East meets west at Fidden, sheng fui at sunset

 It did not take long to paddle back to Fidden from the maze of the Moai of Mull and...

 ...soon we had both kayaks and F-Rib above the HW mark in good time before...

 ...the sun started to go down.

 It did not take long to get dinner on and Ian shared...

 ...a most delicious venison stew and new potatoes with Donald and myself.

 The sun going down...

 ...beyond the Fidden reefs and...

 ....the Sound of Iona.

Once the sun had set we set about lighting a fire on the beach (we brought our own logs). Just as a few midges began to bite a strong NE wind got up kept them away and helped the fire get going. We were rather pleased with the sheng fui arrangement of our dark sports recovery drinks on the white sands of Fidden..

We swapped tales long into the night as the moon followed the arc already taken by the sun. The drumming call of a snipe echoed round the rocks as it flew overhead.. What a day it had been!

The secret beach at the centre of the marvellous maze of the Moai of Mull.

Once we left the shelter of Balfour's Bay we were soon back in the wind. Donald in the F-Rib went on ahead as we were going to be  exploring some shallow channels.

 It did not take long to reach the maze of islands and reefs of the west coast of Erraid.

 It really is a maze and I had to reassure the others that we were on the right track and there would be a stunning secret beach at the end of it.

 I knew I was on the right track when I spotted the guardian of the beach, one of the Moai of Mull (I had been this way before back in 2007).

 A couple more corners and there it was, the secret beach of the Moai of Mull. As the sun dipped towards Iona in the west our long shadows moved over the bottom of the sandy bay as we...

 ...slid into land on the strip of white shell sand.

 We set off in different directions to explore...

 ...the natural amphitheatre  of pink rocks.

We were grateful our kayaks had allowed us to explore this wonderful spot. But do not feel sorry for Donald in the F-Rib, he was off to the other side of the Sound of Iona exploring the Iona coastline/

 Ian and I climbed to a rocky knoll and surveyed the maze of the Moai of Mull we had just paddled through.

The sea pink looked marvellous against the pink granite rocks.

 Lengthening shadows of sea shells on the sand meant it was time to...

...return to the boats, if we wanted to find our way out of the maze in daylight.