Cherbourg to Jersey
We averaged 9.9 knots!
We're settled onto the "hammerhead" end of "B" dock, which gives us a good view of the entrance to the marina. We get to watch a steady stream of boat traffic for entertainment while the marina is open, which is three hours each side of high tide. The entrance to the marina is a "sill", which is just what it sounds like: a wall, or set of low gates, that retain the water in the marina at a sufficient height. That height is low relative to the entire tidal range (which, here in Jersey, is an enormous 12 meters!), so during the period around high tide, boats can float in and out over the sill. In an area with large tide swings, it's an elegant solution to keeping boats afloat during low tide without the need for locks or swinging gates. But you must time your arrival and departure such that your boat (including its keel and rudder...) will clear the sill. Here's what happens if you don't:
 | |
| Ouch... |
We'll be here for at least two weeks, with the first 11 days spent strictly aboard the boat in quarantine. We had our "day zero" COVID-19 arrival tests (negative - yea!) on Saturday morning, which will be followed by 5- and 10-day tests. Assuming those next two tests are also negative, we'll be released on day 11, and can begin exploring Jersey. And, assuming the rules don't change (a large assumption...), we'll then be able to sail directly from Jersey to the southern coast of the U.K. and not have to quarantine upon arrival. We should also be able to get the first of two vaccination shots before we leave, getting us started on the road towards a little less worry about the coronavirus.
How did we wind up in Jersey? There's a bit of a tale to tell.
Our goal for some time had been to leave Cherbourg by the end of last week (Friday, April 2nd). While we have informal assurance from the Manche prefecture that our residence permits will be renewed for another 3 months, we have nothing official to that effect, so we figured that we had best be gone by midnight on April 2nd to avoid overstaying our current permits.
Our initial plan was to go to Portsmouth or Southampton on the southern coast of England. We would have to quarantine for 10 days after arrival, but we figured we could probably manage to get our GoCycles sent off for some required service during that time, which would be great: we can't ride them while in quarantine. We had a berth reserved in Portsmouth and were settled on that plan, when we discovered, somewhat by accident, that we would not be able to quarantine on the boat, but would have to go to a special quarantine hotel - at 750 GBP per night!
Ouch.
A few frantic phone calls later, we were assured by the harbor master in St. Helier that we could quarantine on the boat, so Jersey it was.
Checking out of Cherbourg was interesting. Before Brexit, there was little point in "officially" clearing out of Cherbourg, since nearly all destinations in easy reach were in the Schengen free-travel zone. Now, though, since we were headed to Jersey, we really needed to formally leave France. But there isn't any obvious place to do that in Cherbourg.
So - we scheduled a visit by the "PAF" (the French border police) for early Friday morning. Two very pleasant and polite officers arrived at the boat at 5:30AM, stamped our passports, and were on their way. We're committed!
As noted above, we left about 12:30PM and had a great sail over.
On Saturday morning, after our day zero tests, we were visited by the Jersey customs officers and had our passports stamped for entry to Jersey. We should be good for 6 months in the Common Travel Area without further visa issues. Yea!
Pictures from the trip here.
Looked like a beautiful sail over. :)
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