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| The Treshnish Isles, where nature abounds |
Nature and human nature
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| An adorable puffin on Lunga |
We’ve had this amazing weather – like the Caribbean – hot and
hazy and occasionally humid. Light winds. Smooth seas. Pretty bloody unbelievable. For two weeks and more to come. Everyday, the forecast read something close to
this:
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| Strangely shaped islets |
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| Sails up but not full in glass calm |
Meteorological situation: a high of
1030 mb has settled over Europe.
Forecast for 24 hours. Winds variable E-NE Force 2-3, seas smooth, conditions
fair, visibility moderate to good, poor in fog patches, risk of thundery
showers, temperature reaching a high of 22-24 degrees C.
Forecast for the following 24 hours.
Winds variable, E-SE Force 3-4, seas smooth, conditions fair, visibility
moderate to good, poor in fog patches, risk of thundery showers.
Longer term forecast: Winds variable NE to SW, Force 2-3, sometimes 4, seas
smooth, conditions fair, visibility moderate to good, poor in fog patches, risk
of thundery showers.
We could stop writing the forecast down, it was always the
same. Felt more like Long Island Sound than Scotland! We were as tan as we had been in
the Caribbean.
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| Lunch onboard |
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| Seals conversing on the rocks behind |
In the morning, we pressed on to the Treshnish Isles, a
strangely shaped group of islets that form a string extending out from the mainland
just 5 miles away from where we were.
Aside from their bizarre shapes, these islands are home to some of the
most extraordinary and endangered sea birds in the world. Among the most numbered inhabitants are the adorable
little puffins which seem almost tame here.
We anchored in the little harbour of the largest island, Lunga, which is
only viable as an anchorage in settled weather, and watched the puffins
cavorting all around us while we prepared lunch. We had no idea they were so tiny. I had always thought of them as being as large as parrots.
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| Colourful Tobermory, lively "fishing" village |
Curiously we also heard seals calling to one another in
conversation. It’s something neither one of us had heard before. We’ve heard
barking, but never this wailing discussion the seals on the outer rocks
conducted. As the tide rose and the
rocks went under water, the seals put their discussions on hold till the next
change of tide.
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| Moorings in 90 foot deep waters |
It was a very calm day and we decided to motor over to
Tobermory, one of the few stops we’d be making where there was actually a town
on the harbour. We were doing over 9
knots with the current and made the 16 mile trip in under two hours, only to
see TWO cruise ships anchored in the harbour. Double horrors! One was a smaller French ship about 400 feet
in length, the other was a 750+ foot monster.
We could tell from the AIS, which gives us all kinds of information
about commercial vessels. Luckily the
big one was pulling people off the island and scheduled to depart by 6 pm. The
smaller one had just arrived but was leaving by 8 pm.
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| The harbour at sunset |
Normally we like to anchor, but in this anchorage, the
shallowest spots are 90 feet deep. As we have about 200 feet of chain, we’d
have to extend that with rope by a lot to get enough scope. And as the
designated anchorage was full of moorings, we opted to take a mooring for the
first time. It was a bit undersized for us but the only big boat mooring was
already occupied by a 60 foot Hinckley.
As there was no wind and it was forecast to remain that way, we thought
we’d be fine on the smaller mooring. They were spaced far enough apart.
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Local Isle of Mull microbrew,
Red Monk of Iona amber ale |
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The Mishnish pub, where the locals
hang out, very friendly and has wifi!
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| Ironmonger off license |
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| and musical instruments shoppe |
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| View from Cafe Fish |
The marina was full of boats from the Netherlands cruising
in company, but with the mooring, we had access to the facilities including
showers, the laundry and electronic weather monitor. The marina is run by volunteers and they come
by to collect the £15 fee once in the evening and in the morning if they miss you. Access to the toilets and showers costs 20p
except it’s free with the mooring or slip rental -- you get a key code to enter. You still have to pay for the
shower, which costs £2 for 7 minutes and you cannot adjust the flow or the
temperature. You cannot start and stop the flow either as the clock keeps
ticking. I was done at 5 minutes but kept it going for 7 since I’d paid for
it. Another 50p for the hair dryer.
Bugger that! I used the hand dryer instead – that’s free.
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Squat lobster and langoustines
at Cafe Fish |
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| The Main Street |
We quickly went ashore to find out the lay of the land. The shops were jammed with cruise ship tourists.
There is a whisky distillery right in town so we made a beeline there to
resupply. The shops normally close at 6 pm on a Saturday, but with the cruise
ship in, many were staying open later.
We walked all the way to the end of the town where the ferry pier is.
Then stopped for a pint of local brew at the pub called the Mishnish, a nice
little Victorian pub. It’s where all the
locals and the occasional tourist hang out.
They have wifi, so we pulled out our laptops as they pulled us a couple
of pints. It was much more comfortable
than the marina office.
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| Lobster at Cafe Fish |
Tobermory was designed in the late 1800s to be an iconic
fishing village. Today, its brightly painted harbour front shops and homes
invite tourists from all over. They have
some of everything: many restaurants, a ferry, a co-op supermarket that is
exceptionally well stocked, an off license iron monger that also sells musical
instruments, cafes, a bakery, a bank, craft and gift shoppes, and a petrol
station. We decided to spend a second
night. We had dinner at the delightful Cafe Fish, where we sampled the perfectly cooked langoustines, lobster, and squat lobster - which we had never heard of. Absolutely delicious. The place deserves its reputation as the best restaurant in Tobermory and all of Scotland. Reservations are a must there.
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| Cafe Fish, exceptional restaurant |
Sundays, shoppes open only from 11 to 3. We managed to get
wifi onboard and finally downloaded email – no password needed. By the time we got into town, all the bread
was sold out and it looked like the shops had been ransacked. We bought what we
needed, had a big lunch at the pub next to the marina and took a long walk up
and over and around the inlet and to the waterfalls. It was about 40 minutes each way with beautiful
views through woodlands and along streams on one side and the harbour on the
other side. Well worth it.
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| Services at the marina HQ |
Monday morning, we made sure we got to the bakery as soon as
it opened. Bought bread and rolls and had breakfast there. Got some extra cash
from the hole in the wall and headed out again.
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| Waterfalls on the walk around the harbour |
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| Beautiful views over the bay |
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| Hey, there's lots of action here. |
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| Where should we go next? |
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| Moonset, time to go to sleep |
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