North, Going North the Rush is on!

 

Saturday July 22 2017.

0700 Up, Well rested Tea, Check the weather. 1030 we get underway with the Tide and at 1050 we shut the engine off as we’re able to sail up the Sound of Mull.  After numerous engine cycles we arrived at Loch Drambuie at 1530. We found 3 other boats filling up the preferred Anchorage so we anchored in a small cove that was just the right size for our two boats.

We launched our dinghy and motored over to Chrystolyn for Happy Hour. We manage to travel 29 miles in 5 hours.

Sunday July 23 2017.

0700 the usual. Then over to Chrystolyn for a visit and enjoyed the quiet peace full morning. We returned to Kalinka 1.Got the dinghy back on board the got underway at  1300 to catch the North going tide to take us up around  Ardamurcharan Point and into our destination of Loch Moidart.

As we were approaching Ardamurcharan Point I saw a Minki Whale! The first in UK waters. It was beautiful day Blue skies and warm with light winds. We were able to sail some of the way but turned the engine on if the speed dropped below 4 knots.

We arrived at the entrance to the Loch at 1800 and followed Christolyn in as Dave had been here before and it was a crooked passage in and around numerous rocks and shallows. Finally arrive in at the anchorage to find 3 other boats there. Found what we thought was a good spot and dropped the hook.

We Anchored where we had a good view of the castle and where we would float when the tide dropped 4.5 metres. Also tied a trip line on the anchor as there was a cable somewhere under the water where we were. We launched the dinghy had dinner and went to bed.

Monday July 24 2017.

We woke up to boat dancing around in a whirlpool! Not a good thing and the trip line float had disappeared! The tide was ripping past at about 4 knots so we decided we would move to a quieter spot in a pool over by the castle.

The float surfaced.” Hmm” it’s on the wrong side of the boat. I can see the anchor rode going underneath the boat also. This isn’t looking good. I start hauling in the rode everything works, the boat swings around and the anchor comes up quite easy! Not what I was expecting! We motor over to the pool and drop the anchor in 17 feet. So even if it drops another 10 feet we will still float. Always a good thing in a boat. I can see bottom at 6 feet about 10 feet behind the boat. It’s sand. We’re sitting here enjoying the view when Chrystolyn motors over and drops a hook also. Dave and Dawn come aboard and we have a lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches. The water kept getting shallower both boats were dancing around in the tide and the wind was being funneled right into us so we decided to move back to the other anchorage but more to one side out of the eddies.

Once settled Sally and I decided to go on a mussel hunt. We got into the dinghy and motored into the shore as it was low tide time. Ran the dinghy into what we thought was a sandy bottom. Sally jumped out over the bow and promptly got stuck in deep stinky sticky black mud! Oh joy I couldn’t help laugh. This was not a good thing to do! She was able to unstick herself and move to a little harder ground and the I got out. She got to laugh at me so it all balanced out.  Awaiting us was a gazillion big mussels we could pick off the drying rocks. So we did and in short order we had a bucket full. We sloshed and slurped and sucked our way back to the dinghy tried to wash our sandals and feet before getting into the dinghy without much success. Made our way back to Kalinka 1 washed the mussels and Sally added oatmeal to some fresh sea water for Dinner later.

We then got back in the dinghy and motored over to the beach by the castle. The tide was out so you could walk all over on hard sand. I managed to catch 8 nice clams to add to the mussels for dinner. We all then walked up to the castle to explore what we could. The gate looked like it was all barred up but when we got to it we found that sometime in the past the lock had been broken off and we could go in. We all did but the others stopped in what was the courtyard while I wandered about up into what were once rooms and passage ways. A very interesting place. After this we returned to our boat.
Sally cleaned the mussels Dave came over and we got the bbq out of the lazzaret where it has lived for the last 5 years. We tried to take the mount off the stern rail but the stainless bolts had corroded in the aluminium bracket so they broke off when I tried to undo them! Bummer.  After about 3 hours we managed to get the bolts out and find 3 more that would fit. We’re back in business.

Dinner is on Chrystolyn so we load everything into the dink and power over. Mount the bbq onto daves stern rail. By this time we have all ready steamed the mssels and clams and took them over hot. They were our starter and everyone had a feed. Nice and fat and tasty! A great wonderfull finish to the day. We returned to Kalinka 1 and dropped off to Sleep