After two years of plans being limited by Covid restrictions it was great to start the 2022 sailing season with an exciting list of cruising possibilities.
Having retired from the yacht charter industry during the pandemic my husband, Mark, and myself were able to plan a five-week trip on our Jeanneau SO 419 Discoverer of Sleat, which included sailing to some of the bays in Anglesey where he’d enjoyed sailing with his father as a child.
As we’re based on the Isle of Skye this voyage required quite a bit of planning. Fortunately, a friend kindly lent us most of the charts, tide tables and pilot books required for the area which saved us from buying a selection of charts that might not get used again.
The main restraints on our plans were the combination of Brexit and having a dog! The dog – Islay the Labrador – put a limit on the length of passage per day we could plan and, in spite of having the correct certificates, she could only get into Ireland at an official Port of Entry and these don’t include marinas.
After some research, we found that Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man were quite straightforward for dogs.
Setting sail
The trip began well as the weather was fine and it was possible to set off south on 1 June 2022 as planned.
This was a pleasant motor down to the Isle of Muck where we anchored at Port Mhor for the night. The next day took us to Loch Aline to anchor there and then on to Kerrera Marina where we stopped for two nights for prearranged Platinum Jubilee celebrations which took place in stunning sunshine.
The following day saw us begin our ‘real’ trip and it was an early start to catch the tide south through the Sound of Luing. It was still beautiful sunshine but almost no wind so we motored nearly all the way to Craighouse, Jura.
There are plenty of moorings there but they seem to suffer from a slight swell coming round the corner into the bay so although it was calm that evening the moorings were slightly uncomfortable. This was compensated for by a lovely sunset, though.
A look at the weather and the tides made us decide to get up promptly again and head straight for Rathlin Island rather than stopping at Islay on the way.
