Repairs, Exploring & Provisioning .

After breakfast I checked the forecasts for tomorrow. Roy and I had decided over dinner last night that we would head for Tobermory on the island of Mull once the weather improved.
Having checked the tides it looked like a departure after 14.00 tomorrow would give us most of a favourable tide without arriving too late.

The wind had dropped overnight and was now Force 3 to 5 and more importantly it had stopped raining.
I found a manual for my furling gear and set about getting it working properly again which wasn't too difficult but did require a little dismantling.

Once I had finished, I decided to explore the island and walked up to the monument to David Hutcheson erected in 1883.
He was a pioneer of steam powered ferries in the west of Scotland and opened up the coast and the islands for the shipping of goods, passengers and tourism.
His company later became 'Hutcheson & Macbrayne' which is today's 'Caladonian MacBrayne' and still operates in the west of Scotland
He is also responsible for Oban growing from a village into an important town. Having died in 1880 an obelisk was erected on Kerrera in his memory.

Oban Bay was a base for Short Sutherland seaplanes during WW2 and on the island are still some delict military installations and south of the marina is a wide slip and a metal structure that had been used by the planes.

The island didn't have an awful lot to offer but I enjoyed stretching the legs and in the afternoon I again got the ferry across to Oban and visited the town's museum and stocked up in Tesco.

Heading back to the quay for my return journey I found Roy and Patricia waiting for the same ferry.
We decided to have dinner together later with friends of Roy. Herbie and his wife who sail a Hallberg Rassy 42 from Roy's home post of Carrickfergus and I returned to Eureka to spend the rest of the afternoon getting her ready for tomorrow.

We had a nice evening in 'The Waypoint' where I found Herbie has a very dry sense of humour which could go over your head unless you were paying attention.
We planned a departure at 14.30 tomorrow for Tobermory and I stopped for a coffee on Roy's boat on the way back to Eureka.Read more