Nice and safe in a loch on the west coast of Jura, we wait for the bad weather to go away and take advantage of the stopover to go for a walk, read and rest.
The plants which are usually ochre by the end of winter are currently going through their spring mutation and progressively turning into green. The ferns unfold gradually, and entire fields of blue flowers form a decorative patch under the horizon. The barnacle geese and the terns also make a stop with us in this loch and add to this sound landscape with the cries of the pheasants, the back and forth of the deer, the cormorants, the otters and the singing cuckoo. Bestowed with two bothies (unguarded refuges), this loch is also heaven for hikers who leave with just a tent and backpack from Craighouse harbour, the only village where the ferry calls at. Among a few hiking ideas for next time, we will keep in mind the Three Paps, the three main peaks of the island that are Beinn an Òir (the gold mountain in Gaelic, 785 m), Beinn Shiantaidh (the sacred mountain in Gaelic, 755 m) and Beinn a’ Chaolais (the mountain of the Strait in Gaelic, 734 m). As for the pronunciation, well, we’ll leave it to you!
After this stopover, we resumed our route northbound. Our main goal was to anchor in a loch south of the isle of Mull, but the wind chose a different direction, and we eventually decided to change course and get closer to a mythical place, and not just for the sailors: Corryvreckan.
At the end of the afternoon, sail still raised, (NE wind scale 6 and choppy sea) and after checking the tide schedule three times and reading pretty much all the information around us (!), we slowly navigated towards the Strait and carried out, despite crossed currents, small swirls and other swells, towards the only mooring place of North Jura: Bagh Gleann nam Muc (The Pigs Bay).
The good weather conditions and the still are giving all of us time to imagine the same route under bad weather. The mooring at night was as peaceful as could be, after this beautiful sunset, safe from the wind.
The bad reputation of this Strait, approximately one nautical mile long, can be explained by several factors:
The shape of the bottoms: just imagine a great canyon under water and put a column in it (like finally reaching the top of Dibona for the mountain hikers who are reading this), which suddenly deepens the area from 50 to 220 m, into … 29m. This is where “eddies” or swirls are created, making Corryvreckan cave the 3rd biggest maelstrom in the world.
The impacts of the tides: you need to add the strong tide currents in this area as it is directly facing the Atlantic Ocean. The current can reach up to 8 knots, so if you don’t run the numbers correctly, on top of not going where you planned to, you might end up further than your starting point.
The impacts of the wind: if a wind blowing contrary to the current is added to the impacts of the tide, then it’s even worse because on top of not going forward (at best) or going backward (most probably the case), you will face waves going over 9 metres, and then, yay, you won your ticket on the Milagro, and you can tell us about it all in details !
And finally, as featured in pop culture and literature, stories of this place don’t usually omen anything good if the numbers aren’t run correctly. Here are a few examples: the grunting noise of the cave could be heard at more than 10 kms at worst times; for those who read Jules Verne, a quick look into Rayon Vert will transport you into this place just for a chapter; times and times again in history, the locals are said to have encouraged the enemy ships to come to this place to have them disappeared; and then the time when George Orwell navigated over here just before finishing 1984, his masterpiece, only a few metres from the Strait: Barnhill located on the east coast of Jura.
To sum it all, as you may have gathered, we have studied the matter a little bit before deciding to go ahead, and it is with even bigger precautions than the day before that we raised sail early in the morning and engaged into the crossing from west to east. The conditions were good and as anticipated, the main swirls fairly active on the northern side of the Strait. We were supposedly at the right time of the tide, and yet the crossing currents, at times, imposed the route to the Milagro and its 45 tons. Far away from any danger and far from going at full speed as a way to systematically struggle against it, it was quite fascinating to feel these movements (but also quite stressful for the helmsman). The murres were swept away by the current yet seemed happy to travel without any effort, sometimes plunging their neck in to catch passing food. From each side, the landscape showed cruel conditions: peeled off rock tainted with lichens and herbs and absolutely no grove of trees. It was only when we left that a small house perched on top of Scarba island appeared port side. Our decision was made: come back and experiment it under bad weather while sheltered inside the ship.
A few photos of this crossing under the sun and changing lights:
After stopping at Craobh Haven harbour, we head towards Loch Melfort, where Damien will see Kames Fish Farm fishing farm again.
