Tides and otters in the Sound of Jura.

We arrived at Carsaig Bay just as the sun was coming up. It was high water and all looked calm. The bay is a sheltered inlet off the Sound of Jura but across its mouth the waters surge back and forwards through the Dorus Mor and the Corryvreckan tide races at speeds of 4 to 9 knots. It is very helpful to consult a set of tide tables before launching here, unless one is prepared to enjoy a magical mystery tour to these two most interesting of sea kayaking destinations.


As it was, the ebb had just started and we were carried south to a group of most attractive islands. Here we are in the sheltered narrow channel between Eilean Traighe and Eilean Dubh.


Further on, the tide was running strongly through the channel between Eilean Fraoch and Eilean nan Coinean as we ferried across the narrow gap between them.


It was very pleasant having tidal assistance as we made our way down the rocky shore of the Sound of Jura at a steady 7-8km/hr with only light paddling.


As we neared the point of Rubha na Cille, we caught our first sight of our destination on the horizon, the MacCormaig Islands. We also spotted a disturbance in the water ahead. It was two young otters playing a pretty violent looking game of tag with one another. They were not particularly bothered by our presence!

02/01/2009

Catching the 08:15 for the MacCormaig Islands

Powerful spring tides drew us towards the inaccessible MacCormaig Islands. These tiny scraps of land, torn from the lands of Knapdale, are isolated by the swirling waters of the Sound of Jura.

Today we also had biting cold easterly winds which numbed our fingers.


We used the 08:15 ebb tide to carry us from Carsaig Bay down to the MacCormaigs. We then used the flood to carry us home. We covered 35km and, with tidal assistance, arrived home before dark, the first time in a while!

02/01/2009

Sea kayaking desktop wallpaper calendar 2009

I wish a very Happy New Year to all visitors to seakayakphoto.com. As way of a celebration of the last year and in anticipation of sea kayaking adventures yet to come, here is the 5th annual sea kayaking desktop wallpaper calendar from seakayakphoto.com.


January, winter sunset off the Mull of Galloway.


February, crossing from Bute to Arran with a great view of the hills of Glen Sannox.



March, the distant outline of Arran from Culzean Bay, on the Carrick coast of Ayrshire.


April, Geoda Tobha, Pabaigh Mor, Loch Rog, Lewis.


May, approaching stacs Soay and Biorach in the Hirta Soay gap, St Kilda.


June, the Stac Lee gannet colony with Hirta and Soay in the distance, St Kilda.


July, the Caolas Scarp, between Scarp and Harris.


August, the lonely bothy, Islay.


September, an elephant emerges from the mist, Sanda, Mull of Kintyre.


October, the Great Race in the Gulf of Corryvreckan between Scarba and Jura.


November, the Sgurr of Eigg from the Sound of Arisaig.


December,mid winter sunset behind Ailsa Craig from the Dunure Skerries, Firth of Clyde.


This shows the locations of the photos in the 2009 calendar. We were very lucky to get round so many truly great sea kayaking places on the west coast!

The calendar is available for download here and is available in the four most common screen resolutions used by visitors to this site. New this year is the replacement of 800x600 by 1024x600, the rise of the netbook!

Ebb tide in the Lynn of Lorn

Although the sun was now shining on the Morven summits the Appin shore was still gripped by frost and shade. The Sgeir Bhuidhe lighthouse lies just offshore. It was built at the end of the 19th century but by 2001 was badly in need of replacement. The Northern Lighthouse Board were originally going to replace it with a standard rectangular structure but fortunately sense prevailed and the replacement was modelled on the old structure. The light has two flashes every seven seconds with white and red sectors. The original lantern is now on display in the village.


Jennifer and I ferry glided out into the ebb tide in the Lynn of Lorn. The 5km/hr current soon carried us away down the Lynn leaving the little Isle of Shuna far behind. Note that there is another Shuna 42km further SSW, to the east of Luing.


Alan and Tony were still in the shade as early morning mist hung over the wooded shores of Appin.


Then at last the sun cleared the hills and David and Phil were left blinking in its strong light. With a fair tide we were now off on our 37 km circumnavigation of Lismore.

