The ups and downs of life afloat and the death of my favourite onboard gadget

Phil and Ruby looking at Ravensdale, which was level with the road at high tide today (Friday)

We’ve had very big spring tides here in Maryport, Cumbria, UK, this week with a difference of up to 9.2m – 30ft 2ins - between the high and low tides.

Our old coffee maker just before it died

We’ve got used to it now, but it was initially very strange to see the area around our home changing so dramatically as we went up and down on the tide.

That said, we still notice the huge difference in our position in relation to our surroundings when there are such big spring tides, which bring us up almost level with the road around the marina.

Meanwhile, I was very sad when our trusty coffee maker made its last ever cup of cappuccino this week.

But, thankfully, it’s understudy was already waiting in the wings - AKA the forward cabin 😊


Very high tides

Looking down the pontoon towards Ravensdale at high tide

There have been some exceptionally high tides here at Maryport in Cumbria, UK, this week.

The highest tide we’d seen in the two years and three months since we moved onboard Ravensdale – our 43ft Neptunus 133 motor cruiser - was 9.3m (30ft 6in) and that has only happened on a couple of occasions.

This week the tide rose to 9.4m (30ft 10in) yesterday (Thursday) and today (Friday) with a low tide of just 0.2m (8in) yesterday evening – a difference of 9.2m (30ft 2in).

That said, the difference in the marina is less dramatic as they close the gate when there’s 2.4m (7ft 10in) of water over the sill.

But it still gives us a very different outlook from Ravensdale.

Looking towards the marina building from Ravensdale at high tide - the houses in the distance are the other side of the harbour

It also makes the marina look totally different when walking around it or viewing it from the road, which is usually way above us but ends up on a similar level on a very high tide.

And the piles that support the pontoons usually tower over us but, on a very high tide, I can see inside the top of them, which is really weird.

The same view when the tide is out showing the comparative height of the piles and the far wall

Ravensdale level with the road at high tide this afternoon (Friday)

Maryport Marina at high tide today (Friday) when the ramp, which is usually at a fairly steep angle, was flat

Meanwhile, the stormy weather earlier this week meant some very muddy water flowing into the marina when the gate opened for the rising tide on Wednesday, so much so that it created a brown line that moved its way down the marina.

The line of muddy water approaching Ravensdale after the gate opened

We’ve seen this happen before, but it always looks so strange that I couldn’t resist taking a photo of it again.


The demise of our coffee maker

Our old coffee maker gave up the ghost this week after more than three years of faithful service.

We can’t even remember when we bought it as we had it when we lived in the house we sold to buy Ravensdale in October 2016.

It’s undoubtedly my favourite gadget on board and the one I would really miss.

So, after it started being a bit temperamental a month or so back, we bought a new one when we saw the same model on a good deal in a local store.

Our new coffee maker in Ravensdale's galley

We were surprised how long the old one carried on working after we thought it was on its way out.

Sometimes it would refuse to switch on, but repeated attempts or a gentle blow to the head, seemed to get it going again 😊

It also refused to switch off at times. This was easier to solve, I just pulled out the plug then plugged it back in again.

But, on Tuesday, it stopped working and refused to switch on again despite all attempts to resuscitate it so the new one is now in use.

So glad we bought a replacement at the first sign of trouble as it meant we didn’t have to go without our favourite coffees and hot chocolate.

I’m happy to make all sorts of sacrifices to live on our boat but good coffee is the one thing that no one should ever have to go without – even for a short while 😊


Our Wi-Fi worsens

The marina Wi-Fi aerial is in the white box on the end of the customer lounge

One of the test results in the dinette

Just when we thought our Wi-Fi here couldn’t get any worse, it has.

I've had to switch to our Vodafone Wi-Fi many more times than usual this week due to a poor or non-existent connection on the marina’s network.

I even did an experiment to see if it made any difference where I was in our boat as different cabins are at different levels.

