 | 1 st to 2 nd of September 2010 - Continued high pressure |
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| Crew : | Andy and Helen | |
| Destinations : | Tinker's Hole, Erraid. | |
| Distance : | 27 miles |
Today the weather forecast was still settled, despite waking up with rain. We set off in oilskins, but gradually took these off as the day progressed. We wove out of the loch and then sailed slowly up past the top end of Colonsay and Oronsay, with more views of The Paps of Jura.
We had a go at sailing with the cruising chute but unfortunately the wind eventually died off. We motored past The Torran Rocks toward our next destination, Tinkers Hole, at the west end of The Ross of Mull. This was our first visit despite having hoped to get there a few years ago with Anita and Gerry. Unfortunately that time we had thick fog. This time it was pretty calm with good visibility of all the rocks. The rock at the entrance was obvious, with waves breaking over it, so we were able easily to miss it.
We anchored in the middle of the bay and decided to lay a kedge. As Andy was getting into the tender another boat came in and said he had never seen it done before. We thought we might have been being over cautious, however the next 2 boats also laid kedges.
The following day we weighed the kedge and main anchor using the windlass at the bow. We then set the anchor near to the shore and used one of the mooring rings provided.
Andy took the line ashore and we heaved it in. We then took the tender ashore onto the island of Erraid and got wonderful views south to Jura and north to Skye. I considered a skinny dip off what looked like an idyllic beach, but the island was covered in waist high bracken and heather, so we just took a photo instead.Just across the sound was Iona and the abbey and directly below was Tinker's Hole with Speedwell.
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After lunch we then took the tender out to explore the pink rocks of granite and found a colony of very friendly seals. We also found a lovely beach on a small island. When we tried to go ashore we found ourselves sinking up to our ankles, so that was another skinny dip opportunity missed. Instead we bravely circumnavigated the small island that made up the west side of our bay, coming in the way we had brought the big boat. This was quite hairy in the tender, but our little electric outboard coped well with the swell and wind.
ENTRANCE TO TINKERS HOLE
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