Craobh to Island of Gigha

06:15 am. Harsh for aged people. Still, it had to be done. The plot was to leave and take the tide  down to the island of Gigha. The wind should be dropping from the " 4 to 5 gusting 6" that was in the shipping forecast by the time we made it so that anchoring overnight would be fine. Then, the following day we had until around 23:00 to get to Bangor in Northern Ireland before the wind and rain set in.

We duly headed off and enjoyed a sunny(ish) trip past Corryvreckan and down to Gigha. In Ardminish bay they have a new pontoon installed. It was totally empty. So, we nosed over towards it but when the depth sounder said that we only had 0.8 metres to spare and we were still about 100 metres away, we turned around and anchored. Yes, the first salt water bath for the new Rocna which duly dug itself in perfectly. As we let out more chain, so the boat drifted back a little and the depth under our keel plummeted to 1.0 metres. Er?? Well, the newest chart we have is on the PC and sure enough, it showed a shallow patch pretty much where we were. The older version in the Furuno plotter didn't have this on it and as we anchored from the flybridge, we were using the plotter....

So, anchor up, move a little, another splash then anchor snubber on and relax.

We were good and even put out the anchor ball on the pulpit too. Our timing had been good - en route we had some 28 knot gusts but they died away just before we anchored and it was pretty calm as you can see. We are not sure if Andrew was peering out of the aft cockpit trying to judge the distance to land and the tide to see if he should swim to freedom. He didn't attempt it though.

We went ashore by RIB and found, in tiny print, on the end of the pontoon, on a notice board, facing the land, a depth chart. Really really useful positioning (not on any website or mentioned on the phone of course). Such a shame, they should be trying to encourage folks to use their nice new pontoon facility. They lost the £20 mooring fee that we would have gladly paid them. Anyway, here it is for other boating folks information:

We were anchored well off the ferry slipway. Depending upon the direction of the tide, the ferry would either pass ahead or astern of us when pottering over to the mainland. Pity that it wasn't prettier though:

Utilitarian is perhaps a better descriptive word. Ashore, we liked the little beach and surrounding area:

The sand is very very white by the way. The timber is thanks to a nice spring tide.

The one island shop was raided and a few purchases made by Andrew and Linda. The one fuel pump on the island had been damaged in the recent storm (see our Dunstaffnage post) and still was not working - after over two weeks. Luckily the island is pretty small so the locals' cars don't need topping up too often. Strange existence.

The church was simple but lovely, some great stained glass in there:

However, the local restaurant had a strange outside sink arrangement:

The plumbing for the water supply was kind of Heath Robinson too, but effective:

We didn't see anyone coming outside to wash the dishes though. Perhaps it was a slow day in the restaurant.

Finally, a little culinary diversion. In the shop in Ardfern (the one that doesn't like debit cards), Andrew bought some bread that was described as "Artisan". Well, this was the most artisan / poserish / self important / up itself loaf that we have ever seen. Get this as the label:

We have to be honest, we were not convinced upon tasting the bread that it was Himalayan pink mountain salt. We think it was the normal white variety. However, the choice in the shop was this or white sliced wonderloaf. Such is life.