We also thought the signal may be better towards the stern of the boat due to the positioning of the marina’s aerial and we were considering shifting further along the hammerhead if this would improve the signal, but it doesn’t look as though it would be worthwhile.

The reading I got in the saloon, which is amidships and the highest point inside Ravensdale, was the best – just!

However, the aft cabin didn’t come out any better than the dinette, which is just behind the forward cabin, so there doesn’t seem to be anything to gain by moving the boat.

We’re not even sure if it’s worth getting an onboard router to boost the signal around the boat as it really isn’t that good anywhere ☹

I mentioned the problem to the marina again yesterday (Thursday), as we’ve done on many previous occasions, and they rebooted their router.

It seems to have helped as I got a download speed of 16.2mbps and an upload speed of 0.58mbps, but we never know how long it will last…


Ruby

A super cute photo of Ruby

We’re still having to lift Ruby on and off the boat and she’s getting heavy.

I now have to turn as I step down off the aft deck and shuffle sideways along the side of the boat to get off as she’s too big to hold alongside me while walking forwards.

Thankfully, she keeps still while being carried as it would make it very difficult if she wriggled.

Phil finds it a bit easier to carry her than I do because he’s happy to hold her with two hands and step off the boat and down our boarding steps without holding on.

I don’t feel safe doing that and like to know I have a firm grip on the boat rail or the handrail on the steps so have to carry her with one arm.

We’re hoping she’ll be able to jump on and off the boat herself very soon, but I have to confess that I’ll be really worried the first few times in case she falls in.

Ruby running on the beach

Ruby really doesn’t like wet and windy weather, and this is becoming even more evident as she gets older.

She’s reluctant to come out of her bed in the morning when she can hear the wind and rain outside and goes in her bed and refuses to come out during the day if the weather's bad.

She usually loves going for walks and is waiting at the door as soon as we put our jackets on or pick up her lead. Stuffing our pockets with poo bags also has the same effect 😊

But in bad weather, even when we’ve managed to clip her lead onto her collar, she will still try to hide on the far side of the coffee table in the saloon in an attempt to avoid going out.

She still loves going to the beach when the weather’s good or even just not too bad.

Ruby checking out a hole that had filled up with water on the beach at Maryport

But she was always reluctant to get her feet wet and avoided puddles and little streams on the beach rather than running straight across them.

We thought she was getting over this as she was following us through some of the wet areas as long as they weren’t too deep, but she had a bit of a shock during our visit to the beach on Friday afternoon.

She ran across what she obviously thought was going to be shallow water to discover it was up to her little belly.

Ruby taking an unintentional dip on the beach

She didn’t panic and came back out the other side and had a good shake to dry off but has since gone back to refusing to cross little streams that she’d started to trot through quite happily before she got a bit of a soaking.

Her happy place definitely seems to be her bed as she's spending more and more time in there during the day - possibly because it's right next to the heater outlet in the saloon.

Ruby snuggled up in her bed

She still likes to cuddle up to one or other of us, but sometimes chooses to go into her cage and cuddle up in her bed instead, which is great.

Her other favourite spots are anywhere that happens to be in the sun at any given time – not that we’ve seen very much of that this week 😊

Ruby stretched out in the sun

And she's perfected the appealing look that is guaranteed to get her a bit of whatever we're eating 😊

Ruby waiting patiently for a bit of toast

Who could say no to those big, brown puppy dog eyes?


Fishing reels

Phil made the most of the windy weather, which meant we were unable to take the boat out this week, to service the older reels that he uses for downtide fishing – dropping the line over the side of the boat rather than casting it away from the boat, which is known as uptiding.

He removed the line from the reels, some of which are getting on for 30 years old, stripped them down, cleaned them, greased the gears and reassembled them.

Phil servicing his reels on the coffee table in Ravensdale's saloon

Three are now working perfectly after his efforts.

Sadly, the fourth looks as though it’s going to have to go in the bin as, while it was apart, a fine spring totally disappeared never to be seen again and the reel is useless without it.

