Sun plus wind

I've been pretty down in the dumps since Stornoway. We haven't had a decent day's weather on the boat. Either too much wind or none at all and no sunshine to speak of. Some days the visibility has been less than a mile and the cloud base has been a few hundred metres.

This afternoon promised sun. The forecast wind was 8 knots gusting 12 from the south. A bit calm to move Robinetta but more would have created too much swell.

It was a flat calm with a hint of blue sky at Inverie this morning. So we put the No 1 jib on and raised the main on the mooring and motored off. Next stop Rum.

We picked up a pod of dolphins near Bogha Don (or Bodha Donn as I think it should be). Lots of young. We normally think of them as common dolphins but I saw a picture today that makes me think these might have been Atlantic white sided. They followed the boat for a while doing lots of jumps but we didn't get any pictures.

Then a second group came to play near Mallaig.

After that there was a huge group of mixed seabirds on the water. We tried fishing but we weren't very patient.

Then a third group of dolphins and a Minke.

Breaks in the clouds came and went but the blue seemed to be winning.

We could feel a tiny bit of wind. As we got out into the Sound of Sleat, it got more noticeable. After a while we were heeling a little so I throttled back and put the jib out. The sea was still glassy but there was enough wind to move us at 3 knots! The engine went off.

Entering Loch Scresort, Rum

mThe trip to Rum was lovely. The wind dropped away for a few minutes and then started building. Two miles from Rum we needed to reef but the sea was still slight. Eda Fransen was there at anchor and gave us a wave. We dropped the sails, shaking out the reef, and picked up one of the new visitors buoys around 2pm.

After a cup of tea, we rowed ashore and walked to the shop, past the “castle”. By now, it was brilliant sunshine and the woody path’s shade was welcome.

Rum has excellent walks but my toe is still a little sore, although it is healing well. So after an ice cream, we headed back.

Aboard, we caught up on emails and read it for a bit and then I cooked the venison meatballs we bought at Inverie, with spaghetti and a jar of Ragu.

After dinner, we rowed ashore again to visit the otter hide.

We didn't see any otters but I did see a heron.

This is the sort of day I desperately needed.