Sanda Island adventure
Trip Start
May 06, 2008
1
20
130
Trip End
Sep 30, 2008
Campbeltown,
Scotland,
United Kingdom
Monday, May 26, 2008
It was with a mixture of sadness and excitement that we readied ourselves to leave our mooring and the Clyde. We'd had a super couple of weeks, with days and days of brilliant sunshine albeit somewhat spoiled by the wind. It may sound a little ungrateful of us as the weather has been unusually dry and sunny, but it has also being unremittingly windy, with strong winds blowing from the NE for over a fortnight. It was windy and sunny again today and our plan was to sail down to Sanda Island (http://www.sanda-island.co.uk/), at the mouth of the Clyde and at the tip of the Mull of Kintyre. We needed to be as close as possible to the tip in order to make as much use as practicable of the ebbing tide (East out of the Clyde and Northwards towards the Hebrides). Rounding the Mull of Kintyre should never be taken lightly, as there are fierce conflicting tidal currents and if these coincide with strong winds against them, it can lead to large, confused seas and no place for a small yacht
One Sanda egg, one mainland egg
. NE winds, however strong, should be OK as far as the seas were concerned but unfortunately, Sanda only really offers protection from southerly winds. However, we had called the owner of the island and proprietor of the pub (considering that this pub relies entirely of passing trade (literally, there are no houses bar the owner's on the island) it is remarkable and testament to his ingenuity and determination, that he stays in business) and booked the only mooring, with the assurance that whilst a bit lumpy, we would be OK on it. I've given all this preamble to justify the decision to take a mooring in a fairly exposed situation as high tide the following morning was 05:30 in Greenock and the east stream starts at Greenock - 2.30, so in theory, we had to be going at 03:00 the following morning. O4:00 would have to do!We arrived at our mooring at 18:15, having sailed and motor sailed the 34 miles out of the Kyles, down past Arran and out to Sanda. The landlord was right, it was lumpy and evidence of this was given by the yacht that had taken up the mooring! He'd ignored calls from the VHF and even scuttled down below when the landlord's son rowed out, at some risk of life and limb, to tell them that the mooring was taken and that moreover, there was a £10 charge and he hadn't paid that either. However, when we arrived, they did cast off and with apparent good grace, made their retreat out into the tumbling waters of the Clyde.
Having safely got ourselves onto the mooring, we showered and changed (not easy in a rocking boat) and got ourselves into the dinghy. Whilst it was rocky, w felt that the winds were likely to abate and that as the tide receded, the exposure of the reefs would dampen any waves and indeed, as it happens, we had a fairly settled night.
As we approached the shore, motoring into the glare of the setting sun, we saw a rib moored on the inside of a small jetty and so we made for her. Unfortunately, the glare of the sun prevented me from spotting submerged stones as we approached and the brand new propeller took a bit of a pounding but fortunately, that's all.
Once in the pub, we were surprised to see that there were other customers, namely the owner of the rib and two other men and two women. It transpired that they were from Bangor, N Ireland and had been at the yacht racing in Tarbert and were on the way home. I can't really get my head around this, there they were, eating and drinking until dusk and then setting off to cover the 35 miles or so to Bangor in an open boat, the owner of which was dressed only in shorts, windcheater and lifejacket! Amazing folk, the Irish, God bless them.
We had a super, convivial meal, all home made. It was a very pleasant surprise to have such good food and company in such a remote location and it was with regret that we left at 21:30 in order to get some sleep, prior to the next day's adventures. One final memory of the evening were the dozen eggs that we'd bought. The yolks are the most amazing bright orange and the landlord believes it's from the hens' diet of crustaceans and insects that live amongst the cast up seaweed.