For now, the parts of that reel have been put in a small bag in the hope the spring will turn up and it can be reassembled, but it’s not looking very likely that will be the case.

We’ve both done a thorough search of the area where he was working, and Ruby was in her cage at the time so we’re pretty sure she hasn’t had it.

The only good thing about it is that the reel that’s been rendered useless was the least good reel so less of a loss than if it had happened to one of the others.

Phil has put new line on two of his newly serviced reels and plans to buy some more line for the third one.


Visiting vessels

Fisheries patrol vessel North Western Protector at Maryport

The fisheries patrol vessel, North Western Protector, has been staying at Maryport Marina this week while the lock gate at its home port of Whitehaven is closed for repairs.

Local fishing boat Silver Fern arriving at Maryport Marina

Maryport fishing boat, Silver Fern, which is usually docked in the harbour, passed Ravensdale on Monday morning.

Work underway on Silver Fern's hull

She was on her way to the marina slipway, where she was lifted out on the MPM boatyard hoist for antifouling and for her anodes to be changed. She left the marina today (Friday).

The range safety boat Triton at Maryport Marina

And, the range safety boat, Triton, turned up at the marina on Tuesday morning.

She is also here because the lock gate is closed at Whitehaven.

Swan family

Swans at Maryport Marina

It seems the swans have decided it’s time their youngsters stood on their own two webbed feet now.

A local woman, who’s a keen photographer, captured a series of images of the adults chasing the cygnets away on the River Ellen here in Maryport.

And, when they came into the marina on Saturday afternoon there were two adults and two cygnets, but the adults apparently wouldn’t allow the cygnets near them at all.

I didn’t see them chasing the youngsters away but, whenever I saw them the adults were in one place and the cygnets were together in another.

I fed the adults, but the cygnets didn’t come anywhere near Ravensdale – perhaps they’d been warned off while I wasn’t looking.

The third cygnet was nowhere to be seen, but we later saw the three cygnets together over in the harbour.

And, on Tuesday morning, the three cygnets turned up in the marina looking for food. There was no sign of their parents.

The three cygnets waiting for food by our pontoon

Soon after I fed them, I saw the adult swans over on the River Ellen so it looks as though the youngsters have left for good now.

The three cygnets were back in the marina again on Wednesday and just the adult swans turned up yesterday (Thursday).

It’ll be interesting to see whether the young swans stay together and whether they stay in this area.


New boat planter at the marina

The new boat planter outside Maryport Marina

Staff yesterday (Thursday) installed a new boat planter on the approach to the marina.

It’s an old fishing boat that has been painted to match the marina building and will be planted up with bedding plants for the summer.

Staff installing the new planter

The marina is now asking for suggestions for a name for the boat so it'll be interesting to see what people come up with 😊



Photography

Wet and windy weather has meant there have been considerably less opportunities for photography over the past week.

I’ve also found that, now we’re taking Ruby out for regular walks, I’m not going out as often with my camera just for the sake of taking photos.

I take my camera along when walking Ruby but tend to end up taking photos of her rather than the landscape.

A black and white image of stripes in the sand at Maryport at low tide

And, when I’m walking her alone, it’s not as easy to take photos because she’s inclined to tug on the lead just as I’m trying to take a shot. I’m hoping this will become easier as she gets a bit older.

I took some photos around the marina on Saturday, despite the high winds, as there were some nice clouds, but the water was pretty choppy so no reflections this time ☹

An attractive yacht at Maryport Marina

Another view of Maryport Marina

Looking along the marina towards the lighthouse

Cloud formation over the marina slipway

And I tried to take a couple of shots of the harbour at dusk while walking Ruby on my own on Saturday evening, but they really weren’t very successful. I’d like to blame her, but I think it was my camera settings that were at fault on that occasion.

Maryport Harbour at dusk

Another view of Maryport Harbour at dusk

The most impressive feature of Sunday’s beach walk at low tide was the way the surface water was being blown across the sand, but it really didn’t show up very well in the photos I took.

