A bit of Scotland

22 July 2021

A bit of Scotland

After the Irish Sea we arrived in one of my favorite areas: the Hebrides. The whole area is very beautiful and there are many possibilities. Normally the villages and whiskey distilleries are an easy choice for guests’ entertainment. Now we have less of those options. Not because the Scots themselves are very difficult, but mainly because we want to hold on to our bubble. But I still wanted to show the guests a bit of this beautiful area.

First, we sailed down the east side of Jura, past the (small) house where George Orwell wrote his ‘1984’. Then we let ourselves be washed through the Corryvreckan, which is a fun and educational place to explain and show the difference between eddies and overfalls. When we were pushed into the Firth of Lorn, a number of white-sided dolphins immediately came to look at the ship.

A little further north we entered the Sound of Mull: the water between the mainland and the Isle of Mull. At the end the town of Tobermory is situated, a good example of a picturesque village. There Richard ‘looted’ the supermarket with all possible protection and the guests took a nice walk in the woods around the bay.

Early in the morning we hoisted the anchor and sailed around Mull towards Staffa. We had talked about Mendelssohn the previous day and he got the inspiration for his well-known overture in Fingal’s Cave. So, after breakfast we dropped everyone off on the island and they were able to view the cave on this unique island consisting of hexagonal basalt columns.

When everyone was back on board, we hoisted the sails to profit for the increasing wind. We have now passed south of Barra Head and are sailing close to the wind. The expectation is that it will turn to the east-northeast and we can sail to St Kilda. We will arrive there in the course of the day tomorrow. Here we take our time to explore before sailing further north towards the Faroe Islands.