And They're Off...

Just before midday on Sunday, after a lovely send off party/combined birthday party for me the night before, we cast off our mooring lines at Limehouse Basin Marina and waved goodbye to the gathering of friends and family who came to see us off.

Friends, family, and random gawpers waving us off  

It was a very exciting moment to finally be on our way, but the event was also shaded with sadness as we said goodbye to the people we love, knowing that it will be a while until we see them again.

We left the lock, turned down the Thames, and so began our great adventure.

Going past Greenwich and crossing from West to East longitude

We motored the whole way to the River Medway, which was a shame as the wind was actually pretty good for sailing, but the boat was in no fit state to put up canvas.  We have worked so hard over the last week, getting Firebird ready to go, but we haven't quite got everything stowed in a way that it wouldn't fall all over the place if we sailed, so were stuck with the motor.  We did about 42 NM (48 land miles) in total.

Going through the Thames Barrier

We actually stopped in Sharfleet Creek, which is off Stangate Creek, itself off the Medway.  It's a very peaceful anchorage with lots of birds feeding on the mud at low tide.  We have seen a seal and a couple of jelly fish floating by.  The seal didn't hang around long enough to have his photo taken, unfortunately.

Kate taking us past the O2 (Millennium Dome)

The original plan had been to leave here and head for Dover today, but we decided against it so that we could get some much needed sleep and continue getting Firebird fit to sail in. 

I wasn't as happy about Kate's empty hook as she was, as dinner time was fast approaching

Kate tried her hand, briefly, at fishing, but didn't spend long on it as we had too much to get done.  When I later pulled up the line that she had left in the water, I discovered that we had caught some sort of clam thing, as the hook had dragged on the bottom at low tide.

We caught something!

We're going to stay at this anchorage another night and plan on setting sail, with actual sails this time, on Wednesday, weather permitting.