I also tried a video and was really pleased with the way it captured the effect. However, saving it for the web lost so much detail that it ended up all blurry and nowhere near as good as it had been ☹

Surface water being blown across the beach at Maryport

While walking Ruby on the beach on Tuesday, we saw three men working on the old groyne, so I took some photos of them and posted them on a local Facebook group asking if anyone knew what they were doing.

Work underway on the old groyne on the shore at Maryport

It turns out the groyne is being repaired as part of a contract to repair a hole in the seawall.

One kind person posted a photo of the area when there were three groynes along the beach and he, and others, provided information about their purpose, which was to reduce the drift of sand and gravel that gets washed along from the beach at neighbouring Flimby.


Weather watch

The past week has been very windy – AGAIN!

It has been so windy here in Maryport this winter that I was beginning to think it should be called “The Windy City” or rather town, as Maryport definitely isn’t a city, but “The Windy Town” doesn’t have the same ring to it 😊

However, when I looked up the windiest places in the UK convinced that Cumbria would feature in the top 10, it was nowhere to be seen.

Apparently, the windiest areas of the UK are all in Scotland and Wales.

Shetland, is the windiest place, followed by Buteshire, Orkney, Caernarvonshire, Western Isles, Bute, Argyllshire, Anglesey, Inverness, Peeblesshire and Ross and Cromarty.

However, we’ve lived in a number of different locations in both Scotland and Wales and Maryport definitely feels like the windiest place we’ve ever lived.

A sunny interval on Saturday at Maryport Marina

Saturday was bright and breezy with clouds and sunny intervals, but it stayed dry all day.

The top temperature was 8.5C (47F) and the top average wind speed was 22mph, gusting 31mph.

Sunday was another bright day of sunshine and clouds. It was still very windy with a top average temperature of 8.9C (48F) and a top average wind speed of 30mph, gusting 40mph.

It rained overnight. This was followed by a grey and cloudy but dry morning with the rain returning around lunchtime.

The temperature reached 7.3C (45F) with a top average wind speed of 21mph, gusting 31mph.

Grey sky over Maryport Marina on Tuesday

Tuesday was overcast, breezy and dry until just before 5pm when it started to rain.

The highest temperature recorded locally was 6.8C (44F) and the top average wind speed was 15mph.

A wet and windy night was followed by a very wet and windy day on Wednesday.

It rained continually all day – the only variation in the weather was the amount of rain falling at any given time.

Wet Wednesday at Maryport Marina

The top temperature was 7.7C (46F) and the top average wind speed was 23mph, gusting 32mph.

Yesterday (Thursday) it was grey and windy with drizzle during the morning. The cloud thinned in the afternoon giving way to brighter conditions.

Maryport when the weather improved yesterday (Thursday) afternoon

The top temperature was 9.3C (49F) and the top average wind speed was 23mph, gusting 34mph.

And, so far today (Friday), the weather has been decidedly spring-like - dry, sunny and mild, although there was still a good breeze. The top temperature, so far, was 12.5C (54.5C) and the top average wind speed was 22mph, gusting 29mph.

Our roughest night on board so far followed by a more successful fishing trip

Ravensdale at sunset during a brief lull in Stork Erik

Storm force wind - gusting to more than 70mph - battered this area overnight last Friday and during Saturday morning making for a very noisy and bumpy experience on board.

The south-westerly, then westerly, wind that was associated with Storm Erik caused Ravensdale to bounce around violently.

It was so rough that Phil got up in the middle of the night to strap down the microwave and freezer, which we usually only do when we’re taking our Neptunus 133 out on the water.

But, amazingly, our staffie puppy, Ruby, slept through the whole thing.

The weather calmed down a lot during Sunday and by Monday morning it was so calm that we decided to go out fishing when the marina gate opened around lunchtime.

