49 09.90N 02 07.35W

St Helier Eastern Passage
49 08.00N 02 05.00W

NE Minquiers NCM
49 01.50N 01 54.00W

Basse des Grands Pointus
48 42.80N 02 00.13W

Roche aux Anglais
48 39.73N 02 02.13W

Les Grelots SCM
48 39.15N 02 02.98W

Mole des Noires
48 38.54N 02 01.87W

Bassin Vaubin Lock
48 38.62N 02 01.50W

Charts

SC 5604

AC 2700