Seal Hunting Circumnavigation!

Cracking day's paddling with Craig, Claire and Will.  We set out from the Portsmouth Lifeboat station, and headed clockwise around Hayling Island with a strong spring tide behind us.  First stop was the slip by The Ship car park, by the road bridge for a coffee and snack.  We then headed on and pulled up for lunch on Thorney Island.  After a good feed and water, we pressed on and soon saw a seal in the shallows.  We paddled up reasonably close and the seal seemed to enjoy our presence.  Soon we encountered several more seals, which was wonderful.  We then headed out through the channel by Hayling Lifeboat station into the Solent, still with a very string following tide.  We had a final stop on the south coast of Hayling Island for an ice cream.  We then headed back westwards along the coast.  We were all rather knackered by that stage.   The mouth to the western channel entrance was just visible and slowly getting closer as we paddled along.  Then we noticed a huge sandbank in front of us.  We had to take a long detour out into the Solent to get around the sandbank, then finally back up channel to our starting point.  Craig then went for his obligatory swim to cool off.  A great day.  Many thanks all!