Me enjoying the winter sunshine while Phil was fishing

And we were very glad we did as it was a beautiful day and we actually came home with fish we could eat for the first time in months 😊



Storm Erik

A huge wave almost obscures the lighthouse on the end of the pier at Maryport

Storm Erik started to make its presence felt on Friday with howling wind, at times, coupled with torrential rain.

This was followed by a very windy night, that we are both convinced was our windiest night afloat yet and probably the longest period of high winds we’ve experienced since we moved on board Ravensdale in November 2016.

The Met Office issued a yellow severe weather warning for wind from 00:15 until 14:00 hours on Saturday.

The wind speeds during the afternoon and evening on Friday must have been just below the figure that trigger a warning as it was very windy during the day but definitely got considerably worse overnight.

Gusts of up to 74mph were recorded by another berth holder here in Maryport at the height of the storm.

And the top average wind speed recorded at St Bees Head – our nearest weather station - was 54mph, gusting 74mph, at 3am.

Initially, we were being battered by a south-westerly wind, which changed to a westerly direction during the night.

Ravensdale was rocking quite violently.

The wind was whistling around our 43ft Neptunus 133 and through the rigging on the nearby yachts, and the water was slapping against the hull.

The guardrail that was hitting the steps handrail during the storm

Her mooring ropes were creaking and snatching, and her fenders were slapping against her hull as she was blown away from the pontoon.

And, at other times, we could hear and feel the boat being thrown against the pontoon with great force.

We heard other noises during the night, of which we were unsure of the cause.

Investigation revealed that one was a round metal torch rolling around in our cabin and the louder metallic noise was Ravensdale’s guardrail banging against the hand rail on our boarding steps, which is usually around a foot to two foot six inches away.

Phil got up to see what was happening at high tide because the howling wind was louder than we’d ever heard before.

Ravensdale's microwave and freezer strapped down at sea

It was around the time at which the highest wind speeds were recorded locally, which coincided with the high tide when the higher water level means we lose much of the protection usually provided by the harbour walls.

He came back to report that there were big waves in the marina and that it looked more like the sea.

Another time he got up to strap down the microwave and freezer, as we do when we take Ravensdale out on the water.

Amazingly, Ruby either slept through the storm or just laid there quietly all night listening to it as she didn’t make a sound from the time we went to bed until we got up on Saturday morning.

It was still very windy when we got up with an average wind speed of 37mph, gusting 56mph, at 8am.

The anchor that sawed its way into the pontoon during the storm

And the high winds continued until about 2pm when they started to drop off.

Getting off the boat wasn’t easy at the height of the storm, especially when the boat was being blown away from the pontoon creating a very wide gap between the deck and our boarding steps.

I could get across by waiting for the boat to move in a bit each time I needed to get on or off but really didn’t feel happy carrying Ruby in those conditions, so Phil took her on and off the boat as needed.

I didn’t see the other boats bouncing around during the night as I was all nice and cosy in my bed, but, the following day, I saw the damage one of them had done to the pontoon.

It had obviously been blown onto the pontoon and the anchor had chopped into it like a saw.


Monday’s fishing trip

Calm conditions at Maryport Marina on Monday morning

After Storm Erik on Friday and Saturday, it was difficult to believe the forecast for very low single figure wind on Monday, so we didn’t even bother to make plans to take the boat out.

However, when we awoke on Monday morning, the water in the marina was so calm that Phil popped around to the pier to check out the sea state before breakfast.

He came back saying it was so calm that we’d be crazy not to go so we started making plans to go fishing but there was no mad rush as the gate wasn’t due to open until just before 1pm.

It was a while since we’d put any fuel in Ravensdale’s diesel tank and the recent cold weather meant we’d used a lot for heating, so we decided to top it up before we went out.

We popped over to the Aquarium on the harbourside to get some fishing bait.

The Aquarium by Maryport Harbour

They didn’t have any squid or lug worms, so Phil bought mackerel, bluey and sprats.

On our return to the marina, we were given some squid, lug worm and hermit crabs by a fisherman friend here for which we were very grateful.

