Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland

It was nice and calm this morning so I decided to delay my departure slightly and see if I could get bottle of whisky.
My good friend Donal O'Driscoll would be distraught if he knew there wasn't a bottle of whiskey aboard Eureka. Port doesn't really do it for most sailors. Mind you it would have to be Irish.
The distillery had been closed when I went ashore yesterday so fingers crossed for better luck this time.

At 10.30 I went ashore and this time the open sign was up on the door.
After tasting a few different samples , I bought a bottle of 'The Sound' which had only the barest hint of peat in the taste unlike many others Scottish whiskys . Unfortunally the bottle is the wrong shape for Eureka drinks cabinet but I wouldn't want to spoil the crew anyway. I'll bring it home for a tibble on special occasions. (It lasted to October 2023)

Seeing that I was ashore and the weather was nice, I decided to walk along the shore by a terrace of houses and went as far as the cemetery which was a bit future than I expected.
Why, I hear you ask? Just because it was signposted I wanted to be able to say I had a half decent looks around this part of Jura.
I returned to the jetty, stopping off at the shop to get a few things and to pay for the mooring.

Back onboard I got ready for sea and left the mooring at 13.40.
Yes I know, I should have left at 12.00 but you should never rush these things.

I hoisted the main before leaving the harbour and quickly saw that one of the batten cars was not attached to the mast. Back down came the sail as Eureka motored around in circles in the harbour and I soon had it back up again.
Hoisting heavy sails more than once a day is a great way to keep fit.

Once I was outside the harbour I unfurled the genny and picked up a nice breeze.
I sailed down most of the Mull of Kintyre on a reach cutting through the water at 6 plus knots with at least another knot of tide doing my way.

When I reached the traffic separation the only vessel in sight was a yacht sailing in the opposite direction to me and I quickly crossed to the Northern Ireland side of the channel.
I left Kintyre behind by 19.00 and was almost at Glenarm at 22.00.
I had already decided to keep going and hopefully do an overnight sail as I still felt rested and alert.
Unfortunally around this time the wind died and I had to drop the sails and motor for the rest of the night.

At midnight off Larne I was surprised by a ferry that left the harbour with very few lights.
It was only when I noticed a few moving lights and a dark shadow against the background of all the lights ashore that I saw it for what it was. It crossed about two miles ahead of me. A bit close for comfort but I had been keeping a good lookout as I was expecting ferry traffic crossing to and from Scotland from Larne. It had been busy as I was heading north and I expecting the same on the way south.
Normally ferry are lit up like Christmas trees, why this one was different is anybody's guess.Read more