Tobermory and Loch Drumbuie

We came to Tobermory to make sure I would be able to take my class. I woke up late and got up even later.

We were on a buoy so we had to row ashore for the heads. We got back with 5 minutes to spare. I managed to get online before the teacher!

Then we were just going back ashore to get some lunch and a lovely Australian chap came over in his dinghy and we chatted for the best part of an hour.

It was 12:20 before we got ashore.

We got hot pies and ate them and then it was time for my next zoom call, a conversation session associated with my class.

I started that from the harbour side, but then it started spitting with rain so we went back to Robinetta. It was fun joining one breakout room from the shore, another from the dinghy and a third from the cabin!

We had told the harbour we would be leaving at lunchtime. So after my second zoom session we headed over to the fuel dock and filled up and headed out.

I'd suggested Loch Drumbuie for an overnight. I wasn't expecting any wind but we had a smashing beat around the rocks off Loch Sunart and then a very gentle run in, all the way through the narrows into Loch Drumbuie.

Once through the narrows we turned head to wind and put the engine on to drop the sails. This always drops the volts to the chart plotter and it restarts.

Not this time. It went off and stayed off and the VHF was off too. I swapped the fuses with the cabin lights and the cabin lights still worked so we had a wiring fault. That shouldn't be triggered by a voltage drop.

We had lost depth but we still had a chart plotter and GPS on my phone. We knew where we were on the tide and what the rise and fall were tonight. With the Antares charts, we reckoned it was safe to anchor without a depth gauge.

So we went for it. There was already one yacht in the north anchorage and another in the north east but loads of space left. So I laid out 16 m of chain and we dropped in what we think was 4 m under the keel at high water with 2.5 to drop.

Safely at anchor, I started looking for the fault. I'd worked out it wasn't in the switch box when Alison put her coat away and everything came back on line. 

So there is a loose connection in the wet locker. I'll find and fix it before we leave.

South to Tobermory

An easterly wind got up in the night, and Robinetta was restless on the mooring. Having wined and dined a little too well last night I was not at my best, but neither Julian nor I wanted to stay longer, so dropped the buoy just after 8 a.m.

The harbour entrance was very bouncy, and the wind on the nose and the tide heading into the harbour brought our speed under engine down to 2 knots. We slogged over to the shelter of Rhum before trying to raise the main sail, and did so with a reef in. Julian managed to get a weather update, and the met office forecast took us aback. Variable 2-4. The wind had felt much stronger than that! However the met office was right, and we soon shook out the reef.

Calm after a bouncy start, Canna in the distance

We headed down the west side of Rum, on a straight line course for Ardnamurchan point. The wind came and went, and the engine went on and off, but we had 4 hours of sailing in our 10 hour passage, which was much better than we did on the trip from Canna.

There was not as much bird life as earlier in the season, but we were briefly visited by dolphins. From what we could see they lacked the yellow stripe of common dolphins, and we wondered if they were Atlantic white stripes, which are also on the local cetacean listings. However a local expert I asked later said tht white stripes were very rare, and they were most likely to be Commons, whose yellow stripes can be very pale.

The wind died away as we passed Ardnamurchan point, and the sea became glassy in the sound of Mull. As soon as we were safely past the wash from a ferry coming out of the sound we got the sails down.

An hour later we were on a mooring buoy just off Tobermory marina, and after a light dinner (it was a diet day) I rowed us ashore to the co-op, and for a walk around Tobermory. Nothing seemed to have changed since we were last here, except that Cafe Fish, cooked no fresh fish; smoked fish and shell fish only.

Ashore on Canna

We spent Monday exploring Canna, walking up the hill from the harbour to see the 9th century Celtic cross.

We paused at the tiny Post Office and Julian had a chat with the Post Mistress, one of the few native Gaelic speakers on the island, before continuing west along the coast to where a Neolithic Souterrain showed the island had been inhabited for thousands of years.

The sun was scorching, and the wind none existent, which made the return trip exhausting. For the first time this year we were too hot. The cool shelter of the Sheering Shed, where we could get cold drinks from an honesty fridge, was a lifesaver as we got back to the village.

Julian by the souterrain

Celtic cross

Rum from Canna

After rowing back to Robinetta we went straight into the cabin to get out of the sun, and spent a couple of hours relaxing. I spent some of that time watching as yachts arrived and tried to pick up mooring buoys. This is never easy to do with an audience, but they made me glad that Robinetta is small, with much lower bows than most modern cruising yachts. Eventually all the buoys were taken and by half six there were at least 4 yachts at anchor as well.

I rowed us ashore via a Cornish Crabber 30 called Wave of Mylor, wanting to exchange greetings with a fellow gaffer. Once Julian and I had showered we met up with her crew and had a drink before going into the restaurant for dinner.

Vatersay to Canna

We poured over the pilot books trying to decide where to go next. The weather was calm but variable for a little while, but we didn't want to get stuck north of Ardnamurchan and miss our own rally in Kererra at the end of the month.

Coll and Tiree are closest to Vatersay but have no anchorages good enough for changeable weather.

We decided to go to Canna, which is a bit in the wrong direction, but nearer everywhere else.

It's about 36 nm from Vatersay to Canna. We didn't get away until 10 am but that felt OK.

We went south around Muldoanich, we allowed us to sail. The wind went very light and we put the line out and caught 4 mackerel instantly. One was huge. I put one of the normal sized ones back.

The trip to Canna was uneventful. We got some wind we could use for some of it and motored the rest.

