We usually choose to not do an overnight passage. But going from the Hebrides to Orkney, it just made sense to do an overnighter. We sailed 123 nautical miles, averaging over 5.5 knots. We started in the evening with just enough daylight to see the east side of the island of Lewis and then darkness when we were away from land. Not many boats out here that time of the night but a shipping vessel did have a surprise visit from the local Coast Guard helicopter. The CG used their deck to practice landing people at night. I could hear them on the radio, and see the lights, but we weren't close enough to see the action. I was going to volunteer our boat for their practice, but then thought, what would I do with them on-board? Offer them tea?
We had carefully timed our arrival to enter the Hoy Sound on the flood tide because the current can be up to 8.5 knots and we had to have the current going our way. So for six hours the current goes out and then for six hours it goes in. We made such good time that we were almost four hours too early for the flood tide (or you could say two hours too late for the previous flood tide). We ended up hove-to out on the North Sea for four hours waiting it out. Because we arrived in the evening, we were exhausted and ate a quick dinner and went to bed. Usually when we do an overnighter, we arrive in the morning and have a conflict: take a nap or go out and explore. This time the choice was obvious.
The picture is of the Old Man of Hoy, standing guard, protecting us on our entering. The sky was cloudy all day, as you can see in the photo. We lucked out, just as we went by the setting sun broke through the clouds and gave the scene a rosy glow.