Soggy Moose Travels : ALDERNEY and SARK and DOLPHINS!!!

Alderney and Sark:

I can not believe I forgot to mention Sam Kelly and the Lost Boys, who performed on the Orion before we sailed from Dartmouth. Sam Kelly would listen to his grandfather telling folk tales and sing folk songs. He was hooked and has gathered musicians of like mind and their performance was great.

Dartmouth at night as Sam Kelly and The Lost Boys depart via Zodiac.

As we sailed into the harbor of Alderney, we were escorted by a family of Bottle Nose Dolphins. The clouds are clearing and the morning sun is warming the harbor in golden light.

We took the zodiacs to the pier in Alderney and went for a nice slow walk into town. Alderney is the northernmost of the inhabited Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is 3 miles (5 km) long and 1¹⁄₂ miles (2.4 km) wide. The area is 3 square miles, making it the third-largest island of the Channel Islands, and the second largest in the Bailiwick.

In June 1940 the entire population of Alderney, about 1,500 residents, were evacuated. Most went on the official evacuation boats sent from mainland Britain. Some, however, decided to make their own way, mostly via Guernsey, but due to the impending occupation many found themselves unable to leave and were forced to stay on Guernsey for the duration of the war. A few Alderney people elected not to leave Alderney with the general evacuation. However, boats from Guernsey came and collected them before the German arrived, on the basis that it was best for their personal safety. During the Second World War, the Channel Islands were the only part of the British Isles that was occupied by Germany, although other parts of the Empire were occupied by the Axis powers.

The people of Alderney could not start returning until December 1945 due to the huge cleanup operation needed simply to make the island safe for civilians. When the islanders returned home they were shocked to see the state of the island, with many houses completely derelict: the Germans had burned anything wooden, including front doors, for fuel. Archival and object evidence of the general evacuation in 1940 and the subsequent occupation of Alderney can be found in the Alderney Society Museum.

We made a nice slow photo walk into the town of Saint Ann’s.

The Boys (our pups) scored big, as we bought them some treats and a new rope toy. These purchases helped support the Life Boats of Alderney.

We pulled up anchor and sailed to Sark. Sark is an island in the Channel Islands in the southwestern English Channel, off the coast of Normandy, France. It is a Royal Fief, which forms part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, with its own set of laws based on Norman law and its own parliament. It has a population of about 600.

Sark is one of the few remaining places in the world where cars are banned and only tractors and horse-drawn vehicles are allowed. In 2011, Sark was designated as a Dark Sky Community and the first Dark Sky Island in the world. A Dark Sky Community is a designated area where light pollution is nil.

TRAVEL PHOTO TIP: When taking a photo of a location where the tide is 30 feet of more, make sure there is something in your frame to give the massive tidal change someplace.