Oa speak no evil

As we paddled the west coast of the Mull of Oa under the steady rain, there was no sound apart from the steady hiss of raindrops drops hitting the water. We discovered the reason for the silence when we came to Shhhhh... Rock. It has a wonderful window or natural arch.


The rivers, fed by the rain, were cascading over the cliffs and...


... tumbling straight into the sea like this waterfall on, the Abhainn Alt Astail.


We now entered a small bay with a group of incredible caves clustered round its head. Until now the rock scenery of the west coast of Islay's Mull of Oa had been dominated by stacks, now it was the turn of caves.


A waterfall was pouring down through a crack in the roof of this cave.

The most southerly Gargoyles in all of the Hebrides

It was pouring with rain when we left the beach below Lower Killeyan.


The mist came right in and obscured the far side of Loch Indaal, leaving the dark shapes of the stacks isolated from the rest of the landscape.


It was an eerie feeling to be paddling in such an isolated environment as we lost sight of each other in the vonvoluted rocky channels between the cliffs and stacks.


From the headland north of the beach we looked northwards to a series of bold headlands, one after the other, culminating in Dun Mor Ghil in the distance.


A little later, we looked back, from just south of Dun Mor Ghil, to the monument on the now distant Mull of Oa which still towered above the intervening sea stacks.


Rocky gargoyles looked down on us from the rain soaked heights of Dun Mor Ghil.


Back at sea level, partially submerged rocks betrayed the strength of the current in these parts, indeed, some of the headlands required a determined effort to pass.

It might have been raining, but we knew we were in sea kayaking heaven, here on Islay's Oa peninsula, the most southerly point in all of the Hebrides.

Oa what a paradise!

After our long paddle round the Oa peninsula, it was a great relief to find this small sliver of sand in a gap between the unrelenting dark rocks below Lower Killeyan farm.


In this little piece of paradise, we enjoyed a well deserved luncheon on the flat rocks next to the kayaks. Misha and Jennifer then went off to explore the cliffs to the south of the beach. They found a lean-to bothy near the mouth of a cave. Unfortunately a goat had chosen it as its last resting place, which somewhat diminished its attractiveness as a shelter from the rain that started to fall. You can see more of Misha's B&W photos from this trip over on his blog.


I decided to stay where I was and hobbled round trying to get...


...a nice photo of this stunning beach on the west coast of the Mull of Oa.


Despite the clouds and rain I think this beach is one the best we have found anywhere on our travels.

The surf forecast for the day was 3.5 to 4 feet and I had been concerned, in case we were going to have a difficult landing here. Fortunately the bay is screened by many stacks and islands and the strong current that runs to the south, between them, stopped the swells entering the bay. Given the strong currents, this would not be the ideal bay for some sea swimming!

A glimpse of distant white shell sand promised a break.

Below the Mull of Oa the tide carried us at 11km/hr. It was pleasant not to be paddling but we needed to break out north along the west side of the Mull of Oa.


This was harder than it appeared as a significant eddy was running south down the west side against where we wanted to go. Where the two currents met, there were considerable overfalls but 2 or three minutes of stiff paddling (PLF) saw us through and on our way north. Our speed over the ground had dropped to 2km/hr so the adverse current north of the point was probably about 7km/hr. For the next 3.5 km we were to face an adverse current of about 3km/hr though it was significantly more off the headlands.


The dramatic pointed stack at the end of Rubha Leac nan Laogh is in the foreground with the bold headland of Rubha Leacan Banaig at the far side of the curving bay.


At Rubha Leacan Banaig the sedimentary nature of the rocks of the Mull of Oa can be clearly seen. These are of the Appin group of Dalriadan rocks. 260 million years ago Islay was part of a desert, which became flooded by a shallow tropical sea. These layers were then laid down in the sea bed and are formed of sediment washed into the sea in rivers from surrounding land.


The west side of the Oa is littered with a series of large and small sea stacks. The larger ones are big enough to be islands.


Those sea kayakers who like to circumnavigate Islay as quickly as possible, miss this out by taking the direct route to the Rhinns across the mouth of Loch Indaal. They really should make a point of returning as this is one of the finest pieces of coast I have seen on Scotland's west coast and Hebrides.


By now we had been paddling for 3 hours and 22 minutes without a stop.


We entered a bay sheltered by offshore stacks.


The line of cliffs to our right came to a temporary end being replaced by grassy slopes and a glimpse of distant white shell sand promised a break.

Sea kayaking desktop wallpaper calendar, May 2010

May. A tricky landing, Portandea, Firth of Clyde.

The seakayakphoto.com May desktop wallpaper calendar is now available for download here.

Going with the flow, round the Mull of Oa!

The dolphins eventually got bored with us and headed off to the main race, which was now a distance offshore. For the first time we saw the still distant Mull of Oa itself, capped by its prominent monument.


To the east of Sgeirean Buidhe there had been surprisingly little current but, as we approached the rocks at the foot of the point, our speed accelerated and we were blasted through a gap in the reef. Needless to say my camera was put away! The water was damming up on the east side and there was a distinct slope down to the west. By staying in close, we avoided the really confused part of the race that ran in a westerly direction from the point. We were here at 11:55, just 24 minutes after predicted slack water. I have no doubt that the flow inshore turns at least an hour before the main flow further offshore. If it was just a counter eddy, I would not have expected much movement so close to slack water.


Once beyond Sgeirean Buidhe we were again out of the main race.


The foot of this great blade of rock is riddled with caves and rock arches.


We were now approaching the Mull of Oa itself. Again, the current picked up on our approach.


We whistled past the rocks below the American Monument. It was erected in 1920 to commemorate American service men who had lost their lives when two troop ships sank off the Oa in WW1.

The inscription on the monument reads:

Sacred to the Immortal Memory of those American Soldiers and Sailors Who Gave Their Lives for Their Country in the Wrecks of the Transports 'Tuscania' and 'Otranto' February 5th 1918 - October 6th 1918

This Monument was Erected by The American National Red Cross near the spot where so many of The Victims of The Disasters Sleep in Everlasting Peace

On Fame's Eternal camping ground
Their silent tents are spread
While Glory keeps with solemn round
The bivouac of the dead



The race off the Mull of Oa was bouncy rather than confused and once through it, we entered a broad but smooth stream of water moving at 10km/hr towards the distant Rhinns of Islay race, on the other side of Loch Indaal. Our next task was to break out of this stream and start making our way up the incomparable west coast of the Oa peninsula.

Sea kayaking with dolphins at the Mull of Oa

Beneath the great rock fin of Sgeirean Bhuidhe at the Mull of Oa, a dorsal fin broke the surface of the sea.


In this wild place we were the sole witnesses...


...of an amazing display by a pair of bottlenose dolphins.


Sadly both were scarred...


...by small high rpm propellers. I have reported this siting to the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust. I hope they will be able to identify these individuals.


Their past experience did not put them off entertaining us.


Their party trick was bring up rocks with kelp roots in their beaks...


...tossing them in the air then whacking them with their tails.


They dived beneath each of us in turn and they surfaced so close that we could have touched them. Clearly they were very curious about sea kayaks. I don't suppose they see much mid week winter sea kayaking in these parts! I am pretty sure that we have seen these particular dolphins before, off the southern end of Shuna and to the east of Cara.


Just amazing!

PS there are more dolphin photos over on Misha Somerville's blog. In one of Misha's photos there are three dolphins though I thought there were only two!