I split the time between cleaning the fish and scallops, cooking them and eating them, preparing for my first class of the new Gaelic course and reading Johnson and Boswell.

We had the scallops as a starter for lunch. Just fried in butter. Lovely.

At Alison's suggestion, I cooked the mackerel with a sweet apple. That turned out brilliantly. We had sautéed potatoes too and it made a big lunch. George was helming and the weather was lovely.

We got to Canna about 8:30 in the evening and picked up a mooring buoy. It had lost its pickup buoy but it was easy to grab the rope.

North coast of Canna

Canna Harbour is an EE dead spot.

Vatersay

 We thought of having breakfast at the cafe but there was a bit too much swell. So we had breakfast on board, by which time the swell had gone down so we rowed ashore to use the facilities and found that the café was shut. So we were glad we'd eaten!

There is a well marked trail around the island visiting the historical and archaeological sites. It was such a lovely day that we had no excuse! We did skip the last bit which visits the trespass village. Not because we were tired, but because a short-cut would take us past the cake box! We had tray bakes. Deliciously indulgent.

Gorgeous views all along the trail.

Neolithic standing stone

Contrails heading to America

Back at the beach, I went for my first swim of the year. I've wanted to lots of times but there have always been too many jellyfish. It was cold, but lovely.

On the way back to Robinetta, we dropped off boat cards on the two gaffers.

Back aboard, we spotted someone in a dinghy by the gaffers and waved. A while later, he rowed over and came aboard and we had a beer and chatted. They have had Eleanore B for a few years, initially as a lug ketch but this year converted to gaff cutter to be more suitable for couple cruises. They are relief crew for Eda Fransen.

The others had gone scallop diving. They also came to say hello. Later, the skipper of Wild brought us two of the huge scallops they had dived.

Hopefully we will see them again. Two lovely young couples with gaffers!

Too uncomfortable to stay put

Robinetta’s motion at anchor when we went to bed last night was not too bad, but by 02:20 she was rocking so violently that I was wide awake, and unable to get to sleep. We knew swell would get into the anchorage, but this was much worse than we had hoped. There was no way we could stay here.

By 02:30 Julian had the anchor on deck, and I was helming Robinetta back along her outbound track. Neither of us had the energy to raise sail, and with the lines frapped up Julian did not even think of getting the cover of the stay sail as he came back to the cockpit. Only one of us was needed, so after he wet the tea I had boiled the kettle for Julian stayed below, and got back under the covers. Every now and then he popped his head up, and asked if I wanted spelling, but I did not feel at all sleepy, so stayed on the helm the whole way.

The half moon was reasonably clear of cloud, but no stars appeared for a long time. I kept on the line as I steered past the dark shapes of Mingulay and Pabbay simply enough, by keeping the moon’s glow on the starboard bow. At some point I would need to leave that line, to head for the anchorage at Vatersay, so I called Julian up to put in a course to steer.

The clouds to the north cleared away at about 04:30, and I suddenly had a star to steer by, or at least a planet, as I was pretty sure this was Venus. The horizon began to brighten, and by the time I called Julian up at 05:10 it was light enough to pick out the yachts at anchor in Vatersay Bay. Spotting the crab pot markers was not nearly so easy, and Julian thinks we ran one down. Nothing wrapped itself round the prop….

By 05:32 we were anchored again, in 6m under the keel at the bottom of the tide. Julian put 30m of chain down, which should be enough to hold us with a rise of tide of 2.5m. To our surprise we were not the only gaffer there, in fact the gaff rigged yachts outnumbered the bermudan ones!

Once I was sure we were secure I went to bed, and slept like a baby until 09:30. When I woke up the sky was blue, the sun was shining, and there was a slight swell running...

North Bay, Vatersay

 

 

A short sail south to Mingulay

We spent Thursday in Castlebay, repairing Worm and putting Danish oil on Robinetta’s cabin sides. The weather was overcast, with mist wreathing round the hills, and we did not want to do much. Today was clearer, with a light breeze, and we decided to head for Mingulay. It is only 11nm from Castlebay, so we were not in a hurry to leave, and caught the 10:30 bus, which goes to the ferry and airports, then returns in a circular route.

Leaving Castle Bay

Once back at the marina Julian launched Worm, and we set off for Mingulay at 12:30. We raised sail in the Castlebay approaches, and headed for Mingulay under sail, not minding that we were doing less than 3 knots on a run.

Once we turned south we were broad reaching and sped up.

Robinetta at anchor in Mingulay East Bay

The sea was calm, and the light wind kept us going past Vatersay Sandray, and Pabay. It was a lovely sail until the wind went very light as we approached East Bay on Mingulay. We headed into the bay under engine, to see a flock of sea kayaks sitting just off the beach as they decided where to land.

I headed us slowly towards the beach, hoping to get to 4m beneath the keel before we dropped anchor. We seemed to be getting very close to the steeply sloping beach, and I lost my nerve, and told Julian to drop anchor with 6m under the keel. We had 25m of chain ready, and Julian let out another 10m when I told him our depth. We were only an hour before low water, with 3m rise of tide expected.

Once we were secure on the anchor I rowed us ashore. The pilot book warned about problems with landing due to the swell, so we picked our place and moment carefully. We got ashore without problems, and had a short walk. Low clouds were drifting in over the hills from the west, and we spent less than an hour ashore. Still, we got to explore the deserted village of East Bay.

Relaunching Worm as carefully as we had come ashore, we got back to Robinetta with sandy feet, but no water in the dinghy.

Deserted village on Mingulay