I packed away all the loose items inside Ravensdale and made a flask of tea while Phil did his bit in the engine room and outside.

This involves opening the seacocks, carrying out the routine engine checks and taking off all the mooring ropes other than the bow and stern lines.

We put Ruby in her cage for her own safety just before Phil started the engines then moved Ravensdale down to the next hammerhead to the diesel pump.

Phil filling up Ravensdale's diesel tank

This involves turning the boat around as the filler is on the starboard side, which meant we were then facing the right way to leave the marina, so we waited on that pontoon until the gate opened.

We left the marina at 1.20pm and the water was really calm on the way out – a very different experience to our last outing when we were bouncing around all over the place.

Ravensdale leaving Maryport

We anchored off Flimby in just over 8m (26 feet) of water.

I then poured us a cup of tea and prepared our lunch while Phil set up his two uptide rods.

My view of Scotland through the galley window while I was preparing lunch 

Ruby seemed quite happy in her cage, so we left her in there until we’d finished eating then fed her as it was time for her second meal of the day.

Ruby resting in her cage

I was amazed that she wolfed it down just the same as she would’ve done under normal circumstances.

Phil went back out and carried on fishing while I cleared away our lunch things.

Ruby wasn’t too happy with being dressed up in her life jacket this time. She seemed to think it was a game, but I managed to get it on her eventually and took her out on the aft deck on her long lead.

Ruby in her life jacket

Me giving Ruby a cuddle on the aft deck

Ruby climbing up my legs in search of treats

Ruby looking out at the water

She spent longer out there than on our previous outings and seemed happy enough just wandering around checking out Phil’s fishing gear and bait and looking out at the water.

It wasn’t as calm as her first trip out on the boat and definitely nowhere near as rough as her last outing so was a good in between sort of experience for her.

She eventually decided she’d had enough and made it clear that she wanted to go back indoors.

So, I took her in and spent a bit of time playing with her and giving her a cuddle before putting her back in her cage. I then went back outside to see how Phil was getting on with his fishing.

It turned out to be our most successful fishing trip in recent months.

He caught 12 whiting, including five that were big enough to keep, one small codling and two dogfish, all of which were put back in the water.

Phil with one of the larger whiting he caught on this trip

Phil with the codling that was returned to the water

The wind got up a bit and the temperature dropped making it feel a lot colder.

Ravensdale out on the Solway Firth on Monday. Photo by Glyn Dixon

We could’ve stayed out for longer but decided to head home and for the first time in ages, we actually brought home some fish we could eat 😊

We returned to the marina at 4.25pm after three hours and 15 minutes out on the water, during which time we’d travelled 4.5 nautical miles.

We were pleased to discover that Glyn Dixon, who operates Venture West charter boat, had taken some photos of Ravensdale while I was taking photos of his boat. Thanks Glyn! 😊


Windscreen cover repairs

Phil fitting new studs to the windscreen cover

Some of the press studs that hold Ravensdale’s windscreen cover in place have broken over a period of time.

Some time back, Phil replaced the ones on the two corners on the starboard side with little bungee fastenings.

More studs had since broken, and the cover wasn’t secured properly anymore, so he ordered some replacements.

He replaced four of the broken studs with new ones.

Phil trying to drill a hole for the part of the stud that is fixed to the superstructure

He also fitted two further bungee fastenings – one on the top corner of the port side, where it was impossible to drill a new hole for a stud, and the other half way down the cover on the port side as the canvas had shrunk too much to get enough overlap to fit a stud.

The windscreen cover is now a nice snug fit again.



Fishing rod storage

Phil cutting the plumbing pipe he used for fishing rod storage

Phil has been planning to sort some better storage for his fishing rods for sometime and this week he got around to doing it.

They were pushed in along one side of the flybridge and the rings kept getting caught up on each other and on the boat hook that was stored in the same place.

He bought three black, 68mm diameter, plastic downpipes.

He then attached them with the brackets made for this size of pipe before slipping fishing rods into two of them and the boat hook into the other.

