The Scilly Islands, St Mary’s Pool and Porth Cressa
At a Glance
Main coverage of the Scilly Isles HERE Contacts
St Mary's Harbour Office tel 01720 422768 mob 07789 273626
www.stmarys-harbour.co.uk/
Hugh Town is the main administrative centre on the Islands and
is also the main location for all the services. It lies on the
western side of the Island of St Mary's and spreads across the
isthmus connecting the island to Garrison Hill and can be accessed
easily from either St Mary's Pool to the North of the isthmus or
Porth Cressa to the South.
Unsurprisingly most first time visitors head for St Mary's Pool
where there are visitor's moorings and, at some time during the
day, you can get alongside the pier to take on fuel and water. If
you are lucky there may be room at one of the three visitor's
berths alongside the inner end of the quay where there are power
and water hook-ups but these are drying berths and if you don't
have to raft up with a boat already alongside, you will undoubtedly
be rafted upon by the end of the day!
At the height of the season whatever mooring or berth you clew up
at you are likely to have to share it as this is a very crowded
anchorage, so much so that space to tie up your dinghy is at a
premium (do the math; 38 moorings, some double banked, all trying
to tie their dinghies up at the steps on the quay; getting back to
your dinghy is like trying to stand up on a floating, bouncy
castle); some crafty skippers tie a small angel on their painters
then, as the tide rises instead of floating away from the ladder
the angel sinks next to the ladder as the others float away! This
traffic jam may have been solved by the introduction of a pontoon
with fingers
The quay itself is holy ground and not to be approached by humble
yachtsmen without the express permission of the HM and, even then,
not to the disadvantage of the local ferries and various pleasure
craft going about their business. The "Great White Whale" (the MV
Scillonian) arrives at about lunchtime every day and ties up
starboard side to at the business end of the quay and then reverses
out again at 2.00pm needing the water to the west of the Lifeboat
to turn in before heading back to Penzance. Her normal route is
South about the island but she sometimes use Crow Sound.
On the other hand, there's Porth Cressa, the favoured haunt of
those "in the know". This bay is less used than St Mary's
on the other side and, not only that, you can anchor here for
nothing. I anchored here in the nineties with a metre draft and
laid to two anchors at the bow quite close in (dried out at LW)
The Scilly Islands, St Mary’s Pool and Porth Cressa
Approach
The initial part of the south about approach to both Porth Cressa and....
....St Mary's is the same and, once you are certain of the position of the Gilstone (unmarked) and it's associated shallows off Old Town Bay, you can pass quite close Peninnis Head, hold a westerly course until Inner Head is well abaft the beam and then, for St Mary's, shape a course for the Woolpack SCM or turn in for Porth Cressa. Abnormally, coming into Porth Cressa, it's possibly better to do it at low water when all the rocks can be seen and even at LWS there'll be just over a meter of water where the anchor symbol has been place on the chart. Later when you've had a look at the lie of the land, if you can take the ground, you can push up right into the throat of that little channel between Brow Breeze and the rock bank to the west of it, lay two anchors in a Y at the bow to limit your scope and you'll be well settled for a couple of days.
For St Mary's, once you have passed the Woolpack SCM, there's
plenty of water for a moderate draft boat to coast around Garrison
Hill a couple of cables off the main LW mark; you don't have to
follow the deep draft route all the way out round Woodcock Ledge.
Once you have cleared Newman hold on to NE course for a while
towards the Bacon Ledge PHM to clear the rocks off Rat Island;
there are lead in marks shown on the chart but basically when you
have cleared Newman Buoy (Fl.(2) G 5s) you can head straight for
the moorings. Note that the old sector light on the pier is no more
so, at night, you'll have to pass the Newman buoy and hold
until the lead in lights on the shore come on to bearing.
If you have opted to come north about through Crow Sound, once you
have cleared Crow Rock itself, your only problem is the narrow
passage between The Cow (off Taylor's Island) and Bacon Ledge.
The lead-in marks are quite prominent these days (there was a time
when it was a case of "Beach hut? What beach hut"); the tower on
the hill behind Hugh Town has always been easy to see and thanks to
some diligent work the "White Mark on Shelter" is also fairly
obvious. If you are in any doubt consult your compass; you should
be running in on a bearing of 151T (variation in 2011 was about
4°W). It might be a bit adventurous for a skipper who is not
familiar with the Isles to make a night approach through this
route.
£ GMT
Waypoint
Charts
Rules & Regs
Hazards
Tides
Berthing
You used to be able dry out on the beach at Porth Mellon away....
.... from the madding crowd but unfortunately that is no longer an option as anchoring is prohibited within the harbour limits. That doesn't apply to the beach at Porthloo just to the north of the Pool where you can anchor off or dry out but it is a fair old hike to the shops from there.
You would be well advised to visit the St Mary's Harbour
website above before you leave Lands End and familiarise yourself
with the fiddly bits in the rules about who can do what where on
the pier.
The mooring St Mary's Buoys have a sliding scale of charges
(2022) but basically it's £21.00 for boats up to 40ft (Yellow
Visitors Buoys) and £26.00 up to 60ft
(Green Buoys) with the fourth night free if you pay in advance.
The alongside berths are £25.50 (40ft) and £30.60 (60ft) per night.
Note also that, if you pop across here from one of the other
islands to top up with food, cash or a lunchtime libation (a) you
can't anchor and (b) they'll charge you £6 for a half day stop.
(Anchor in Porth Cressa?)
There are no longer any moorings in Porth Cressa
Facilities
Water at taps in both locations as is Wifi
What to Do
History
Local Business
Uncategorised
Tide Information for st-marys
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