The winds were too strong to leave the pontoon this morning and although we had bright skies we didn’t get our share of the heatwave those at home were experiencing.
We watched a fishing boat offload its catch but apart from people adjusting their warps, and pondering over the wind strength and lack of sustained direction, not much else was happening. We went for a walk around this quiet and very beautiful bay, the highlight in the village was to find a small Co-op that offered cash back.
After lunch the wind strength died down as forecast and we left Port Ellen, making best use of tides on our way over to Jura. During the passage we passed the Lagavuln and Ardbec distilleries – their buildings showed their names in huge Hollywood style lettering.
At Proag Bay, Islay, we were joined by several seals bobbing around the boat, they must have liked our singing – we had the musical ‘Half A Sixpence’ playing at the time followed by ‘Grease’, Stockard Channing eat your heart out.
The passage took us into a channel between Islay and Jura passing by Glas Bheinn standing at an impressive 562m 1844ft. Talavera reached 11.6 kts SOG and we could hear the water literally fizzing, the sea state was very disturbed. All along the shorelines of both islands were secluded beaches with not a soul on them.
Port Askaig lifeboat was stationed close to the Caolila distillery then about one mile apart we passed the Ardnahoe and Bunnahabhain distilleries. What a pity Covid-19 had prevented a few tasting sessions.
Having spent so many days surrounded by mountains we had expected to have spotted a sea eagle, but hadn’t as yet. However, we arrived at the anchorage in Loch Tarbert with much excitement because there sitting proudly on the edge of a cliff was a Golden Eagle!
We were both concentrating on the depth of water and avoiding rocks at the time so reaching for a mobile phone to take pictures close up wasn’t a priority, but we did take a shot from a distance. It was then we vowed to look out for a decent camera with powerful lens in time for next year’s adventure, as we’re only using iPhones to take photos on this trip.
In the evening we rowed ashore. This could have been classed as a big mistake but we put it down to an experience, as we discovered why the beaches along these islands were totally abandoned. Rowing ashore was not a problem, pulling the dinghy over the lovely firm sand was effortless, then it dawned on us. First the stinging sensation followed by the sighting of clouds of what can only be described as vicious attacks from flying talcum powder sized demons, with their larger friends resembling flying ants using us for target practice.
What looked like grass gave way to peat bog and the bracken just came alive with all sorts of biting insects which we didn’t hang around to identify. With arms flailing in an attempt to fight the blighters off, and both of us giggling like school kids, we legged it back to the sand. We grabbed Artie, chucked him into the dinghy and started rowing like crazy as he calmly licked his paws, nothing having penetrated his dense fur, lucky him.
Back on board we had insect screens standing by for the windows but they weren’t needed. Sitting inside the cockpit tent we enjoyed the nearest thing to a sunset, it was more of a tinge of light than a full colourful display, but looked great.
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