visitors. I could spend all day watching
puffins but it would be a shame not to see
all the other birds; razorbills and shags
among the boulders, guillemot and
kittiwake colonies on Harp Rock.
A group of bird ringers who were
catching guillemots to fit geolocators, told
us that the skuas and great black-backed
gulls are not doing well. This is good
news for puffins – who are less likely to be
mugged for a beakful of fish – but perhaps
not a good sign for the health of the
marine environment.
By the time we got back, the puffins had
a crowd of admirers, the anchorage was
busy and loud tannoys announced the
arrival of the tourist boats. We spent a lazy
afternoon on board, waiting till the
evening to go ashore again.
With such light winds I didn’t plan to go
far; just across to Coll before heading
down to Oronsay with the north-westerly
due in a couple of days time. We needed
a gas cylinder so stopped at Arinagour on
the way to the north end of Coll.
Arinagour is a small place but had
everything we needed; gas and wifi at the
Coll Hotel, water tap at the jetty, food
supplies and, best of all in the unusually
hot weather, ice creams. In less perfect
conditions, renting bikes here is the best
way to explore Coll.
Perfect forecast
We were glad to get an updated forecast
as it had changed completely, no longer
north-westerly winds in two days’ time but
south-easterly – the perfect wind to go to
Barra. I will always head for the Outer Isles if
I get the chance. My parents never got that
far but I found all the pilot books on board.
In the meantime we took the opportunity
to visit the little islands off the north end of
Coll and anchored in a shallow sandy bay
off Eilean Mhor.
Although well sheltered by rocks at low
tide, the tide runs through the gaps and it
felt rather exposed later at high water.
We went exploring around the islets by
dinghy, watching schools of sandeels
underwater and the terns that were fishing
for them wheeling overhead. In one
weedy inlet, a common seal was playing
with her newborn pup.
I was keen to sail down the west coast of
Coll because it is often frequented by
basking sharks, but the passage around
the end of the island was a little trickier
than I expected. The chartplotter showed
even less detail than the small-scale paperchart so we felt our way cautiously,
watching the echo-sounder and the
colour of the water. I was dismayed to
realise that the grey line on the western
horizon was an approaching fog bank and
it was a relief to get through before it
enveloped the island.
We set the sails for a broad reach down
the coast but there was a disappointing
lack of sharks and soon the fog thickened
so we couldn’t see the shore. I wouldn’t
have liked to try to find Gunna Sound
without GPS but, as I hoped, the visibility
was much better on the eastern side of
the islands. The sun breaking through the
swirling fog was atmospheric. Gunna has
a lovely shell sand beach and I can never
resist searching for cowries.
It was still calm in the evening and would
probably have been fine to stay, but with a
forecast of south-easterly Force 4-5 we‘We set the sails for a broad reach down the
coast but there was a disappointing lack of
sharks and soon the fog thickened’
CRUISING
ABOVE Taking a
short cut through
Tinker’s Hole
RIGHT Barra Head
lighthouse on
Berneray
BELOW Puffins;
Kalessin anchored
off Gunna