Rainbow over Coll in the rain-laden stormy clouds

Position at Anchor 56˚34.889N 006˚37.753W
Distance traveled 45 nm
Weather Sunshine, heavy showers and a biting wind

Its 7pm, the sun is just about to set over Coll, and we are sitting in a beautiful anchorage in Loch Breachacha, towards the south end of Coll. Dinner is being prepared in the galley, along with a carrot cake for munchies tomorrow.
We left Erraid at about 8am this morning under grey skies, and headed up through the Sound of Iona. The sun came out just as we approached Iona Cathedral on the port side, making our lasting impressions of Iona sunny and beautiful. Continuing on our northerly course, we received the weather forecast and it was decided that we would go round the top of Staffa , where the sun didn’t shine and the rain came horizontally, then head to Tiree, where basking sharks were guaranteed (according to Duncan). En route we encountered a pod of 6 harbour porpoises, who were obviously late for a party on Iona, as they really were shifting. We also saw a couple of grey seals, and as usual we detected loads of porpoises on the hydrophone, 25 to be precise.
We finally reached Coll and Tiree about 3pm, and proceeded to survey for the millions of basking sharks we knew would be waiting! Alas not a single one did we see! Irritatingly, another yacht hailed us on the radio, from about 200m to our stern, to say they had just seen one for the past 10 minutes. We continued on, ploughing through the waves in the Sound of Gunna, but still no sharks, so we turned round and went looking for the one the yacht reported. Of course by this time the shark had got bored and sodded off to who knows where! We got great views of the diving gannets though.
Giving up in disgust, and because we were all frozen, we headed for Coll and our home for the night. All we can do is hope for mirror-calm seas, gentle breezes and constant sun for tomorrow! Then we’ll see them! (fingers crossed)

Denys