Ardfern, Gigha, Carradale Bay

We had a plan of sorts. Feeling it was time to head slowly south, we originally wanted to try and get into Port Ellen on Islay. The anchoring opportunities there are not great and there are only 2 berths in the little community run harbour we could use. However, we saw that they only accept boats up to 12 tons. That just rules us out. Only by a teeny few tons of course.....

The debate was - "should we go back inside the Mull of Kintyre for a while or potter down the Irish costs slowly". Decision was to go back inside the Mull for a while, then Norn Iron, then see what the weather allows.

The next decision was when do we go round the Mull itself. Weather and tide times are ultra important there. The first part of the plot was easy enough, take a fair tide and anchor off Gigha. So we did, only the southerly wind was against the tide and made it quite a bumpy trip, nodding into the short steep waves. At least the 10am departure time was civilised. 

As we got to Gigha and dropped the anchor, so the sun came out. A lovely afternoon disturbed only by the little ferry heading back and forth, easily visible from the pilothouse as you can see:

Idyllic spot. However, we then had to decide about rounding the Mull. The tides dictated doing that sometime after midnight or waiting until the following day, leaving Gigha around 10am. That is way nicer of course but, as always in life, other factors intervened. The wind was due to pick up in the early morning, around 3am and blow quite strongly from the NE. We did not want to be off Sanda, (the little Island SE of the Mull) with a strong following tide and the wind blowing over the top of it. This image from the tidal atlas tells you how strong the tides are in the area:

Up to 3.4 knots if we went around at the "optimum" time to speed up the trip.

Staying overnight where we were with a strong NEly wind building would mean a bit of a disturbed night  - as you can see, the eastern side of Gigha is not too well sheltered from the NE.

The decision was to head off later that evening, aim to get to the Mull just as the tide turned in our favour and be well round it by the time the strong NEly picked up.  So, the best option looked like the least pleasant one time-wise and scenery-wise. So be it. Here is the track we followed, showing the anchor time off Gigha and then the night time passage around the Mull and up to the Carradale Bay anchorage: 

As we headed off, it was still lovely and sunny, calm and very pleasant indeed. Patrick the penguin and his constant companion were enjoying the views:

and a nice pink sunset on the clouds added the the experience a bit later on, even if this picture doesn't look that "pink". You will have to take our word for it - the sky was lovely:

We didn't cut inshore around the Mull for two reasons. Firstly it gets bumpy in the confused water on the western side and secondly, we've seen a few pot markers inshore there before. The weather was turning murky and damp - the worst conditions for our FLIR (infra-red camera) to work in. Normally we can spot properly marked pots pretty well at night but in drizzle / fog / rain it becomes a different game. The image is very degraded. If you want to be a real propeller head on why, look at the manufacturer's information in this FLIR weblink. If you have a more normal life and no desire to be a crashing bore on the subject at parties,  then it is down to water droplets scattering and absorbing the infra-red radiation that the camera tries to detect.  Sure enough, the camera struggled big time in the drizzle and rain.

Our timing to get around Sanda island and begin to head north was pretty perfect. Before the tide picked up too much and the promised strong NE'ly winds kicked in:

You can see we were getting tidal help, just not rocket assistance at that stage by our speed over the ground. Sure enough, as forecast, the stronger gusts arrived but by then we were further north and the sea didn't have time to build that much before we headed into the anchorage. Again, we stayed further offshore than you would in daylight, just in case of pot trouble. We anchored up in about 6 metres of water, near a lone yacht and tucked well into the bay for some lovely shelter from the waves that were building in the sound itself. You can see how nicely sheltered the bay is from the North, North East winds:

and we anchored pretty much where the little anchor symbol is.

The only image we can share of our arrival is this one, of the GPS position that we took as a reference against dragging the anchor:

Not terribly exciting we know but it was pitch black outside. 

We pinned the stabilisers, killed the engine and most of the navigation gear and turned on the anchor watch alarm on the Furuno kit. We then fired up the Furuno app on the phone which we can take down to the cabin with us to repeat the alert if we are dragging. Finally the navigation lights went off, the anchor light on and it was time to collapse into a welcoming bed. 4am is not our preferred bedtime we hasten to add. The trip was 18 hours including the time anchored off Gigha - tiring, but it worked out as well as it possibly could.  

Maintenance news:

Whilst pumping fuel through the polishing filter into the supply tank, the captain noticed that it was slowing down a bit. It needs  a new filter in the Racor device. That will get done when there is somewhere to dispose of the old diesel soaked one. We use quite a fine filter in there and as they pick up dirt in the fuel, they get even more clogged and the effective micron rating drops so they are harder and harder to pump fuel through.

