Tuesday 23rd May, 2006
Anchorage: Loch Nevis
56° 58’.400 N 005°38’.300W
Distance covered: 41nm

We had two choices today, partially due to rough weather. Option 1. We either stay in Loch Moidart, and go for a hike up the hills, and visit an old Scottish castle. It is rumoured that a world famous business magnate owns the island, and wanted to restore the castle in his summer home. Option 2: We sail out for another 5 hours, zig zagging past the island of Eigg, to Loch Nevis. We could bypass quite a bit of the weather that way. Loch Nevis was known to have been a site for dolphins.

After much argument among us volunteers, ranging between castle envy all the way to that warm feeling associated when one thinks of dolphins, the decision was made. We went for the sail.

The trip was rough most of the way, past Eigg, and transected towards the Loch of Nevis. The weather significantly improved, as the hills on either side of the waterway, of the Loch, protected us from strong winds. We surveyed the loch for dolphins, but no cigar, despite Mike getting sent up the crow's nest.

Following another IT catastrophe, Raihan was once again summoned to the captains office and saved the day. Raihan finally found acceptance among the crew and was promoted to Cabin Boy. However, captain Duncan was now short of 1 victim for serial beasting and consequentially, the green gilled Percy (once again suffering the ill effects of deep ocean) was summarily 'strapped to the mast'.

Dinner time arrived and found Percy praying for something with rice and spices; English food was taking its toll as the man from India was finding the local cuisine unpalletable and the 'gang' were showing concern over his rapid weight loss. However, Rob (chef for the day) showed no such concern as he announced 'good old Italian Spag Bol for dinner' and we watched Percy sink to his knees in floods of tears .. maybe we will have curry tomorrow. An early dinner, and the day came to an end. We have a short two more days, and a lot of distance to cover. It is possible that we could end up missing all the return ferries, trains and subsequent flights, due to bad weather on the return. We are all sticklers for risk by now.

Volunteer joint effort