Seal's Return

The seal was back again today and Pete managed to get a little closer to take the attached pictures.

From others who work on the harbour it appears this seal is a regular in Salcombe and spends a lot of his time either basking on the crab boxes of fishing on the falling tide.


The fuel barge goes back to "on-call" for the winter months on Monday and Pete was pleased to have seen the seal before his half-term stint came to an end.

First Seal

Today Pete saw and photographed his first seal in Salcombe Harbour - he had fleetingly glimpsed a head.bobbing in the estuary earlier in the year, but not had a good sighting.  The seal was sunning itself on the crab boxes at Ditch End.

Oh what a beautiful morning...

Pete turned up for work this morning and had to take this picture from the barge.

Celebrity Boat(s)?

 It would appear that the boat(s) in the picture may be used in a new Johnny Depp/Brad Pitt film.  The film is allegedly of the vampire genre and part of it is being shot at Lannacombe.

The attached pictures were taken on the 13th September when the guys were attempting to get the sailing boat into the landing craft.  After a short struggle the objective was achieved, after which the landing craft took off along the harbour fairway out of Salcombe.


I guess it's a wait-and-see now until they do or don't appear in the film...

Turkey Holiday

We have just come back from holiday in Turkey staying at a villa in Calis, a coastal resort near the harbour of Fethiye.  The weather was, as expected, great - very hot (high 90s) and no rain or wind.  We had a great time spent with Pete's brothers, their wives and friends.  Six of us stayed in a villa in a complex of about 25 villas, whilst Pete's elder brother and wife stayed at their own apartment with their two friends.


Fethiye is the nearest large town and can be reached by dolmus (Turkish small bus) or by boat.  The dolmus is no more than a van converted with seats and some standing room and the drivers take great pains to ensure they run as full as possible.  The boats can be similarly crowded.


Like Salcombe it relies on tourism and there must be significant parallels with the pressures Salcombe endures around getting people into the town and spending money.  The harbour has plenty of charter boats available and the quays are always busy - if only Salcombe had been as busy this summer. There were plenty of gulets available and a short charter is something we might try on another visit.


Since our move to Salcombe it seems we have more of an affinity with the sea(side) and TV seems constantly to contain references to the sea and quite specifically to Salcombe.  The brain will filter in things of interest, so perhaps it's that, although their certainly seems to be more and more on TV looking towards the coast and seas.

It was so hot in Turkey that it would be difficult to do anything too physical (for us), but at the nearby resort of Oludeniz they have a sedate activity that the street hawkers are constantly pushing.  It's fine, as an activity if you don't mind throwing yourself of a cliff edge attached to a guy and his para-glider.  Pete feigns interest and suggests he could do it, but is yet to sign-up.  One of our company was brave enough to attempt it, however, Pete's camera battery failed just as Steve made his approach so the photo opportunity was lost.  Having launched yourself off the mountain you glide through  the skies above the resort before landing on the beach promenade - all very leisurely until those last few frantic moments.  Most f the pilots are pretty good, but occasionally they don't get it quite right. 


There are and have been some impressive craft in Salcombe, however, the yacht we saw off Calis beach was in a different class.  It was Steven Spielberg's $200m yacht Seven Seas (see photo) that was allegedly carrying Mr Speilberg and Tom Hanks. The boat was reportedly in Marmaris and Bodrum the previous week and all the restraunteurs were happy to tell you the story.

Salcombe Town Regatta Fireworks

The annual Salcombe Town Regatta is punctuated with a firework display on the Thursday evening. This year was no exception and we decided to try and get to view the fireworks from a different perspective and Pete managed to capture the attached images.

We left it a bit late to get to the

National Trust car park at Snapes Point and were naively surprised to find it full. However, we managed to squeeze into the last space available and took our place among the small gathering of people on the edge of the car park.

As ever the fireworks were impressive and our different viewpoint added something to them too.

Changing Sunset

What a difference an hour makes. These pictures were taken about an hour apart and the difference is, as you'll agree, staggering.

As I've said before we get some great sunsets and this one was one of the best.

Battle of Britain Memorial Flight - Salcombe Regatta

The opening day of the Salcombe Town Regatta was to be marked with a "display" from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight at 17:00 on the 14th August.

Unfortunately the Lancaster developed a fault earlier in the day and couldn't make the event, however, we were treated to a display by a Spitfire and a Hurricane - all too fleeting though.

Attached are Pete's better efforts from

the day taken from the fuel barge in the centre of Salcombe's estuary.

