There have been 24 boats in from the Irish Cruising Club were in Victoria Dock for a weekend rally with a diner on Saturday night at the Royal Welsh Yacht Club, giving a very convivial atmosphere doing nothing to help your correspondent get connected to the internet. Some boast were due to leave today with some choosing to go on a tour of Snowdonia followed by a passage back on Monday. 
To catch the tide through the Menai Straits to Bangor, the plan was to leave at 1600 hours, soon after the gates open to allow access in and out of the dock. As we tried to leave, we discovered that Alcyone was aground; slowly the tide rose freeing her from the mud, helped by two local yachtsmen pushing and pulling. Other boats equally were aground and having difficulty getting to the entrance; a sort of jovial chaos reigned. 
The passage up the Menai Straits was stunning with shafts of light on the mountains dramatic, although some sun and less rain would have been welcome. Port Dinowic was passed where Alcyone was based before being moved to Hythe and the Solent. Despite banter in the dock before departure, the passage through the Swellies was uneventful; as we picked up a mooring, Chris was heard to enquire what happened to the rapids! Sunday evening finds Alcyone on a mooring opposite Bangor Pier where the late evening sunshine has given good view of the north Wales coast to the Great Orme and hills behind. And so to supper cooked by a Raymond Blanc trained cook – excellent!
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