What's going on with the boat?

After ten years living on Tarquilla we have moved to land. I'm often asked if we love the house or miss the boat and the real answer is - both. We still have Tarquilla and we are open to all options at the moment as far as her future is concerned. We will carry on working on her, it would be great to be able to sail her again. The Scilly Isles, Portishead marina, Bristol harbour and Falmouth are all places we have talked about as well as many others further afield. But, on the other hand, if a family was looking for a boat, ready to do the preparation she needs and wanted to take her on then we would sell her. She is not ready to sail off into the sunset but has a lot of life left in her. If you or someone you know would be interested then please contact us. She is 3 ply cold moulded, 42 foot long, one off design built in the 1960's. She has 2 double cabins and 2 single berths, a good size saloon, a decent size galley, head and a covered cockpit. She has two engines and a full suit of sails. We have lots more photos and can provide more details or answer questions. In the meantime, this blog has come to a natural pause for now as we take on new adventures.

A wishing tree, some barnacles and slate reefs

When I submit pictures to Shutterstock I often do bits of research to make sure that the key words are suitable and there is a good variety. These means that I can end up finding out all sorts of things about something that I took a picture of just because I liked the look of it.


Last year we had a week away in Exmoor, Somerset which was lovely. Whilst there we visited Glen Lyn Gorge, Lynmouth (just over the border in Devon). It’s a fascinating place and we enjoyed playing with the water sprayers and studying their very interesting displays. Up in the woods, we found some trees with lots of coins hammered into them that looked like they had been there a very long time. I took some pictures of them and it has taken me until this week to edit and upload them. I did the usual searches and digging around and it turns out that this is an ancient custom in Britain of hammering coins into certain trees, often using local stone to force the coin into the wood, to bring good luck. They are known as wishing trees and it turns out there are similar things in many cultures. Some of the coins in this trunk had completely delaminated presumably because they had been there such a long time.

 

Close up of trunk with coins


Some searches I end up doing have a more technical focus, especially when I want to know something like the classes and phylum a barnacle belongs to (!). Another sciency thing I end up looking up fairly frequently is geological terminology as we have lots of interesting rock formations around here along the coastline. I end up with keywords like recumbent, igneous and strata to describe the fascinating folds and ridges created by hundreds of thousands of years of Earth's activity.


Barnacles on a rock


The South Devon coast is rocky and deeply folded. There are lots of little coves - meaning social distancing is very easy with a bit of local knowledge - and there are lots of rock pools. The coastlines slate reefs stretch out into the sea and are home to some extraordinary creatures. This week is national marine week, run by the Wildlife Trusts to celebrate everything marine. 

Amongst the online activities organised is a citizen science project to identify sealife including non native species such as Pacific oyster, Chinese mitten crab, wireweed and slipper limpets. The RYA also do a lot of work through their Green Blue project encouraging people to take steps to reduce the introduction and spread of non native species in order to protect the delicate balance of our oceans.


Rock pool


This time of year we see lots of jellyfish drifting on the currents. We have seen Compass and Moon jellies and I find them fascinating. They look so delicate but have been around since before the dinosaurs and can be found all over the globe so they must be far more robust than they look. We also get lots of cuttlefish, bass, mullets, octopus, egrets and importantly eel grass which is rapidly declining around Britain's coast.


Plymouth Sound in Devon is a natural harbour used as a port since at least the bronze age. It is a large body of water and has recently been announced as one of the first national marine parks and there are many exciting plans and ideas to support and protect the hundreds of species of marine life supported there. Hopefully many of these will be successful and lead to a greater engagement with and the protection of our seas.



looking across water at slate cliffs lying in different directions with red and white day marker in front
Rocky coastline


 


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