One oddity - the big magnetron radar was used, it worked fine on longer ranges as always, showing the land of the Mull nicely when zoomed out to around a 6 mile range or more. However, when it was zoomed in to around 2 miles, the coastline became very indistinct. Turning off the automatic gain, sea state and rain clutter controls and winding the gain right up helped but it was not as it should be. Grr. We switched to the other digital radar and were happy we had a backup. Something to investigate..... 

Kerrera to Ardfern

A civilised departure time, no rain and very little wind. What could possibly go wrong? We started out on the flybridge, enjoying the lovely views of the mainland and Kerrera as we threaded our way between them. There are a couple of these old MoD ships on mooring buoys just off Kerrera and we wonder just what they get used for now, if anything. This one was the tidiest:

If you fancy one, there is a nice example for sale on Rightboat at the moment. Quite cheap too. Might be a tad rusty of course and we have no idea how you'd get on sourcing parts for the elderly but lovely Lister Blackstone diesel in the engine room.

We duly headed down towards the narrow, shallow route between the islands of Fladda and Luing just as the rain started. Trying to move inside, cover up the flybridge instruments etc whilst making sure we stayed in the deeper wet bit was amusing - timing of the rain shower was not great. Here is the little island of Fladda from the pilothouse:

and the little tower on the tiny island opposite it:

We managed to avoid the rocky bits but once you are through there, the whirlpools take over big time. The boat gets thrown around quite a lot and you get some great acceleration at times. We were doing 1475 rpm, power for around 6.2 knots when we saw this:

It actually went up to 12.1 knots for a brief time.  We were, in Nordhavn terms, flying. As we headed down the sound of Luing, we were being followed by Capt Rae in Albatross who had popped out from an anchorage in Loch Spelve, also taking advantage of the fair tide. He was heading further south so our tracks diverged as we approached the Corryvreckan area:

We thought it would be nice to get a picture of the mighty Albatross as she was passing the infamous Corryvreckan with the equally infamous Capt Rae at the controls. Only she was too distant for even the zoom lens on the proper camera to picture properly:

She doesn't look as mighty in this picture but it does give you an idea of the scale of the scenery in Scotland and why cruising here is very special indeed.

Here is the route we took, it isn't detailed enough to show the many wriggles caused by the whirlpools in the Sound of Luing:

Naturally, as we approached Ardfern, it started to rain again. We called the Yacht Harbour and they asked us to "stand-by".  Sure enough some folks who were supposed to leave had not so they needed to drag a yacht along the visitor pontoon to make space for us. By then it was really raining. We were so happy, especially as the yachts should have left by mid-day and this was well afterwards. So, we berthed, cuddled up to another yacht as requested only for it, and the one that had to be dragged out of the way, leave soon afterwards. On the South coast of England they would have been chased out / charged extra etc etc. All so much more relaxed and so much nicer here.

We had decided on a berth not anchoring as it was our anniversary and we were going to eat out. The only gig in town, the Galley of Lorne was visited once more. A young lad on his first day was the waiter and he ended up prefacing most visits to the table with "I'm sorry but". Despite that, it was all OK.

We had a full day there and managed a nice waterside walk, down to the Craignish moorings area:

It is a very lovely area. The cinnamon and cranberry scones in the Ardfern shop / cafe aren't bad either.

The Nordhavn Europe Whisky run

Walking around Kerrera you do get some great views over to the island of Mull which the phone camera then destroys:

Such a shame really but lugging the older bulkier SLR camera around seems hard work now. We really need to get better at doing that. 

We took the little ferry over to the mainland and wandered around Oban watching the various Calmac ferries heading in and out, the trip boats taking land-bourne visitors around the harbour and to the back of Kerrera for wildlife spotting plus the odd yacht. Here is a pretty typical view:

Why were we in Kerrera? Well, we were going to join 6 other Nordhavn boats for this:

Here is the marketing blurb from the American folks:

We tend to avoid such events, where owners of a certain something (boats, cars, motorcycles etc etc) get together and assume they will like each other and have things outside of the gathering in common. However, this was different. We knew and liked some folks who were attending and knew that it would be a fun time. We went over to Oban to meet up with Neil, the new owner of the N47 Malaspina that you've seen and read about before. She is now called Iolair of Erraid and you've heard about her and seen her out of the water in Largs. Neil couldn't bring his boat up to Kerrera so he was going to slum it in our forecabin for the event.

One attendee was moored in the Oban Transit marina, we spotted Blue Magic as we were waiting for the ferry back to Kerrera:

She used to be moored mid-river in the Hamble, and was called Moby Dick. One of the very first Nordhavn passage making yachts, a 46. Another 47, Albatross owned by the infamous Captain Rae arrived too:

On the opposite side of the long pontoon we were moored to, was B2, a 64. She looked and is pretty enormous and impressive. Owned by a lovely couple from Guernsey that we'd not met before:

Astern of us was Suilven, a pristine 43. We knew the original owner, Colin and met the new one, Cliff who is a busy You Tuber:

You might just spot us behind Suilven.

