With a break of a day between my few days of tuition and my own planned visit to Skokholm Island, I had the chance to take a few images for myself. The winds were quite high, which affects the sailing to both Skomer and Skokholm, so after a day packing, cleaning and generally getting my gear packed for the trip to Skokholm, I set off?to Deer Park, the headland above Martin’s Haven, where the boat to Skomer and Skokholm departs from. I wanted to check out the swell and general wave conditions of the sea. My departure time to the island had been put back by 8 hours already and I was concerned that I wouldn’t get out the next day.
It can be a bit fustrating at times when the weather generally looks okay, but the sea conditions are too difficult to get a safe transfer to and from the island. Matin’s Haven is very sheltered and the sea nearly always looks calm. It is a different story on Skomer and especially Skokholm. I have found myself a few times in the past standing on the cliff top at?Deer Park,?looking out to sea and thinking that the weather is great and the sea doesn’t look that rough. A good indication of the sea conditions is looking at how many Tankers are moored up sheltering from the sea and wind conditions. Only a few and it isn’t that bad, more and it’s going to get rough! There were quite a few this time, so it looked likely that my departure was going to be delayed.
The sea doesn’t look that bad in the photo above, but the swell was about a few metres!
