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Although the sea had calmed significantly and we were reasonably comfortable with the safe channel out of Warkworth Harbour, our preference was still to leave on a rising tide. We would pass outside Coquet Island and originally planned to head for Sunderland, a trip of some 29M. The passage should be straightforward as long as we remembered to check for flags at the firing range off Souter Point.
We left at 0600 (½hr before local HW) which also gave us a favourable tide for the first half of the passage. Passing to the west and north of Pan Bush we were stayed about 5ca off Coquet Island before setting course for Sunderland. With a W / SW F3 to F5 we made a fast passage down past Beacon Point and Tynemouth towards Sunderland. Our progress was such that we opted for Hartlepool rather than Sunderland. Hartlepool had a tidal gate as the approach to the marina is only dredged to chart datum. We elected to go in when there was 2.0m of water on a rising tide (0.3m below our keel) which in the shelter of the breakwater worked fine. We had to wait half an hour or so for the tide so we hove to and watched the busy traffic; huge cargo ships heading for The Tees, fisheries protection vessels, a huge unidentifiable structure being towed, numerous pilot boats and many more. The entry to the marina was fine despite concerns over the depth with leading lights guiding the way to a larger dredged basin in front of the marina lock. The lock had a pontoon on the port side (going in) so no need for the usual long warps.
The facilities at Hartlepool were great; it's a regeneration area with lots of restaurants and cafés. The Maritime Experience incorporating a museum and the tall ship HMS Trincomalee is well worth a visit. The pontoons are fully serviced and showers were included in the £21 berthing fee. The only downside really was the restricted tidal access.