We had a good evening, catching up with people we knew, the Nordhavn Europe team and meeting new owners. The Marina restaurant did a mean line in lamb, mint and chilli burgers (other things were available) that we much enjoyed. Afterwards we, together with Neil, retired to Albatross to drink Captain Rae's rather good red wine and admire the contents of a goodie bag that each boat was given. The specially branded single malt was untouched and has remained so.

The following day the flotilla was heading to Tobermory for a distillery tour and group dinner, but we were unable to do so. Instead we watched them depart. Here is Albatross preparing:

with the crew under the command and watchful eye of the (in)famous Capt Rae:

Yes, it had been raining, he does not wander around in seriously stained T shirts. Well, not that often anyway. He had additional expert crew too, Neil Russell from Nordhavn Europe:

who was on fender duty as they wriggled out of a tight spot. Albatross and B2 were heading off together:

with a perspective that means their bums look about  the same size. The reality is a tad different. The 6 boats heading to Tobermory looked impressive:

and rather imperious too:

As the sole Nordhavn left in Kerrera we suddenly felt larger again.  Neil (Mr Iolair) stayed with us for the day and we walked to the farm shop, run by the same folks who own the marina. We only bought an ice-cream though, or to be more precise, Neil did. You get to see the impressive big ferry on the way:

No chance of getting a long wheelbase van on there! Our final day was taken up with a ferry trip across to Oban for some shopping. To work up an appetite, we walked up the hill to the folly, only the locals don't like calling it a folly it seems. McCaigs tower is one of those strange things that wealthy folks liked to build as a monument to themselves. Have a look at Wikipedia link to learn more about the odd history of this landmark.

Despite having made a few visits to the town over the years, we'd never staggered up the hill. Here is the entrance:

but as it started drizzling whilst we were up there, no nice panoramic views over the bay were possible. Well worth dragging ourselves up there though. Here it is seen from the pier, waiting for the ferry back to Kerrera:

Maintenance News:

Apart from the usual engine checks, we did nothing. Too busy being sociable and having fun. Apologies to the boat and the tekkie folks who like pictures of dismembered engines etc.

Corpach to Kerrera and being sociable

For once, tide times were kindly. We needed to get through the Corran narrows heading south before the tide turned against us too much, preferably just before it turned so the ride would be as calm and whirlpool free as possible. Wow, we could leave at 10am! Such a treat. We were sorry to leave this view though, from our aft cockpit:

Another coaster arrived to disturb the peace before we departed:

and one yacht headed into the Corpach sea lock, heading into the Caledonian Canal, filling the lock chamber with some nice exhaust smoke:

Good job they were alone in there. Either that engine needs a good hard run or some serious surgery. Maybe both. 

We had a nice tidal help through the narrows (11 knots) then headed down Loch Linnhe and tucked inside the smaller islands towards Oban and Kerrera. There are several shallow areas between the islands and the mainland and that makes the auto routing function in Time Zero (our PC navigation package) go crazy and add loads of waypoints to keep within the pre-set safety depth:

Each number is a waypoint, trying to build a route and keep 6 metres of water under our keel. We tend to use the automatic route as a "suggestion" and then heavily amend it or totally ignore it. The system is smart but doesn't know about important things like where overfalls are likely to happen, firing ranges, places peppered with pot markers etc etc. A lot like an AI internet search really.  It always feels strange when after travelling for under a minute, the depth drops from over 100 metres to this:

We didn't manage to go aground, with or without the help of auto routing. Here is the little lighthouse on the mainland at Port Appin:

Officially it is known as Sgeir Bhuidhe lighthouse but as we can't even begin to pronounce that....

The views across to Lismore were lovely, less so in a picture but this brings back happy memories for us as we were enjoying a flybridge trip all the way, bar 15 mins of a light rain shower around the Corran Narrows. All very good indeed:

We had to thread our way through the shallow areas and had the typical "yacht under power who thought they had the right of way" encounter. The rules of the road are clear, if they are motoring and not constrained by their draft, they are effectively a motor boat and have to behave that way. Only they don't all seem to understand that. This one wanted to push us into a very shallow area, then gave a wave as we passed him after a course alternation that should have been his to do. Such is life. Looking back, it seemed like the autopilot was holding a pretty straight course, you can tell that the stabilisers were not on - or indeed needed for any of the journey:

We arrived in Oban bay perfectly timed to avoid all the ferries. called Kerrera and had our berth confirmed as on the water taxi pontoon. We duly backed onto it and had a late lunch, in time to watch Colin and Carole arrive with the mighty ship Albatross:

We hit the Waypoint restaurant together for dinner and retired to Albatross to test their red wine stocks and give their two dogs some attention:

Sorry Izzy, but she was so cute and loves cuddles.

