Blog Trip 6
The intention; towards St Kilda – the weather – uncertain!
We set off from Dunstaffnage with just two guests on board – Karen, who had done some training with me last year, a Doctor from Edinburgh; and Vince, a retired Teacher from Cumbria, close to where I was originally brought up. Both had some sailing experience. Vince had achieved one of my life ambitions by walking the pilgrim way from central France to Santiago de Campostela in northern Spain: the famous “Shell” route. He even ended up at Cape Finisterre where he took the traditional option of burning his clothes before taking adip in the sea! Quite an achievement which due to my old injuries which prevent me walking such distances, I shall never be able to emulate.
The first day we ended up in Muck for a short walk and then had to wait for some wind to lift us to our next destination – Canna. As we approached the anchorage in quite fresh winds we were joined by a squad of probably two hundred common dolphins who kept us company for some time; groups would come in and play alongside the boat, veer off, and then another dozen or so would shoot across to join us. What a start to a trip!!
What the dolphins were doing there is uncertain as I’m quite sure that there was no large shoal of fish in the area, very early for mackerel and despite a few gannets being in the area – no sign of feeding activity from them either.
We over-nighted at Canna and the headed north on a pleasant reach in good winds. Not a sign of another yacht anywhere until we were almost across when we spotted a ketch making way from Skye to the Outer Isles. Deciding to anchor in Loch Eport and get a decent isobaric chart from the internet, I was aware from a Notice to Mariners (issued by the Hydrographic chart office) of a recent addition of yet another fish farm to the area. However I was surprised at the position, right in the middle of the passage and the extensive size of the place. Although they do provide local employment, the effect on the environment is now becoming out of control in the search for economic development. Some years ago a farm of this size would have employed perhaps 15 or 20 locals to do the feeding and general husbandry duties. Nowadays with automation a team of perhaps three people will service a couple of these farms without much trouble. As can be seen below the food and fish are now transported by large support vessels, foreign owned and crewed and in fact most of the fish farming operations are held in similar foreign hands. Not really what is meant by local sustainable business – what happened to the native salmon and sea trout stocks is a disgrace and far more jobs have been lost in the hotel industry by the loss of leisure fishing than have been created by the Fish farming explosion. A small number of people benefit but the loss to the greater community is high and may have significant further impact on the environment, habitat and people as it progresses at a pace which seems to be out of control. We may regret it.
It was at this stage that we began to realise that unfortunately the weather pattern was going to prevent a visit to St Kilda. The forecast was for pretty strong NE winds, not nice out in the part of the Atlantic where St Kilda lies, and then a full gale by the middle of the weekend. So we opted to stay on the east side of the Western Isles and after a walk up the hill at Eport we headed for Loch Skiport for the next night. From there to Castlebay on Barra where we had a great meal at the very friendly Kisimul café before getting an early start on Saturday morning and going to Mingulay and Berneray (Barra Head) before the promised big winds arrived. As we approached Mingulay beach in the early morning it was apparent that there was a large gathering of Atlantic grey seals on the beach – on fact more than I have ever seen there before.
They were covering the beach from one side to the other to a depth of four or five seals!! There must have been upwards of two thousand – many more than I’ve seen there before. The day was perfect for a visit and we were the only people there for most of the morning before the wee day boat arrived from Castle bay with a dozen visitors. We were fortunate to be so early and it was great to be there as cloudless blue skies, light winds and the Sun combined to make a lovely warm day on the island. We walked up the to top of the cliffs for a look and enjoyed seeing the fulmars, guillemots and razorbills playing in the updrafts created by the steady breeze off the Atlantic.
Karen was busy photographing flora while Saltwater Gypsy lay below in the bay. I left Vince and Karen looking at the birds and strolling around while I went along the cliffs for a short while, being hassled by usual bonxies who were preparing to nest in the area. I went down to the beautiful sunlit sandy bay and back to the boat, getting some nice images of SG on the way!
We went across to Berneray after lunch, in a bit of a hurry as the wind was rapidly rising and the anchorage was becoming somewhat uncomfortable. Still we got ashore and a quick scoot up the hill took us to Barra Head lighthouse; Vince was very interested in the remains of the Neolithic fort that forms part of the walls of the lighthouse.
Back at the yacht I was grateful to get away as by now the Severe gale force 9 gale was imminent and I was keen to get into Vatersay bay, a sheltered haven to allow us to ride out the winds in safety. We anchored in the east bay with plenty of chain out and the mizzen sail deployed as a steadying sail. The wind gradually increased until by dark we were getting a constant 40knots plus (upper force 8). By morning it had freshened further and we had gusts up to 53knot to entertain us.
We stayed on anchor for all of Sunday and when it came time to make the dinner I was in for a big surprise!
Dinner was to be vegetarian haggis, neaps and tatties, a particular favourite of mine, and Karen seemed keen to know what make of haggis I had prepared. “MacSweens” – by far the best I told her and it rapidly occurred to me that she was a MacSween herself. To my delight it transpired that it was her family business that made the veggie haggis and she had helped her father with the recipe some years before, sampling the various options as it was developed:
Next day we were keen to get going and crossed over the Sea of the Hebrides in nice sailing winds giving us a very broad reach, but as we cleared Barra Head we came under the influence of the swell from the previous day’s gale. Some of the waves were quite impressive and as we passed the “Rebecca” a Frazerburgh registered fishing trawler it became apparent just how big they were.
After a fast and very enjoyable passage we passed through the Sound of Gunna and anchored in a small bay on Coll for the night. Everyone was quite tired (and it was raining on and off, which usually deters me) so we delayed going ashore until the next morning when the Sun was out and the wind had eased but it was bitterly cold.
It was a lovely walk and several corncrakes were heard but not seen – the flowers for which Coll is famous were not yet on the go however their were a lot of green plover, hares going mad all over the place and a large flock of dunlin feeding in the fields.
We went across towards the Treshnish Isles the next day but there was too much swell to let us land on Lunga to visit the puffins there and we continued further to stay at Ulva for the night. Next day we did manage to get ashore and see the wonderful bird colony on Lunga before heading south and stopping overnight on the Ross of Mull. From there to Loch Spelve (we had fresh mussels for starters) and eventually the next day home to Dunstaffnage and the end of the trip.
Shame about St Kilda but the trip had been very enjoyable. The weather is so critical to a successful visit – I do recommend that anyone who has making St Kilda as the sole reason for voyaging to go with Angus Campbell on his speedboat from Leverburgh! Going under sail is the “real” way to go but the uncertainty is not always acceptable to some people.
This early in the season you can’t expect to see much in the way of wildlife and the flora simply hasn’t had the warmth needed to get going. However we did see some wonderful stuff – the common dolphins being particularly exciting.
Now I’m busy doing some private training for the crew of the Islay/Jura ferry on board the yacht and as you might expect the weather is great while I’m stuck teaching theory rather than out there doing some sailing! Still its well early in the season and I am sure there are great times ahead!!
