A paddle sailing epiphany on the way to Morar.

On leaving the Arisaig skerries the wind veered to the SW about F3-4. We now faced the joy of a 7km downwind paddle back to the mouth of Morar Bay.

This was payback time for our hard upwind paddle earlier in the day.

It was on this run that Ian experienced his paddle sailing epiphany. In his own words:

"The major thing for me when considering whether or not to take up sea kayak sailing was that the advantage had to outweigh the faff of rigging a sail and the extra clutter on deck. As a professional seafarer, loose bights of line really trigger my OCD! Safe to say, the advantage (and sheer fun) most definitely does outweigh the faff/clutter. Oh, and don't listen to anyone claiming that sea-kayak sailing is somehow "cheating" (cheating what exactly?!) - these will likely be the same folk who buy a kayak with hull speed as a major consideration....."

Well Ian took to paddle sailing like a duck to water and we covered the 7km in just over 45 minutes. All toosoon we passed the headland at the mouth of Morar Bay and...

..entered the sheltered waters within.

It was nearly the end of our four day trip round the lands of Moidart and the Arisaig skerries. We paddled slowly up Morar Bay which was backed by mysterious mountains disappearing into the mist.

Our trip ended on the white sands of Morar.

56.9 degrees North, the coral sands and the green lagoon of Arisaig.

We now entered the calm water inside the Arisaig skerries. The flood tide was now pushing us in augmenting the pull of the sails.

We decided to stop for third luncheon on a little tidal beach of coral sand on Eilean an Fhraoich Beag, which had a view over...

 ...the lagoon to Luinga Mhor.

The coral is made up of the  bleached skeletons of the red algae, Lithothamnium calcareum.

It did not take long to get the stoves and flasks out.

 Then we were off  again, threading through the maze of skerries and the...

...crystal clear, green waters of the Arisaig lagoon.

A cold, grey winter day round the Arisaig skerries.

After hugging the Arisaig shore to get out of the cold SE wind we  paddled out round...

...Eilean Ighe before...

...crossing the North Channel of Loch Nan Ceall. We passed Fraoch Geal (White Heather) CY67 as she was lifting her pots.

We now entered the maze of the Arisaig skerries and promptly stopped on a white shell sand beach on Luinga Beag for a quick second luncheon before paddling on...

...past basking seals towards the...

...open sea through a narrow channel on Luinga Mhor.

We now enjoyed a bouncy ride round the outside of Luinga Mhor. The 5D mk3 stayed firmly in its bag! The extreme wide angle of the GoPro camera tends to flatten the sea. Fortunately Ian (in the kayak behind me) managed to...

Photo by Ian Johnstone

...get this shot which gives a better idea of the conditions!

Luncheon with Local Hero at Camasdarach.

On leaving Morar Bay, we turned south into the Sea of the Hebrides. We passed more white sand beaches but diverted seaward round the black line of Rubh' an Achaid Mhoir which...

 ...we rounded then turned in to the magnificent beach...

 ...at Camasdarach which is backed by some high sand dunes. This beach featured in the film "Local Hero".

As it was spring low water we had plenty of opportunity to explore kelp gardens...

 ...on our way to our first stop at Portnaluchaig.

 We walked over the sands to...

 ...the shelter of some rocks as the  wind was already increasing from the south.

 After our luncheon we left Portnaluchaig and entered another maze of skerries.

Two herring gulls were eating something that was bright red and still wriggling. At the time I thought it was a red gurnard but now I am not so sure.