Thursday 28^th September, 2006

Anchorage: North Channel, Loch Moidart

Position: 56° 48’.200 N 005°50’.400W

Distance surveyed: 9 nm

After a night spent playing a game of “watch the anchor not move” we hoped for weakened winds and calmer seas as we departed Arisaig this morning. Our hopes were answered (sort of) in the form of just 20 knots of wind to fair in. Sadly, conditions were not sufficient to grant us a sighting, but all on board enjoyed a nice sail down to Loch Moidart, into the narrow north channel, threading our way to a suitable anchorage.

Once settled at anchor, the volunteers settled down for a chat about bioacoustics whilst Skipper Graham and his henchman Davie went off to catch mussels on the nearby shores. They returned, sweaty-browed, with a bucket filled to the brim, providing second, nay, third portions of our starter.

The driving force behind such gluttony (aside the chef's galley genius) was a 2.5 hour jaunt (in perfectly suitable footwear) around the island...some on the beaten path, some very much off it. We spent our time hiking through heather and bracken with a few stops to drink in the beautiful views around the isle under the setting sun, with the bonus sighting of does, stags and fawns trotting across the hill tops. A very enjoyable walk concluded with the mussels and a hearty spaghetti bolognese.

It's been an exciting trip with high winds, dolphin sightings and warnings of the 40ft basking sharks, the Kings of Dreaded West, but it's been fantastic with great crew and great encounters. A great success.

Cormac, PhD student.

# posted by HWDT @ 6:53 AM