Circumnavigation of Mull

After a 24 hour reset, and with a gale forecast to pass through, we returned to Loch Spelve and set our main and second anchor (an incredibly light yet effective "Fortress"). Whilst the shelter wasn't terrible, we expected the Southerly gusts to roll down the adjacent hills - which they duly did at 40+knots.  

With a successful rendezvous with the cousins complete, and after exploring the shores around the loch, we bagged a sack of mussels from the adjacent mussel farm and returned to sit out the gale overnight, feasting on the very tasty shellfish and settling our two new crew members in.

With the aim of getting down to the South West of the Island, and a good weather forecast for most of the week, we gritted our teeth and sailed out from the sheltered loch into what we anticipated would be a less than settled sea state to head along the South Coast of Mull. We were aiming for the Isle of Erraid and the well - known 'Tinker's Hole' anchorage - sheltered, and with the promise of wildlife and good adventures ashore (also providing inspiration for some really quite inventive jokes from Hektor!). 

Loch Spelve in the early morning light

The passage started well and we'd made good progress before the children woke up thanks to a very early start. However, as we made ground South West we started to feel the awkward results of the previous night's gale which, alongside the prevailing breeze, resulted in an uncomfortable twisting roll.  Results for our younger crew members were predictable, and it was an inauspicious start to their week onboard - driving rain and seasickness!  Even Hektor, who seems to have inherited Marcus's ridiculously tough stomach, suffered and was forced to take a much despised Kwells tablet.  A number of technicolour yawns resulted, although morale improved with the weather later in the day.

Exhilarating sailing.....

The entrance to Tinker's hole appears unlikely seen from seaward, however, as you progress between the shoals and slightly unnerving off-lying rocks, the shelter and beauty of this famous anchorage becomes apparent.  We anchored at the North end of the small cove then, as there is little space to swing, took lines ashore (again utilising a bit of child labour to assist with the task) - one to a ring fitted there by the Clyde Cruising Club and another to a large boulder. Nicely triangulated, and having confirmed (ahem) the location of a slightly shallower patch during the approach to our anchorage, we launched the tender to explore. 

Entrance to Tinker's Hole

Tinker's Hole

Anchor and lines ashore

With a tender bursting with small people, the objective was to find a landing point amongst the rocks to enable the short walk to the beach at Treig Gheal, to make the most of the bright sunshine (and make up for what had been a difficult morning).  The experience very much lived up to expectations - with curious seals swimming close (a benefit of the electric outboard is we disturb the wildlife much less), and a successful landing, the pristine white sand of the small embayed beach offered an idyllic scene. There was also the opportunity for some ambitious damn building and it was all we could do to get back to the boat at a reasonable time.

Dam building on the beach

Grey seal apparently waiting for the tide to rise

The next day's objective was puffins; we left early to clear South West of the Ross of Mull and head past Staffa (of Fingal's Cave fame) towards Lunga, where we planned a lunch-time anchorage and, if conditions allowed, an expedition ashore to view the very large puffin colony.

The consistent South Easterly wind enabled a fast sail around the West of Iona, and we made good ground towards Staffa, with the famous cave clearly visible from several miles off.  The impressive Basalt columns were easy to discern as we reached past, and when abeam of Staffa we saw our first puffins - a small group in the water scurrying away as we sailed past. 

The island of Staffa

We gybed around towards Lunga, enjoying another smooth and fast sail, and then felt our way carefully into a confined anchorage, close to the puffin colony.  Since Hazel is mostly in charge of all route planning decisions, we often seem to find ourselves in more 'interesting' places since ease of navigation into anchorages is not ranked especially highly on her list of priorities and is certainly well below proximity to puffins. Whilst not suitable to stay overnight, and open to the South East, it was fine to enable us to land, albeit the 'beach' (expanse of broken rocks with gentle breakers) was a little tricky.  We managed to get the crew ashore safely to explore the island and see the puffins up close.

Contour in the distance - not a terrible location!

Having been persuaded by Hazel to walk up a big hill, Hektor did admit the view was pretty spectacular

Puffin-bothering complete (and surpassing all expectations), we reluctantly weighed anchor and joined the strong tide Northerly up towards our sheltered anchorage for the evening.  It is tempting to make great claims for our passage planning and tide-reading skills, however this tide was much more fair than we forecast and the result was another fast sail to the isolated and very sheltered Loch Mingary on NW Mull, and only about 10 miles short of Tobermorey, our destination for Thursday (time to return children to parents).

Intense Bananagram activity

Clear skies, stars, and a gentle (if very cold) breeze made our short stay in Mingary a pleasure, and we made a leisurely start towards Tobermorey the following day - the crew's skill levels were on the up and they were starting to make a real contribution towards sail handling and helming. Tobermorey lives up to its' reputation as an attractive (and colourful) town, all the more fun for the music festival that was just getting underway as we arrived.  We returned the two (mostly-intact) cousins to their parents, enjoyed some good food and spent much of the following day walking out to Rubha Nan Gall lighthouse and back, before starting back towards Oban and completing our circumnavigation of Mull. Hektor's final evening onboard was spent enjoying Pizza and Mocktails in the warm sunshine on deck at anchor off the South of Kerrera (the small island off Oban) and preparing for his travel back to Bristol with Marcus via a flight from Glasgow.  Marcus' return via Glasgow would enable some materials to be collected to support some of the projects onboard to progress in a weather window during our planned stop in the wonderful Kerrera Marina (when it comes to maintenance, owning a boat has many similarities to the Forth Bridge). 

You can follow our progress on our boat page at noforeignland.com