1 - Ailsa Crag -
2 - Sanda Island -
3 - Holy Isle -
4 - Arran -
5 - Little Cumbrae -
6 - Great Cumbrae -
7 - Inchmarnock -
8 - Jute -
9 - Texa -
10 - Cara -
11 - Gigha - Eilean Garbh is a great anchorage, sheltered from the north if you anchor in the south bay, and from the south if you anchor in the north bay. Both bays have delightful sandy beaches and it is also worth scrambling up to the top of the ‘island’ for the views from Ireland to Islay to Jura and up the sound of Jura to Kintyre with the mountains of Arran beyond, and to watch the CalMac ferry ploughing its way from West Loch Tarbert to Islay, rather close it seems to the rocks off the north end of Gigha.
- East Tarbet Bay is is a less crowded alternative to Ardminish Bay, again in westerly weather. It is surrounded by farmland and just up on the road you will find the so-called giant’s tooth (the aforesaid fellow reputedly lived on Kintyre and got such bad toothache that he pulled out the offending tooth and hurled it over to Gigha!).
- Ardminish Bay ... Most people who have heard of Gigha know about the gardens of Achamore House. It is about a 20 minutes walk from the anchorage in the bay - and very well worth the effort. Certainly the anchorage is a very handy place to regroup and gather strength either just before or just after rounding the Mull of Kintyre. There is a 24 hour washing machine and drier with showers and toilets right by the jetty, the Boathouse café, which has a very good reputation for snacks, lunch and dinner (ph 01583 505123), mooring buoys for visitors, and a shop just up the road. By the landing pontoon are some tiny sandy beaches.
- Cuddyport ... in the right wind conditions this is a lovely spot, quiet, with a couple of small beaches, at least at low tide, and you can easily walk up to Achamore gardens. There is also a bird hide.
12 - Islay - Port Ellen, an early 19th century planned village, may be the easiest place to flee to on the south coast of Islay, and there are a couple of shops for provisions, but I haven’t in the past rated it much as a place to visit - the visitors' moorings used are too far out (in fact they may soon be removed I believe). However, nowadays there are publicly owned non-profit pontoons in easy reach of what shops there are, but there doesn’t seem much in the way of a good eaterie or pub, apart from 'The Islay'.
- Kilnaughton Bay is protected from westerly winds and the Carraig Fhada lighthouse (1932) past which, if you walk on a little are the so-called singing sands, said to be a delightful beach - Traigh Bhan.
- Bowmore is a long sail in, and out of, but worth a visit, maybe most of all for a first class meal – at a price - at the Harbour Inn (ph 01496 810330). The little town is the administrative capital of Islay. It has a better Co-op than Port Ellen, along with a hardware shop, butcher, fish van, a general touristy sort of shop and there is a small launderette. The Lochside Hotel (ph 01496 810244). Not at all a bad anchorage to change crew although Port Ellen is a bit nearer the airport and more convenient for the ferry, but not a place to hang about in.
- Lagavullin ... here is a unique anchorage, if one can understand the sailing directions and get through between the two beacons without touching something. If one does have a wee bump, be reassured that you are not the only one. The anchorage itself is a delightful pool with terns on the rocky islets, views out to the Mull of Kintyre and Ireland. The Islay Marine Centre opened in 2011, in the bay, very convenient for a chandlery, boatyard, visitor moorings and so on. Apparently pontoons will be arriving in 2012, so it will all look a bit different.
- Ardmore Islands ... is a veritable archipelago of little islands and skerries with anchorages that are quite far out from the land but just sit in the cockpit with binoculars, wait and watch - there are always seals around and you can watch oyster catchers, terns, eider duck, shell duck, swans, herons and otters.
- Port Mor, Glas Uig & Aros Bay ... these three anchorages are all very close together.
13 - Jura - Craighouse has 16 moorings, and one can admire the view of the Paps as clouds swirl about their tops or the sun sets behind them. This would not be too bad a place to pick up and drop off crew because there is a passenger ferry from Tayvallich on the mainland in summer. The local stores do good meat and locally made bread.
