Exploring ashore and underwater

We had not explored ashore yesterday evening, so we got into Worm straight after breakfast and rowed off to look for a landing place. The only spot we could find that did not require us to wade through seaweed was the trip boat landing ladder, so after a good look at other options we headed there. One of the other yacht's crew had just landed there using their tender, and tied their dinghy out of the way round the corner. We copied them, and set off for a walk. Clouds still wreathed the Cuillins, but visibility was good at sea level. The sun was well hidden, and the midges were out, but we had prepared ourselves with “Smidge” and they left us alone.

The bothy hut was locked up tight. There were a variety of routes to take up to Loch Coruisk, some on rock and some across boggy ground. One was obviously the “proper” path as attempts had been made to keep it dry, but it was often easier to leave it and take to the smooth rocks.

Loch Coruisk

Loch Coruisk itself was worth a visit, but we did not spend too long ashore so as not to risk Worm getting stranded, so we headed back down the river to the sea loch.

The first of the trip boats arrived when we did, so we waited for them to disgorge their passengers before bringing Worm round. Once we were in Worm I began to row us back to Robinetta, when Julian suddenly realised he had left his camera on the rock were we had sat to wait for the trip boat.

Luckily we had not gone too far, so I headed straight back, arriving there just as another trip boat came round the island.

I dropped Julian off, then rowed clear of the landing steps to let the trip boat passengers ashore.

We were back on Robinetta by quarter to eleven, and we got the engine on and pulled up the anchor. The boat with all the children showed no signs of heading out; they were busy exploring the anchorage on paddle boards…

We tried sailing west through the Sound of Soay, but after 5 minutes the wind went too light to give us steerage, so we continued under engine towards the anchorage by Sgeir Mor. There was a yacht already there, a Nautical ketch, but there was still room for us to anchor, so we did so and had lunch before trying to get ashore.

The best place to land a passenger

There were no handy trip boat steps here, and the shore was very rocky, with no passes for dinghies. The Nauticat had put people ashore but their dinghy was back on the boat, and after rowing all along the shore I decided we would need to do the same. I put Julian ashore, very carefully, then rowed clear of the rocks to spend a lovely half hour or so admiring the star fish and jelly fish visible in the clear water. Having a camera capable of underwater photography is a boom, even if I rarely use it.

My first successful underwater photos