Gigha Towards Loch Tarbert (Jura)

 We thought we would probably go to Loch Tarbert on Jura today but we also were insisting on having a late start and not planning.

This meant that we missed the morning tide through the Sound of Islay. We weren’t sure how strong the tides are at neaps, although probably we are coming off neaps now. So we thought we would go anyway and anchor at the south end of the sound and go through on the evening tide.

We left the mooring in Gigha at 9:40 and amazingly by 10 am we were sailing. I nice little breeze was coming from the NE with enough east in it for us to manage 3-4 knots up the coast of Gigha.

It dropped off and backed as we rounded the top of Gigha but we still managed to sail, very slowly, half-way across to Jura. Then it died completely and we drifted, not being in any hurry to be anywhere else. The hazy weather we’ve been having continued but it was still beautiful with the Paps of Jura in the distance. We heard a blowhole being cleared a few times and think we saw a whale, perhaps a minke, but it was never above the water long enough to know for sure.

It got quite hot, and eventually we decided we’d be cooler moving and started the engine. There is an island on the Jura side of the sound  called Am Fraoch Eileen - the heather island. North of it is a recommended anchorage for waiting for the tide. We went into the bay to take a look but decided to see what the tide was like - perhaps it would be weak enough to get through.

For a while, it seemed like it would be a knot against us but as we got towards the north end of Glas Eileen (green isle), our progress was halted. We could do 1/2 knot across the sound but almost nothing north. We turned around and were doing 6 1/2 knots. So we think the tide was running at over 3 knots.

It was still more than 2 hours until the tide would turn in our favour so we headed back to the anchorage and dropped the hook. We thought we might stay there for the night. But around 6:30 pm it started feeling uncomfortable. We raised anchor around 7pm and headed north. By Glas Eilean we passed another yacht heading south, and we could see a line on the water where the tide actually changed. South of the moving line, there was wind over tide, whilst north of it was smooth water.

As expected, we now motored up the sound at 5-6 knots over the ground. But it was still 12 nm and getting late. And we were hungry. I looked at Whitefarland Bay. CCC says it’s poor holding but Antares says the weed is mostly outside their recommended spots. So we gave it a go.

Once anchored it felt really secure. We had out pot noodles for our fasting day dinner and settled down for a relaxing evening. It had been a very pleasant day with wonderful scenery, some wildlife and some entertainment playing with the tides.