Maintenance News:

There are four bolts that hold the genset frame onto the base of the noise reducing cocoon. The captain found that the nut and washer from one were laying under the genset - they had vibrated loose and totally unscrewed - there was a lot of thread spare so this must have been happening over quite some time.

Refitting it is amusing. The gap between the base of the cocoon and the boat structure it is fitted to, is just the height of the anti-vibration  mounts. They are a teeny bit over the thickness of the captain's palm thickness. That means squeezing your hand under there, feeding the washers back on, then trying to refit the nut whilst the washer wants to fall off. A dob of thread locker was added this time to try and prevent going through the same fun again. We'd wanted to fit a nyloc nut but funnily enough, didn't have any 9/16th AF in stock. The joys of an American boat with American main engine, the same Japanese base motors for the genset and wing but marinised by Americans. We have an odd mix of metric and AF hardware on board.

As a precaution, the rest of the bolts were tightened up. The captain then had a shower - under the genset is not an area that gets cleaned at all..... 

Corpach and environs

One of our first jobs before exploring the area was an annoying one. The bimini cover was taken off as some more sporty winds were forecast. Yes, little changes it seems. The south was cooking hot, we were cooler (great) but way soggier (less great). We got all brave and took the local (once an hour) bus into the delights of Fort William. Not for the scenic splendour of the place, mainly as they have a huge Lidl and Morrisons where we can get a bit more than the recent run of Co-op stores offered. Scurvy hadn't set in though.

It rained pretty hard during the morning and the town was a bit empty, understandably. Unfortunately, the best rated spot for coffee was full so we dragged ourselves up the hill to the climbing centre which offers some good coffee, just very very slowly.  That was OK though, we had no desire to rush out into the rain. A walk along the waterfront (liner free this time) then some supermarket shopping followed before the little bus back.

With the promise of a nicer day ahead, the folding bikes were prepared, charged up and we then enjoyed a good towpath ride, alongside the Caledonian canal to the swing bridge at Gairlochy:

At the swingbridge, we watched a couple of boats leave the lock and head through the open bridge:

The hire boat in front was very well fendered indeed but still looked very battered as it went past. One was heading the other way:

Fewer fenders, equally battered. The "Le Boat" cruisers really looked tired, we know that the facilities they have at the base at Laggan are limited but all the same, it seems that maintenance for the hulls and superstructures is minimal to non-existent. 

We then made a tactical error. The crew saw on the website that the Old Pines hotel and restaurant offered drinks and cakes all day. So, we did the couple of miles inland on a nice B road to find that it was locked up and no signs of life. Then a rather gormless girl opened the locked entrance door, went to check and said there was no catering on offer but kindly allowed the crew to use the loo. Very much small hotel in the middle of nowhere in Scotland behaviour! So, disgruntled, we headed back to the towpath and enjoyed the lovely ride back towards Corpach.

There is a good cycle route from there into Fort William so we took that and hit the out of town retail centre for a few more foody bits. All in all a good day on the bikes. 

Naturally the weather gods wanted to change things around and dished up this lovely forecast for us:

with a relatively calm wind strength expected of "light winds or gentle breeze":

However, look at the bottom of the image and it shows 33mph gusts. Er, Mr Met Office how on earth does that work? 

In reality it was more than 33mph for the full day, not just in gusts. Pretty horrible with some heavy showers too and the wind picked up some nice waves across the loch. The visitor berth bit is on the outside of the breakwater and the harbour folks had to close off the spaces that were broadside on to the waves as unsafe. We had the waves on our stern so plenty of slapping noises as they hit under the bathing platform and washed up onto the breakwater pontoon itself.  All the fenders were deployed and one got picked up by the waves and deposited onto the pontoon during the night. Luckily, no damage done, the rest did their job. We had a nice messy weedy hull to clean off the next day where the waves had splashed all sorts over us and the pontoon:

Not a good day, especially as the buses back from Oban were messed up and stopping short of Corpach. We had a nice walk instead.

Things calmed down nicely again though and we enjoyed a last cycle trip, up the Glen Nevis, admiring the Nevis range of mountains and the lovely scenery in general:

That made things seem way better.

Maintenance News:

As it was a year old the genset had a new raw water impeller as a treat. The old one was generally OK, one blade was starting to die though as you can see:

Luckily no big bits had been shed for the captain to fish out of the cooler.  We also replaced a duck bill valve in the vented loop for the master cabin heads. So nice fishing it out knowing what had been trundling through there. Also because reaching it, hidden behind the freezer on the staircase down to the cabins, means getting through a small vent and reaching at full stretch trying not to drop any parts into the big void underneath. No pressure at all.