Friday morning finds us moored against the railway jetty in Oban where we had collected a replacement life raft the previous evening and dropped off Merel and Jacqueline, students from Holland, who took the ferry back to Mull. Eilidh, the education officer, also left Silurian this morning to take a well earned break with her relations in Benbecula. However this morning 6 staff from MacBackpackers, sponsors of the HWDT, joined the boat for the “Green Button” award, a sea life identification course for tour guides, so we have a full compliment on board as we motor down the sound of Kerrera in steady rain and a fair SE wind. Once reaching open water we raise our sails and continue past Insh island before bearing west toward the huge cliffs along the south coast of Mull.
The wind drops and the sun comes out but the large swell makes for an uncomfortable ride. We thread our way through the small islands around Erraid, where we had hoped to anchor for the night until the winds turned to the south, and enter the sound of Iona where we sail past the Abbey in beautiful sunshine. We anchor in a beautiful sheltered bay on the north shore of the Ross of Mull, watched by grey seal eating a fish.
The RIB takes us ashore so we can stretch our legs on the short walk to Bunessan. We watch a local fishing boat unload its haul of large prawns destined for markets in Spain. Back on board Lisa has made fantastic Kedgeree for dinner. Now that we have 6 other guests on board I am now an honorary crew member and have swapped my forward bunk for the rather more cramped bunk in the stern crew quarters.
by Peter Thornton