The White Cliffs of Dover hands on

A visit to Dover is not complete without a visit to The White Cliffs of Dover. After exploring the central part of the city I followed the shore line and started a slow climb of the nearest cliffs. These white cliffs are visible for many miles from the seaside and are the first sign of UK to greet arriving seamen.

Once on top of the cliff I had an excellent view of the busy harbour area with all the car ferries. The Dover port is a main gate for traffic between UK and the rest of Europe.

Dover and Queen Elizabeth II

After another day and night sail from Cowes (22 hours,141 NM) we are now safely anchored In the Granville Dock of the Dover Marina. In order to enter the dock you have to pass thru a lock since the difference between high water and low water is 6.19 meters. In order to enter or exit the marina you have to contact the marina office from which the lock is controlled. He knows his tide tables.

Dover Marina is located close to down town Dover (pop. 42.000). The Market Square in the town centre is only a 10 minute walk from the Marina. The main attraction here is Dover Castle, visible from almost any point in the city.

After having a long leisurely breakfast onboard Jennifer I headed into town. By chance I found a nice little trail to follow, "the Dour Greenway", which passes thru the central part of this little town. And then, by chance on my way back to Jennifer, I met a very airy Queen standing on the boardwalk.

UK Border Force encounter at open sea

Yesterday, at 11.00 AM after a quick final food shopping spree by me, we left Cowes and pointed Jennifer's nose towards Dover. It was nice to be back on the waves again but a little sad to see beautiful IOW disappear behind our stern, so much to see and so little time.

Early this morning, during my 3-6 AM watch together with Tore, we had an exciting encounter on open sea. A fast moving grey painted vessel with lots of antennas approached Jennifer from behind us with it's AIS (Automatic Identification System) switched off. Our location at the time was close to shore and Dungeness B, a nuclear power station (grid contribution: 1120 MW, start up in  1983). At 4.45 AM this grim looking vessel pulled up next to us. I asked Tore to alert our sleeping captain Lasse.

After a few minutes we could see a text in black on the side of the vessel, "UK Border Force". A sound signal was given and Lasse replied by making contact via VHS radio. A Border Force gentleman then asked him about our past and future destinations, number of people onboard and their nationalities. Lasse explained that he is the owner of Jennifer and that she sailed in the Caribbean in 2016, in the Mediterranean 2017 & 2018 and that our final destination now is Stockholm, Sweden.

The answers given to the Border Force people by Lasse was apparently satisfactory enough and they could conclude that we had no intention to harm Dungeness B in any way.