Eyemouth to Anstruther (and the Isle of May)

We managed to plan our trip to Anstruther last night, so knew that we needed to be us early. The alarm went at 06:00, and we were out of the harbour by 06:50. There was not a lot of wind, but we bent on the number 2 jib as we had not used it yet this trip, then raised the main and stay sail. Julian went below and cooked the smoked Eyemouth haddock we had bought yesterday. A slice of spelt bread went with it very nicely! I had wanted to put the auto-helm on before we ate, but the metal bush that makes the new auto-helm work with the old fitting had vanished.

Julian jury rigged the auto-helm fitting after breakfast and set it to work. I could see a dark line on the water ahead and it turned out to be wind; not strong enough to let us sail, but enough to stop the auto-helm working. We need to get an extension for it, or mount it closer to the tiller which would be difficult.

Visibility was good, and the cliffs of St Abbs head were very pretty, with their obvious stratification. The Bass Rock got steady clearer, the cliffs much paler than I remember, with a distinct white cap. Lines of gannets came past, hugging the sea then rising up when the front of the line caught a lift from an updraft. We had seen a couple of trawlers near Eyemouth, and we seemed to be on a commuter route between the trawlers and the gannets home on the Bass Rock.

We were heading for the Isle of May, and the wind came round slightly, so we could use it as well as the motor, but it only added about ½ knot to the boat speed. If we put the engine to idle our spped dropped to 2½ knots, which would not get us to Anstruther in time to enter the harbour, so we reluctantly kept the engine on.

The number of puffins sitting on the water increased as we neared the Isle of May. We had been thinking of landing, but the weather made us reconsider. Not wet, but a bit grey and dreary after the beautiful start to the day. We decided to motor round it instead, and approached first on the south-east corner, to have a look at the harbour entrance. Very narrow! We then ducked round the south end and motored slowly up the western side as the sun came out.

We were not alone in our viewing. Two ribs, and a trip boat called the May Princess were also motoring round the cliffs. The sun suddenly came out, and we were treated to a great view of the clefts, fissures, and caves in the basalt, plus thousands of nesting guillemots. We were not tempted to land though. The “recommended” anchorage is noted as foul, with poor holding, and although there were buoys there they looked identical to the crab pots that also surrounded the island.

I put the engine into tick over to let us see more, and realised we might as well sail. Julian turned the engine off, and the last quarter of our trip along the May coast was under sail. Wonderful to lose the engine noise!

As we turned towards Anstruther we realised that not stopping at the Isle of May gave us time to sail the rest of the way, even at the 2½ knots we were making. We would get there less than an hour after high water, perfect! Then the wind got up, and we were making over 4 knots. That would get us there at high water, with much less to worry about depth wise.

We had a lovely passage between the Isle of May and Anstruther, fine reaching on one tack all the way to the harbour entrance. I called up the harbour master on the VHF and got no reply. Same for the phone.... The sails came down, the bowsprit went in, and we entered the outer harbour, then the inner. I tried calling again as we had no idea where we should moor up, but there was still no reply. We went on the hammerhead of the pontoons nearest the outer harbour. Julian stayed on the boat, while I went to look for the Harbour Master.

The set up at Anstruther is strange. There are security gates to enter the pontoon area as there are at many places, but at Anstruther you can't get out without a key either, and the Harbour Office is outside the secure area.... Just as I was wondering what I should do the harbour master appeared. He had been helping moor up another boat.

He helped us move Robinetta to a finger berth just the other side of the hammer head, that should have a flatter bottom for her to settle into, and gave us a key dongle to let us in and out of the pontoons. When we paid for the mooring he told us that the receipt would let us into the public toilets for free, and there was a shower in there for us to use.

We had a look round the Scottish Fisheries Museum, then went back to Robinetta in time to keep her as upright as possible as she settled into the mud.