Attached are Pete's better efforts from the day - alas nowhere near as good as his Red Arrow shots...

Salcombe Yacht Club Regatta Week

Blog entry to be updated and expanded soon...

Salcombe Merlin Rocket Week

Blog entry to be expanded and updated soon...

Last weekend off...

This is the last weekend that Pete will have off until we go off on our holiday to Turkey in September. The job on the fuel barge will become full-time next week and today is our last chance to go out on a weekend.

Julie is still rowing and is more serious about it than ever, so much so that she rows three times a week when she can and when she can't row she goes to the gym. It seems to be working as her

fitness is improving and clothes are a

little more "comfortable". She is keen, but still has no real ambition to race.

While she rows Pete will take a walk through the town and have a coffee and a doughnut until she finishes. He usually has a camera and was interested to see the pansies growing out of the cracks in the pavement and the poppies growing from the kerb. If there is somewhere for a seed to germinate down here it will and the site is

spectacular.

In the afternoon we went off to Otters garden centre followed by a walk down at Avon Mill. It was really quiet and peaceful amongst the trees and the canopy was really dense. It's a lovely spot to walk, but due to the light conditions hard to take photographs - Pete tried...

In the evening a couple of friends came

round for an Indian takeaway, which

was really nice (food and the company).

Another Sunset

Facing due North, as our house does and being on the side of a hill we see very little direct sunlight during the winter. In the summer though the sunsets can be stunning looking across the fields to Malborough. Tonight's was no exception - not expansive (taking up the whole sky), but certainly colourful.

We make no excuses for the number of sunsets we have and will post, but Pete always has a ready camera and endless opportunities - he really must get out more with his cameras!

PS - Pete has finished the decorating...

Happy Birthday Julie

Today is Julie's birthday and to celebrate she has gone to Essex to spend a few days with family - Happy birthday Julie.

The weather in Salcombe is fabulous (as you can see from the picture from our balcony attached to this post), although it is a bit breezy. Essex is much the same, so a good day for Julie and our daughter Gemma to get out and about before going for a family meal this evening.

Pete is still trying to decorate and will be finished in time for the furniture delivery tomorrow (just).

Another different day...

The weather has been better today here in Salcombe and although windy the sun has been shining and it has been very warm out of the wind.

Another working day for us both with a bit of decorating in the evening as we try to prepare our en-suite quest room for new furniture on Friday.

Julie is off to Essex for a few days to celebrate her birthday with our daughter Gemma and some of the family.

As you can see the mist has cleared and we were treated to a clear sky and a sunset hardly impacted by clouds.

What a difference a day makes...

Yesterday turned into a lovely evening and Pete made the most of the evening sitting outside for a while having a cuppa and checking e-mails.

Today was a different story. It started off misty, got a bit better and then ebbed and flowed between until late afternoon when the mist really rolled in and the rain came. Not good, as Pete was just refueling one of the bigger fishing boats in Salcombe - he got a bit wet.

Julie rowed this evening and although the mist had lifted generally from the estuary the surrounding hills were shrouded in mist. She really enjoyed the row and was happy not to get wet.

Pete went to the gym and although a misty evening there was a really good sunset on the way home. he had to take some photographs once he got home.

From the weather forecasts and Facebook comments it seems it was steaming in London and Essex and

although we were promised some of

that for Salcombe it only materialised for about 30 minutes in the middle of the day.

Tomorrow's another day...

Pete's office...

For the last few months Pete has worked part-time on the Salcombe fuel barge operated by Devon Marine Fuels. Today was a working day and it started off calm and misty on the water. Over the first few hours the mist lifted to reveal a sunny, but breezy day. It has been really windy over the last few weeks and it’s about time the town had some settled sunny weather. It turned out to be a lovely sunny afternoon, but windy and cold on the water.

One of the attached pictures is of Salcombe town taken from Pete’s “office”, which is an improvement on his last office view. As a Programme/Project Manager working from home his view was of our back garden (or from the driving seat of his car on a motorway). Although he now has a 15 minute walking commute into town he doesn’t feel he can complain (despite the hills) followed by a short boat ride out to the barge.

The view is ever changing with the weather, tide and time of day and the diversity of craft either based in or stopping over in Salcombe passing by the fuel barge. The yacht club sailing events are always interesting to watch. You also get the odd windsurfer, hoby-cat, kayak or paddle board go by sometimes with the occasional dog perched on the front. As the summer progresses I am promised even more interesting sights) fingers crossed!