Rods and boat hook neatly stowed away in their newly fitted pipes

That area now looks much tidier and he can slide his rods and the boat hook in and out without causing any damage to the rods.


Ruby

Ruby watching us from a comfy spot in the sun

Ruby continues to grow rapidly.

When we got her just before Christmas, she was 4.5kg. She has since more than doubled her weight and yesterday (Thursday) weighed 9.5kg.

She’s also learned to negotiate more of the steps on Ravensdale.

She still cries to be lifted down from the top of the four steps leading up out of the saloon onto the aft deck but will do it herself if she has a good enough reason or gets impatient while waiting for a lift.

She can now climb up the steps from the galley to the saloon but hasn’t yet attempted to go down them as the first step down is a bit of a big drop.

The steps from Ravensdale's galley up into the saloon and the dinette seat she now jumps from

And, on Wednesday, she discovered that she can jump from the seating in the dinette up onto the saloon floor.

Until now, she has always sat on the end seat and asked to be lifted into the saloon.

She hasn’t attempted this jump in the opposite direction yet and she hasn’t yet worked out that, if she jumped off the seating onto the floor under the dining table, she could then climb up the steps out of the galley.

But I’m sure it won’t be long before she does one or the other – or both 

The days of being able to put her in one area of Ravensdale knowing she will stay there are nearly over. Soon she will have the run of the boat 😊

Ruby's favourite spot in the saloon

She hasn’t had as many beach walks this week due to the bad weather.

However, on Saturday afternoon when it was still pretty windy, I took her for a walk along the coastal path on top of the seawall and she really didn’t like the sound made by the huge waves crashing onto the shore.

And I didn’t take my camera on a walk along the beach on Tuesday because the weather wasn’t very nice, but I really wish I had as she seemed happier getting closer to the water’s edge than on previous occasions.

I grabbed a few shots of her and Phil walking on the beach with my phone, but the quality is nowhere near as good as I get from my camera.

Ruby watches the waves with Phil

Me and Ruby on the beach at Maryport yesterday (Thursday)

But at least I had my camera when we took her for a run on the beach yesterday (Thursday) and she found a small flatfish in the sand. She seemed so pleased with herself and was very reluctant to give it up.

Ruby with the flatfish she found in the wet sand yesterday (Thursday)

It was also the first time she had dug a hole and seemed very confused when it kept filling up with water.

Ruby digging a hole in the sand

Ruby was totally unconcerned by Storm Erik, apart from not liking the wind much when she had to go out to do her business.

And she was no trouble at all during our trip out on Ravensdale on Monday.

Ruby was also pretty good when a friend visited us on the boat on Saturday.

Ruby checking out our visitor on Saturday

She greeted him very enthusiastically, but she soon settled down and let us have a coffee and chat with Steve, who's a fellow berth holder here, in relative peace – apart from when she attempted to eat his shoelaces 😊

Ruby smiling for the camera

And this week I got a photo of her that I totally love. I managed to get a snap of her smiling for the camera 😊


Marina wildlife

Among the many good things about living on a boat are the sea creatures and other wildlife we see on a regular basis.

However, the swan family seems to be visiting the marina much less frequently at the moment and we haven’t seen them here at all this week.

I initially thought it was because they didn’t like Ruby.

I then remembered that it was around this time last year that the parents stopped visiting for a few months before returning with their babies so maybe they’re about to begin the nesting process for this year’s brood.

We’ve seen a couple of unusual sights in the marina this week – one I did manage to photograph and one that I sadly missed.

We heard a knock on Ravensdale’s window on Tuesday morning and went to see who was there.

It was one of the marina staff calling us to go and see a large shoal of fish close to the pontoon near the ramp up to the marina facilities.

All we could see was a black mass under the water about four or five feet in diameter.

The black mass that we could see in the water at Maryport Marina

At first glance, it looked like oil, but it was obviously moving around.

When we looked more closely, we could just make out the shapes of what lookes like thousands of small fish, with the occasional glint of silver as one of them turned over.

