The sea is glassy calm and there’s not a breath of wind and the Cal Mac ferry calls but seems to neither drop off or pick up. The Dutch tall ship also beats us up and out of the harbour…
We know that purists would say stay put and wait for fair winds, but…the diesel goes on and we motor out into the sound of Canna and slide down the west coast of Rum in the Sea of the Hebrides. It’s a gloomy day with poor visibility and Eigg and Muck are just about visible as the miles slip past. We followed the Cal Mac ferry out of Canna but it is soon out of sight and we wonder what else is out there…we soon have an answer as a coaster appears about a mile away. The radar goes on despite its thirst for electricity and provides some reassurance, although this is not like crossing the nautical motorway that is our home stretch of English Channel. The rain comes and flattens what little sea there is. We are approaching Ardnamurchan Point and prepare to toast this most westerly point of mainland UK when, rising majestically out of the calm depths, comes a Minke Whale…not the best photo, but its our Minke!!
This sounds like we knew exactly what we were seeing, but we made an assumption (see below)…Our uncertainty does nothing to dispel the magic of the moment and we are all transfixed by this majestic creature cruising slowly northwards.
We have a double toast…to Ardnamurchan Point and to ‘our’ whale. The clouds lift and the final miles into Tobermory are a dream which could only be bettered by being able to sail…
We treat ourselves to a pontoon berth for the night with electricity hook-up, a ‘fix’ of wifi, water and some hot showers.
Seafood pasta on board is washed down with some of the Coop’s finest and we put the world to rights on the back of the dregs of a bottle of scotch…a shame that the world wasn’t listening!!
heydays346 