Stonehaven to Peterhead

I woke at 06:00 hearing the beat of a diesel engine and movement. I was afraid that it might be a returning fishing boat wanting our berth, but when Julian put his head out of the cabin to have a look and he could not see anything moving. It turned out to be a fishing boat leaving, so we went back to sleep.

There was no sign of the harbour master at 08:00, so we put Robinetta’s card and £25 though his letter box to pay for our berthing. As far we we could tell Stonehaven has a flat rate berthing fee, and a passing local told us how much it was. I checked the oil level in the engine, and it seemed lower than yesterday. Julian had been complaining off and on about smelling burning oil, so this was a bit concerning. I called Mike French, and he told me to measure the oil level very carefully, and keep him updated if the level continued to go down.

We were ready to leave at 08:30, which was dead low water. We only had 0.3m below the keel on the berth, but yesterday’s exploration had shown us that this was the shallowest bit of the harbour, and we got out of the harbour without problems.

We got the main sail up as soon as we had enough room to go head to wind. The wind was still very light, and still southerly/south westerly (dead astern) and we only managed half an hour of sailing without the engine on. Julian could still smell burning oil, although I could not. We had bright sunshine all morning, with very little swell, but by lunch time Robinetta was being rolled all over the place. We were not having fun, and when the sun went it all became a bit grim, with the tide against us, and barely making 3 knots at full revs. The wind got up, but we could not use it easily, the swell got up and pushed Robinetta all over the place. We put in a reef at 14:30, just before I took the helm.

Peterhead Harbour entrance

It was a huge relief when the tide turned in our favour again just after 16:00. By the time we reached Peterhead it was giving us an extra 2 knots, and we had to ferry glide towards the harbour entrance. Once in the shelter we could motor straight for the marina entrance where we were tied up by 18:35. This had not been an enjoyable day on the water, but the marina officer was there to show us to our berth and give us a gate key, so we felt welcome.

When I opened my marina fee record to record the £14 we were charged I realised we had arrived exactly 8 years to the date from our last arrival in Peterhead (£12 that time!). Peterhead is the cheapest full service marina I am aware of.

We walked into Peterhead after a much appreciated shower, and treated ourselves to an Indian meal.