I went to get my camera and crept along the pontoon to get as close as possible without disturbing them.

A close up of a section of the shoal of fish

I took lots of photos in the hope the fish would be visible in one of them as the movement of the water and the reflections of the sunlight were making it quite difficult to see them.

And, when I got the images on my computer, I discovered that some actually showed the huge number of fish in the black ball.

Phil scooping out some of the fish with his landing net

We didn’t know what type of fish they were so Phil got our landing net and scooped a few up to get a closer look before putting them back and we discovered them to be small grey mullet that were about three to four inches long.

One of the thousands of grey mullet in the shoal

And the unusual sight that would’ve made a great photo, if only I’d been quicker grabbing my camera, was a seagull standing on the pontoon by Ravensdale holding a large starfish in its beak.

Soon after I spotted it, it flew off obviously weighed down by its prey.

It was being very closely watched by a group of gulls that were apparently hoping it would drop the starfish so they could swoop in and grab it.


Photography

I haven’t gone out for many walks with my camera this week other than going down onto the shore here at Maryport during Storm Erik last Friday and Saturday.

Giant waves crashing onto the shore at Maryport during Storm Erik

Big waves rolling in at the start of the storm

Spray being whipped up by the high winds

Surprisingly, given the horrendous weather we had during the storm, there was a pretty impressive sunset on Friday evening but, by the time I realised it was happening, I only had time to grab a few photos in the marina.

Sunset at Maryport Marina with Ravensdale at the far end of the pontoon

Another view of the sunset at Maryport Marina

And, as always, I took loads of photos while we were out on the Solway Firth on Monday.

Maryport from the Solway Firth with a dusting of snow on the distant fells

Cormorants on a navigation mark in the Solway Firth

Iggesund paperboard mill at Workington from the Solway Firth

Another view of Maryport from the Solway Firth

Fishing charter boat Venture West out on the Solway Firth

Another view of Venture West with Robin Rigg wind farm in the background

Weather watch

High winds have been the predominant feature of the past week’s weather with one really calm day in between.

Overnight Friday into Saturday was our windiest night on board yet.

The highest average wind speed recorded locally during the night was 54mph, gusting 74mph.

It was still very windy when we got up of Saturday morning when the average wind speed was 37mph, gusting 56mph, and it continued to blow a gale until well into the afternoon.

It was a bright day of cloud and sunny intervals with a top temperature of 7.4C (45F).

Sunday afternoon at Maryport Marina

We had a sunny start to the day on Sunday, which was followed by cloud and sunny intervals. The top temperature was 5.5C (42F) and the highest average wind speed during the day was 22mph, gusting 33mph.

Monday morning was very sunny and very calm, so we decided to take the boat out.

The wind speed was just 2-3mph in the morning while the marina gate was shut. It was still calm when we left the marina, but the wind increased while we were out. The top average wind speed during the day was 10mph at 6pm.

Sunny weather on the Solway Firth on Monday afternoon

The temperature reached 6.3C (43F) at midday, dropping to 3.3C (38F) by 6pm.

It rained overnight and was still raining first thing on Tuesday morning but soon cleared up.

Tuesday was much windier than the previous day and it rained again for a while around lunchtime.

The top temperature was 7.8C (46F) and the top average wind speed was 18mph.

Wednesday was cloudy but dry and bright, with a top temperature of 7.6C (46F). It was another windy day with a top average wind speed of 25mph, gusting 36mph.

Cloud and wind at Maryport Marina on Wednesday

Yesterday (Thursday) started cloudy but dry. The cloud cleared during the morning to give way to sunshine during the afternoon.

The temperature reached 7.3C (45F) and the top average wind speed was 22mph, gusting 29mph.

Clear sky over the beach at Maryport this afternoon (Friday)

And, today (Friday), started sunny, mild and fairly calm, but the wind got up later in the day. The top temperature was 10.1C and the average wind speed reached 23mph, gusting 31mph.