We spent a great afternoon and early evening in the Oban Inn yesterday and part of the reason for being at the transit marina instead of Kerrera (which would always be my preference) was to pick up our mutual friend Gary who is joining Alan and me for the week. There are advantages to the transit marina in that the shops are handy as the bars and restaurants there’s also a bit of a bustle about the town.

We spent the morning getting Jess ready for our short trip to Lochaline. a few miles up the Sound of Mull. Lochaline is famous for its quartz sand mine which produces high quality quartz sand for the glass making industry. We were in no great rush to leave as we needed to wait for the tide to be in our favour to get past Lady’s Rock where the tide runs at three knots at springs.

We set off around 1230 and were soon sailing across to Lismore Lighthouse. The area around Oban Bay was really busy with ferries, work boats, sailing boats and fishing boats and we spent time dodging various boats before it quietened down and we could keep a steady course. 

Gary took the helm most of the way and even managed to get Jess alongside the pontoon pretty well ! We might wander along to the Lochaline Social Club later after tea.