27/12/2008

Port Appin dawn

Port Appin is a sleepy little village which nestles below the mountains of Appin which seperate Loch leven and Loch Creran on Argyll's rugged west coast. Port Appin was never a fishing port but it served as a stopping point in the 19th century for steamers travelling between Glasgow and Edinburgh via the Crinan and Caledonian canals.


Today it serves two small ferries. This is the Lismore which carries foot passengers across the Lynn of Lorn to the beautiful island of Lismore. In Gaelic, Lismore means the big garden. It is more fertile than many of the Scottish islands because of the presence of limestone rock. From 1800 till 1934 this was quarried and heated in lime kilns to produce lime for agriculture on the west coast and building in Glasgow.

The quarrying tradition in these parts started again in 1986 when the Glensanda quarry opened. It is one of Europe's biggest quarries and its granite rock was used to make the channel tunnel. Glensanda quarry is removing an entire mountain, Meall na Easaiche, on the Morven coast on the far side of Loch Linnhe, beyond Lismore. It is situated just behind the mountains in the sunshine in the photo above. Another ferry carries local workers from Port Appin across Loch Linnhe to Glensanda.


We were bound for a circumnavigation of Lismore and also chose to launch from Port Appin. We carried the boats over frost covered seaweed in the predawn light. Although we were still in freezing shade, there was a lovely pink glow in the sky reflected from the tops of the high mountains which were already in sunshine.


We planned a clockwise circumnavigation. It is 37 km and we knew that it would be dark before we finished as sunset would be about 15:34.

On 27/12/2008 HW Oban was at 05:35 and 17:49. The tidal constant at Port Appin is -00:05 Oban. It was one day before springs.

At the Lynn of Lorn south end (1 knot springs), the ebb (SW) starts at -01:40 Oban which was 16:09 on our trip. The flow (NE) starts at +04:45 Oban which was 10:20.

At the Lynn of Lorn north end (2.5 knots springs), the ebb (SW) starts at -00:15 Oban which was 17:35. The flow NE starts at +06:00 Oban which was 11:35.

On the NE going flood an eddy runs SW from the islands along the SE coast of Lismore so we reckoned we would have tidal assistance for most of the day.

27/12/2008

Less is more!

This is another post for the benefit of our Canadian friends, who might have had their illusions of sunny and calm Scottish seas shattered by the recent series on the Mull of Galloway. Relax, here we are enjoying our second of three luncheons in balmy December conditions!

Some of the staff at seakayakphoto were concerned about the effects of Christmas overindulgences on our 24 pack abdomens thus affecting the tailored fit of our dry suits.

Alan, Tony, David, Phil and Jennifer.


We set off at sunrise on a little 37 km jaunt. Unfortunately all this exercise made us rather hungry.


We paddled well past sunset into the darkness. We might not have lost any weight but what a fantastic day!

27/12/2008

Portencross Castle to Little Cumbrae island.

We set off from near Portencross Castle on the North Ayrshire coast. Our plan was to cross to Little Cumbrae island then over to the south end of the island of Bute.


Grey clouds hung low overhead but in the distance, behind David and Phil in the double, the horizon was sunlit from the south Ayrhire coast to Ailsa Craig and Arran.


We soon crossed the shipping lane and made for Gull Point at the south end of Little Cumbrae. We followed in the wake of a yacht with a traditional gaff rig. She had her topsail set in the light wind.

14/12/2008

Port Logan Inn

Leaving the Mull of Galloway we drove north to where we had left the shuttle car. We were bound for Port Logan on the west coast of the Rhinns of Galloway. The cars were shaking in the car park as we looked out to the windswept sea.


We had driven right past the Port Logan Inn. This is a truly convenient sea kayaking pub. You can paddle up to within a few yards of the door and in summer sit at the outdoor tables and watch the sun go down behind the now empty stone tower of its former lighthouse.


There was a decided nip in the air so we decided to make use of the interior facilities. A roaring fire greeted us and we were soon ensconced within its circle of warmth. The barman said:

"Sorry you didn't get out lads."

"Oh but we did!"

"Where on earth did you get shelter on a day like this?"

"We just nipped round the Mull of Galloway."

"The Mull? The Mull o Gallowa? Yerra right pair o' eejits!"

"Maybe so barman, but we're thirsty eejits!"