- Lowlandman's Bay is a bit bleak and not that easy to get ashore because it is all very shallow at the edges and you have to anchor a fair way out. However, the small bay in the south east - Drum an Dunan - is much more cosy and protected with nice woods on the north shore. Loads of seals on the islands just to the south.
- Kinuachdrachd Harbour is a lush bay on the northeast tip of Jura and a lovely quiet spot. There is a small restored pier in the southern corner. The main and rather essential thing to do is to walk 30 minutes south to Barnhill, where George Orwell lived when he was writing Nineteen Eighty Four.
- The last anchorage on the north east coast of Jura, and the very last house too. It must take the owners well over an hour to drive down to Craighouse, in part over an unmetalled road. The most obvious thing to do here is to walk to the north tip of Jura and inspect the Gulf of Corryvreckan before having a go at it by boat. Of course the best time to look (and listen) is in a storm, and the best time to sail through is when it is calm. On the walk you will see deer and rabbits. Around the anchorage there is loads of bird song and in the anchorage there are loads of seals. It seems quite safe notwithstanding the rather unnerving sound of the tide racing by less than 100 metres away; certainly not the place to drag an anchor.
- Port an Tiorbairt is the last anchorage on the north east coast of Jura. To the north the island of Scarba is Jura's closest neighbour separated by the Strait of Corryvreckan with its famous whirlpool. The most obvious thing to do is to walk to the north tip of Jura and inspect the Corryvreckan before having a go at it by boat. Of course the best time to look (and listen) is in a storm, and the best time to sail through is when it is calm. On the walk you will see deer and rabbits. Around the anchorage there is loads of bird song and in the anchorage there are loads of seals. It seems quite safe notwithstanding the rather unnerving sound of the tide racing by less than 100 metres away; certainly not the place to drag an anchor. You can walk from here - down to Barnhill.
14 - Colonsay. Balnahard Bay is protected from the prevailing winds from the west and from the fabulous beach one can admire the view from the Outer Hebrides past Mull and the Firth of Lorne to Jura.
- Kiloran Bay must be one of the best sandy beaches in the Hebrides, but it has to be very calm to get rid of the swell that makes landing tricky from the dinghy.
- Scalasaig & Loch Staosnaig ... there may not seem a lot to choose between these two anchorages, but they are very different ... for convenience and tie up to the pier and roll around with everyone else in the swell that sets into the bay at Scalasaig (and pay for the privilege) or, just around the corner, there is an easy anchorage in Loch Staosnaig (or Queen's Bay) from where it is a fifteen minute walk to the hotel (head up the hill to the right of the signs for the electricity cable). This latter anchorage has a delightful sandy bay with a beach that dries out a long way at low tide, and above half tide it is good for swimming and snorkelling around the tidal islet.
14b ... sort of because Oronsay, at least above low tide, a separate island .... and Scottish Anchorages calls for this to be reserved for a hot summer afternoon or evening - definitely don't come on a bad day because that would be a waste - and if you pick high water there will be very few people around
because they can only walk across from Colonsay itself at low water. The beaches round the anchorage are stunning with plenty of dunes to use as wind shelters and great views of the Paps of Jura. Behind the dunes is one of the best of so many places for Hebridean flowers: tormentil, bog asphodel, birdsfoot trefoil, eye-bright, heathers, orchids
15 - Eilean Macaskin
16 - Eilean Righ
17 - Scarba ... Port nan Urrachann is a little hidey-hole but one not in the sailing directions! It's good for a lunch stop or waiting for the tide at the Corryvreckan, but not so good for swell.
- Bagh Gleann a Mhaoil is a bay but does not have much to offer other than remoteness and a rather broken down cottage. But the walk north to Kilmory Lodge is terrific, high up above the Sound of Luing, almost as though you are in an aeroplane with views across to Mull, Easdale, Luing, Loch Melfort, Shuna, Crinan and Kintyre. A truly spectacular walk. You pick up a Land Rover track just above the cottage and head north up the hill to the right.
