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Kincsem has now arrived in Craobh (pronounced "Croove") Haven where she will be for the winter. Cruising the inner Hebrides has been very enjoyable and comfortable with little wind and waves and a commodity sometimes in short supply in Scotland: sunshine!



Loch Scavaig, one of the most dramatic anchorages on Mull









On Eigg, one of the small isles, with its characteristic shark fin


I cruised these parts before - in 1975 with my parents when we transited the Caladonia Canal from the East Coast to Fort Williams on the West Coast - via Loch Ness.



My parents' Salaminia II on Loch Ness in 1976



I remember anchoring in Tobermory on Mull next to a fishing trawler converted to a motor yacht, which had a large canvas covered object on its deck. One day, they weighed anchor and went to the dock and the object was revealed as a Fiat 500, which they unloaded with their own loading crane! Nowadays, anchoring in Tobermory harbor is no longer possible as there is a large "marina" and many moorings. When we approached the marina dock, our lines were taken by an older-looking gentlemen who mentioned that he had seen our Ocean Crusing Club burgee. It turns out, we were assisted by OCC royalty: Ian Nicholson, a founding member of the club who started ocean cruising in 1950 - he is 96 years old and still cruising and racing now! To become a full member of the OCC, one has to sail non-stop for at least 1,000 miles over ocean waters. Ian's qualifying voyage in 1952 was 34 days non-stop from Panama to San Francisco in a heavy steel ketch. The morning after they had anchored in Richardson Bay in front of Sausalito, they were approached by another sailboat who was looking for crew for a race that day. Ian got recruited and very much enjoyed racing on the Bay! Those were not the only stories he and his family crew shared over a wee dram!

One of our key objectives was to tour as many whiskey distilleries as possible. Tobermory has a whiskey distillery and we made reservations to do the tour the next evening. Unfortunately, the night before at the dock was not so pleasant because of some swell in the bay so when the swell was still there the next afternoon, we ditched our reservation and left the dock to anchor in a protected side arm of the bay. In Oban, another chance but all the tours were booked - bummer. But we got to sample 4 different whiskeys in the tasting room of the Oban Distillery. We will need to come back next year to finish the unfinished business!






Scenic Tobermory





Passing Duart Castle on the way to Oban





Genuine Highland Cow on Kerrera







Hike to Gylen Castle on Kerrera


I am working hard at getting Kincsem ready for the winter. With the assistance of some helpful men (from Owen Sails), I managed to get the sails off quickly and in the sunshine. As we are tied up to a 23 m long dock, it is very easy to roll sails, wash halyards and sheets and other items, a luxury we've not had in prior seasons. A long list of jobs remains - doing a lot of laundry, servicing the engine and generator, uninstalling the water maker control board and sending it for service, replacing gaskets for the hatch for the aft lazarette which is leaking, adjusting the stuffing box for the rudder, taking off the outboard from the dinghy and prepping it for the winter, installing the cover for the dinghy, installing all the winter covers for the masts, furlers and deck hatches, cleaning the interior, ordering necessary repair jobs and setting up the batteries for the winter. All sounds easy but never is! The challenge will be to get the list of to do items to get shorter every day as too often more work items get discovered than get knocked off the list!




On the school bus to Oban to pick up my rental car





Craobh Haven - for the winter, the yard will tie the boat between the two finger docks and also tie a bow line to the mooring seen here - aligning Kincsem perfectly into the prevailing SW-erly winds





The control panel of the water maker is out - 4 hours of work!





Not all is work in Craobh Haven. The Lord of the Isles, the local pub, is conveniently located .....


It's been a great season with over 4,000 miles sailed in 70 days. I had 20 friends to share the experience of this fabulous Viking Cruise! I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did!

The Admiral likes sunshine and reaches. So I produce sunshine and reaches, or try to. From the Shiants, the next stop was Acarsaid Mhor (Big Harbor in Gaellic) on Rona. Unfortunately, I failed to prevent the rain storm coming through just one hour after raising the anchor in the Shiants. But I had put a reef into main and genoa before the gusts arrived. Because the Admiral also does not like Kincsem steaming ahead at 9.5 knots and 20 degrees of heel!

Rona was definitely a fun stop. There are no permanent inhabitants except a couple who occupy the "Lodge." Lodge in my mind means something like a hotel but no, they don't have guest rooms. But they shot some deer earlier this year and they sell venison! We loaded up on that. There's a nice hike on Rona to the "Dry Harbor" - i.e another harbor that dries at low tide. There are ruins of several houses and an old house dubbed the "museum", containing some artifacts of the little community of farmers who lived here until the 20th Century. There are also a couple of restored houses that seem to be for rent. They have great views of Skye across the channel. Not a bad place to spend a week!



Rona Lodge










Rona Dry Harbor

We picked up a mooring in Rona rather than anchor because there were many moorings and not really enough space to anchor. The mooring tackle seemed very substantial and a commercial boat captain told me not to worry. Well, I always worry and at 5:10 am the next morning, I heard the noise of rock on rock - the mooring block moving on the rock where it was placed. The wind had picked up overnight. We departed in a measured hurry. Luckily it was already light out and the Antares charts of the anchorage are very detailed and accurate.




At the dubious mooring in Rona's big harbor

The problem with moorings is universal here in Scotland. They throw 15-ton moorings everywhere which we cannot use as we weigh in at 24 tons and then they don't leave enough room to anchor around the moorings. So in Portree, our next stop, we tried 3 times to anchor between the moorings but ultimately, we ended up too close to the moored boats. So we had to anchor in a very exposed location. Portree is an attractive little town albeit very touristy.




Portree

We hired a taxi to tour the Northern loop route of the Isle of Skye - definitely worth it!



Mealt Falls




Kilt Rock




The Quiraing mountains








Castle Ewen - not really a castle, just a rock that looks like one! It's tough to squeeze up to the top.


Plockton was our next stop as it happened to be downwind from Portree. A nice sail, a much better anchorage and less tourists than in Portree. We loved it!






Scenic Plockton

Next on our list were two fjord like lochs - Loch Duist and Loch Hourne Baec. Loch Duist has a well preserved castle, Eilean Donan Castle, at its mid-section and you can anchor right in front of it and take the dinghy in. There are masses of tourists here arriving by road but the place is very much worth seeing. It is still in use by the McRae Clan once a year for their reunion. We loved it and sailed up the loch a bit further for a quiet anchorage for the night.




Sky Bridge at Kyle Rhea; Loch Duist ahead








Eilean Donnan Castle




At the head of Loch Duist

The next loch, Loch Hourne Baec is very dramatic and there are very few, mostly weekend houses. The loch has 3 narrows which are difficult to navigate but the Antares charts make it possible. We ended up anchoring just in front of the third narrows and took the dinghy into the inner loch.















Dramatic anchorage in Loch Hourne Beac

Our daughter Corinna and her husband Lawrence joined in Mallaig, a nice little fishing town. As fishing has decreased, tourism has increased with the steam "Harry Potter" train from Glasgow filling the town every afternoon. And they put a few docks into the inner part of the harbor 10 years ago. Great protection and excellent facilities. And a fantastic bakery - the Admiral filled the freezer with bread and other goodies!