Lybster Bay

Rob and Wild Bill, are leaving the boat today, Bills done a great job on getting us across the the North Sea and making sure we kept up with our wine drinking schedule. Several good nights out in Lerwick during the tall ships regatta. Robs Norwegian fishing jumper seems to have a strange affect on the locals.
Adrian will arrive tommorow and the plan is to make a hop to Fair isle. No wind on the forecast. So we motor all of the way. 40 miles. On arrival we raft up to a Dutch Ovni 385. With 4 Dutchmen who were on the return trip from Iceland, so many people doing so much adventure sailing in these parts. The local fishing boat returned from his day at see and gave us Yachting’s a basket of fish as a gift. In the basket was 4lb cod 10 decent squid, 4 1lb pollack and some herring. The Dutch boys didn’t look so keen, but we took the pick of the squid and cooked up garlic squid with salte potato’s and and onions on a bed of spinach. op nosh. We then got an invite to the island shin dig in the community hall, this felt like a proper treat being able to participate in such a small communities big night out. There was live music singing and country dancing, we took our own beer, but there was more home made cake than we could eat. We were made to feel very welcome. One thing we noticed as we left, was that we were in our first proper dark night for several months.
Next day 18 knots of wind forecast from the NE and a proper sail was on the cards to get to Kirkwall. But on route we had promised our new Dutch drinking friend that we would take a few photos of them sailing. Job done we pulled out the Genoa and went into sail trimming mode as we were now racing. (Not sure they new) perfect down wind down tide run to Kirkwall. Pod of almost white Risso Dolphins on route ,very exiting. We even manage to hop across the tidal eddy outside the narrows perfectly to get it going perfectly in the right direction. Into Kirkwall for 3pm. But the days adventures were not up yet. Firstly the harbour master said go to the east basin and find your own spot. We blindly headed into the east basin with an 18knt breeze following us. Assuming there would be plenty of space. There wasn’t. Big boat no bow thruster could turn round in the marina lane as it wasn’t wide enough, shallow water all around. This was going to be a game. After a couple of failed attempts to get hooked onto a small bit of dock and another couple of attempts to turn round. A nice yachty came onto the dock and said there’s an a spot down the next lane thats easy to get into. ( I should not have listened) in desperation I decided to follow his plan. As it turned out the lane was 1 metre deep and the spot was 2 feet long than the boat in the corner tightly between 2 boats. The keel hit the mud on the way in so we lifted it and the rudder. Steering now very compromised. We we committed and after a wriggle we were in. And tied up. When the old harbour master called along later”how did yo get that in there” followed by “how you gonna get that out of there” That’s a problem for tomorrow. While paying said harbour master. Adrian asked if he new Andy the vet as we wanted to catch him for a drink. “ yes of coarse he’s my next door neighbour” of coarse he is. 30 minutes later we walked home with the harbour master who dropped us at Andy’s house.
After drinking beer and whisky for 3 hours and catching up on Orkney gossip is was time to stagger home, Andy and his wife great impromptu hosts. The following day sailing forecast was still good 18 to 20 knots NE, but first we had to get out of the hole we had parked in, we decided to let the tide fill in and planned to leave at 10am. With ropes springs and a few extra hands we managed to wriggle and spin the boat on the wind without hitting anything we were off and heading for Kirk sound to wait for the tide to cross alongside Pentland Firth. It is springs today so no getting it wrong. We had a nice sail about 30 miles and saw plenty of wildlife. We even managed to sail gently onto anchor for the night. The sky cleared and the sea glassed off. Perfect evening . Tomorrow was looking like a long motor.
Up at 7am for 2 hours of motoring to the most northerly part of Pentland. We arrived exactly as the flow turned east. Plenty of dolphins Seals and porpoise fishing in the fast moving water. Afer an hour of motoring south in the flat water we could sea clearly the standing waves of the firth,they were 4 miles away and they were very big. Not a ride I fancy taking. Once clear of the firth we witness Skuas trying to drown Gannets and unknown hawks trying to pick Fulmars out of the air. Quite a spectacle.
Libster, What a cute spot. It has the feel of an old Cornish fishing port. It use to have 100 boats and now has 5 part time fisherman. Something of a heritage port with a history of big Herring money. The town up the hill was poor the pub was rough but very friendly. And the fisherman were free with there knowledge and story telling. All in all a great spot to have nights rest in settled weather.
After borrowing a few big fenders off the quay we got ourselves secure. This was the first time I had had to manage big tides for a while.
Early start tomorrow. The Canal awaits.Read more