The Slate Islands - main ones being Shuna and Lunga. The easiest and most used method to access the Slate Islands is from a minor road from the A816 south of Oban. The minor road is signposted to the Isle of Seil and the Atlantic Bridge, also known as the Clachan Bridge. The bridge itself is a small single-arched bridge crossing the Clachan Sound and connects the Scottish mainland with Seil, the most northerly of the Slate Islands, and is built by Robert Mylne. The Clachan bridge is also known as 'The Bridge over the Atlantic', the Clachan Sound is directly connected to the Atlantic Ocean. The main islands are Seil, Easdale, Luing, Lunga, Shuna, Torsa and Belnahua and can be found roughly between Oban in the north and Jura in the south.
18 - Shuna is mentioned by Haswell-Smith. With the tidal race between nearby Scarba and Lunga, known as the 'Grey Dog' ripping furiously through the sea, the streaming waters are a dramatic visual element in the scenery. The 'Grey Dog' tidal race reaches 8 knots in full flood.
19 - Lunga is also listed by Haswell-Smith. Lunga lies a few miles north of Scarba and is separated from Luing by the fast flowing Sound of Luing. There are numerous islets in the surrounding waters. To the north is the isle of Belnahua and to the north west are Eilean Dubh Mor and the Garvellachs. The highest point on Lunga is Bidean na h-Iolaire (Peak of the Eagle) and the main bay is Camas a Mhor-Fhir (bay of the giant) to the south. All around are smaller skerries and islets and this complexity of land and sea coupled with the strong tides makes these the most treacherous channels on Scotland's west coast.
20 - Eileach an Naoimh (Isle of the Saints) - One of the Garvellach islands - which are also called 'The islands of the sea', a better and more romantic name for this string of small uninhabited islands in the Firth of Lorne. It seems as though the sun always shines on them, but this is simply because one never lands unless the weather is settled. And well worthwhile it is too. The all round views from the top of this isle - the main anchorage - are fantastic, as though you are on the bridge of a ship steaming up the Firth of Lorne (from Ben Nevis to Ben More to Ireland to the Paps of Jura.
21 - Eilean Dubh Mor (i.e. big) and Eilean Dubh Beg (i.e. small) with a great all round view from the top of the big one, which is the more varied of the two - the view goes from the cliffs of Mull, to up the Firth of Lorne, across to Easdale and Cullipool, over Lunga to Luing, across to Scarba, Colonsay in the distance, and finally to the Garvellach islands in the foreground. There always seem to be seals in this anchorage and in the spring you have to avoid treading on the greater black backed gull eggs and chicks.
22 - Garbh Eileach
23 - Iona
24 - Kerrera
25 - Mull
26 - Inch Kenneth (see Samuel Johnson's A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland).
27 - Little Colonsay
28 - Eorsa
29 - Ulva & Geometra (been to Ulva Island off Stewart Island in New Zealand!).
30 - Lunga
31 - Lismore
32 - Tiree
33 - Gunna
34 - Shuna
35 - Coll
36 - Carna
Haswell-Smith denotes Staffa as an appendix - an Islet - as too small to be an Island.37 - Muck
38 - Eigg
39 - Rùm
40 - Canna
There is also a rock in this group called Hyskeir (Oigh-Sgeir), which lies in the southern entrance to The Minch, 10 kilometres southwest of the island of Canna and 14 kilometres west of Rùm. Garbh Sgeir is a rock that lies next to the islet and the landing place for Hyskeir lies in the channel between the two. Both islands are unoccupied. Oigh-sgeir is composed of hexagonal basalt columns and has an automatic lighthouse.
Oigh-sgeir (Hyskeir) Lighthouse - Southern Minch41 -
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The Scottish Islands - The Bestselling Guide to Every Scottish Island by Hamish Haswell-Smith is available from Amazon - see
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scottish-Islands-Bestselling-Guide-Island/dp/1847672779/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330083294&sr=1-1
