King’s Quay Creek

Continue west, avoiding the red can marking Peel Wreck, thought to be a section of Mulberry harbour or, more prosaically, a concrete barge about 2km west of Wootton Creek is King’s Quay Creek, unnavigable even at high water springs in anything but a small shoal draught cruising yacht, and landing is forbidden as it is both private, owned until recently by former manager of the Bee Gees and Cream Robert Stigwood, and it’s a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). You’d need to enjoy a challenge to try it. The name is thought to commemorate King John’s visit having signed the Magna Carta in 1215 though the island is not thought to have been well disposed towards royalty at the time.

There are rocks off Barton Point, about 1.5km west of Kings Quay Creek, in particular a small cluster of boulders known as East Patch lying about 400m northeast of the Point. This marks the eastern edge of Osborne Bay, named after the overlooking Osborne House where Queen Victoria used to get away from it all, and where she finally got away from it all for good in January 1901.