Fortunately the Port Logan Inn is stocked with a very extensive and fine range of refreshing liquids. Indeed, if you ask very nicely, a bottle of Fraoch Leann might even be produced from under the counter!

All in all, the Port Logan Inn meets the very highest standards required to be called a sea kayaking pub!

15/12/2008

The spell of the nine tides!

The complex tide races of the Mull of Galloway change by the minute and can catch out even experienced sailors. Many years ago a Galloway witch sought to undo the good work of the fairies of the cave who looked after sailors in peril. She had been spurned by a particular sailor so she spun a spell that wove nine tides to entrap him at the Mull.


But the sailor heard about her spell and, from that day onwards, he always pulled his boat over the Tarbet and avoided the Mull. He was never caught but the spell of the nine tides is still in place today.

15/12/2008

A drink made from some unknown kind of fog!

The foggy ramparts of the Mull of Galloway were the scene of the final battle between the Scots and the last of the Picts of Galloway. The Picts had managed to repel successive waves of invaders including the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons. How could this warrior race have been defeated by the Scots? One reason for their down fall may have been their secret brew! A Scots historian wrote: "The Picts brewed some awful grand drink they ca't (called) Fraoch Leann from heather and some unknown kind of fog". The Scots king coveted the recipe for this heather ale and was determined to get it from the last surviving Picts.


The Scottish writer, Robert Louis Stephenson, was the grandson of George Stephenson, who had built the Mull of Galloway lighthouse in 1830. R.L. Stephenson had visited Galloway on a walking tour and had heard of the legend of heather ale. He composed a poem based on the story called “Heather Ale: A Galloway Legend”. In it he has a pretty good idea of what led to the Picts’ downfall.

“They brewed it and they drank it,
And lay in blessed swound,
For days and days together,
In their dwellings underground.”

After the battle, the king of the Scots tortured an old man and his son, who were the last two survivors of the battle. The king said he would spare one of them, if he was told the recipe for Fraoch Leann. The old man knew they were both doomed and blurted out, “Spare me, and I will tell you!” So the son was thrown into the sea below the Mull.



The king again demanded the recipe but the old man said, “I feared my son might tell you to spare me”. R.L.S. continues the story:

“But now in vain is the torture,
Fire shall not avail:
Here dies in my bosom
The secret of the Heather Ale."

The old man leaped over the cliff after his son and the Galloway Picts and Fraoch Leann were apparently no more....

15/12/2008

End of the road: the Mull of Galloway tide race.

After we reloaded the kayaks onto the car, we drove to the road end at the Mull of Galloway, the southernmost tip of Scotland.


Looking east on the spring ebb tide you can see the main race comes very close to the east end of the Mull but it then heads SW, out to sea, leaving most of the cliffs below the Mull standing in a relatively flat eddy.


This is the spring ebb race running against a force 4 to 6 SW wind.


Looking south towards the Isle of Man over the ebb race.


Looking west, the ebb race is well offshore...but the water round Gallie Craig is not exactly flat.


To give an idea of the scale this is Gallie Craig from the sea looking east towards the lighthouse! (17/02/2008)


The above photos show the ebb race. The flood race come much closer to the cliffs than the ebb. We went through against the flood tide, 2 hours from slack water at springs. This photo (in a similar wind to that which we experienced) shows the water state below the fog horn, 2 hours from slack water at neaps. It gives an idea of what we met. We found more broken water and the conditions persisted without a break for 2km! To give some idea of scale, the photo was taken from a height of 71m. (28/12/06)


Going east to west, on the west going ebb you have only a short 100m or so of race to cross at the east end of the Mull. After this you enter a large relatively flat eddy which extends right to the west end of the Mull and beyond.

Going east to west on an east going flood as we did, even in close to the rocks, you are much closer to the main race. From the light house you have to fight adverse currents at each headland. The red arrow highlights a submarine reef which throws up standing waves especially on the flood.

What a fun place! No wonder several legends attach to this place.....

PS Of course most people would have driven up to the road end at the top of the cliffs and looked at the race before they paddled it. Many would have decided that one look was enough! The trick with this type of paddling is not to look first! We didn't, but of course I am not recommending this ostrich type of approach to planning sea kayaking expeditions! In truth I knew exactly what it would look like as I have gazed down on the race in many different conditions but not paddled it afterwards.

15/12/2008