I’m not really an early morning person so it does help if the sky above is dawning with an apricot hue in an otherwise clear sky. Not a breath of wind and the feeling of settled weather….. at least for today. The weather forecast is for light winds all day from a north and west mixture. Perfect for our trip as should mean we don’t get lumpy water ( wind and tide in apposing direction). Storm Frances is due to hit Ireland and the west tomorrow. So we set off about 6 am and chugged off quietly down the sound of Gigha along the west side of the Mull. Cooked breakfast on the go in my square frying pan ….. a birthday present years ago. Bacon and egg baps . Also had porridge and J had fruit and fibre. The sun rose and the sea was calm with only about 5 knots of breeze. We did eventually put the mainsail up … good thing to do it before getting into potentially more “ confused “ seas around the Mull, and I don’t like J going up to the mast in open seas. It’s an amazing area to be in when the visibility is good as you can see the geography of the area ; just as it is on the map !!! So we can see Ireland, Rathlin, Islay and back to Jura and Gigha….. as we went round the Mull, we could see to Sanda isles, Aran and Ailsa Craig ….. all in perfect silhouette as though they were a stones throw away. The wind got up a bit so we could sail, and as we (J) had worked out the tides perfectly we had a lot of extra tide knots with us so boat speed 3 …. and speed over the ground 8! Trouble is you lose ability to steer when it’s like that and the winds not strong; so we had to put the engine back on. The sea around the the Mull lighthouse was distinctly “ confused “ .Even in calm weather, so what it would be like now (writing this on the 25th) I dread to think! I thought how tiny the lighthouse looked for such a big peninsula 🤔. One of the things I’ve yet to capture is a good picture of a gannet. Gannets obviously nest off the Kintyre cliffs. Sitting on the water as lonely singles but flying in beautiful formation lines across the cliff faces and low over the water. Sometimes pairs, sometimes 10 or more. They flap and stop flapping in unison…….. how do they communicate that? They have beautiful yellow faces with eyeliner . They remind me of tiny emperor penguins. We rounded the final corner to see arran and our destination Island Davaar off Campbeltown. At this point we had put up the chute to “ dry it out”?? We arrived with a nice harbour master to take our lines and berthed facing outward for an easy getaway. After a sleep in the sun on deck we had an explore and found the coop. It’s a very grand looking place… or rather was once. My plan for tomorrow is to do some research on the history as feel sure it has a lot!
What I have learned today……. to keep the phone in one position when using video….. sorry if my attempts make you feel seasick!
Sue x
Angelique 
Sounds wonderful Sue!
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