After the birthday!

 

Saturday July 15 2017.

0700 Up. Sea Pilgrim underway for Port Ellen. We all say goodbye and watch them disappear into the driving rain. We had checked the weather and decided to stay one more day for the weather to clear. Crystalyn decided the same. Did some small jobs(there are always small jobs on a boat to keep one occupied!)  I had taken the outboard off and hoisted the dinghy onto the deck and made everything ready for sea. Dave came over and we went over to Crystalyn for larder stew and Uno. Had a blast and Dave drove us home in one trip as the wind had died down.

Sunday July 16 2017

0800 up, tea, puttering. 1030 raised the main and Sally sailed off the mooring!  Sally not feeling well but we had a grand sail up the sound of Jura with 1 reef in the main and the full 130% head sail. We even managed to catch and pass one other boat. Bonus. We arrived at Tayvallich at 1500 only to find it full! Bummer. We sailed up Loch Sween a little further to the anchorage at Fairy isles. It was empty so we followed Crystalyn in snd anchored in 12 feet of clear water. I put the dinghy in the water and went for an explore and had Dave and Dawn over for dinner. Fun times. A very nice anchorage and would like to return some day.

Monday July 17 2017.

0600 Tea time.  Short scope the anchor while crew get’s themselves up! We get it hoisted and secured by 0700 and motor out of the anchorage. Saw 8 Seals sunning themselves on the rocks and at 0830 we altered course to head for Ardfern. Hoisted the sail and had a very nice sail making 7.4 knots sog until 1115 when we dropped the sails and motored into Ardfern Marina. Passing Princess Anne’s boat on the way in. Secured at the fuel dock and took on 75.5 litres of fuel. Made our way from there to our assigned pontoon and got squared away. Had a nice lunch of soup and then went walk about and found a geo cache right where it was supposed to be. Girls did a laundry and we all went out for a pub dinner of fish and chips. Sally worked out the tides for tomorrow and time for our departure.

Tuesday July 18 2017

0430! I don’t like this but get up anyway on a rainy wet morning. Note left by Dawn they are not leaving as they have an oil leak in the gearbox! Bummer. We leave anyway at 0520 to catch a fair tide going through Doris Mor a really wild passage you don’t want to be near if you get it wrong! We see lots of seals and birds and get there a little early but that was OK as we went through at flat water. By the time we were up to the Sound of Luing we were getting a little wind against tide effect but it didn’t slow us down one bit.

We motored through the sound of Karrera and past Oban where the new pontoons were in place but not open yet! They were waiting for the new office complex to be finished first. Wouldn’t you think they could have put an Office trailer on the pier and opened for business at a reduced rate and had a season of paying  customers who would have contributed to the cost of the facilities? Nope. So we continued on our way and arrived at Dunstaffnige. Secured on the assigned pontoon C7 and then off to Oban to the Tourist Office and West coast tour company where we booked a tour of Mull Iona and Staffa. We also looked for a geo cache on the pier but too many muggles around and the location was fenced off anyway. We went for Ice cream and then a local store for some veggies and we returned to the boat for a dinner of fried potatoes and mince an ratatouie. Sally got lunch together for tomorrow and off to bed we went.