17. Anchor problems again

On Saturday, when it came to leave Port Ellen we had the luxury of a number of possible anchorages.  The weather forecast was reasonable with about 15 knots from south or south east so we could go eastwards to Gigha or head north to Craighouse on Jura or go through the Sound of Islay and anchor off another distillery at Bunnahabhain or have a short passage to a remote anchorage inside the Ardmore Islands on the SE tip of Islay.  We chose the remote anchorage as it allowed us plenty of time in the morning for showers and finishing off shopping, also the description of remote and teeming with wildlife appealed after being in harbours for over a week.
Leaving Port Ellen we had to wait and allow a ship delivering barley for Ardbeg distillery to manoeuvre followed by the Hebridean Princess, which looked like a mini cruise ship.

Outside the harbour we were under full sail, rock hopping inside the island of Texa, then outside a series of reefs and rocks before coming inside the Ardmore Islands to go into the anchorage of Plod Sgeirean.  

We dropped the sails and went in under engine and turned on the anchor windlass to prepare to anchor and nothing happened.  Our newly repaired windlass packed up again in only the second time we have anchored since the repair in Killybegs!  

Fortunately the anchorage was quite shallow and the rise and fall of the tide very small so we could lay out the chain and lower it by hand without any difficulty.  The anchorage certainly lived up to its remote title but we obviously missed the teeming wildlife!  

Nevertheless the sun was shining and it was quite dramatic with rocks all around us.  These rocks and the Ardmore Islands sheltered us from any swell so we were still even though there was a good breeze blowing.
We were now faced with some decisions.  First in the morning was to ring KER who repaired the windlass but we were not hopeful of a positive response from them and we were not sure how much faith we would have if the windlass was repaired again.  Second was to contact Ardfern Yacht Centre, about 30 miles north of us, to see if they could get a new windlass for us.  At the same time we had a message from old friends, Julie and Graham Whiting, who were celebrating their ruby wedding anniversary in a cottage on the Mull of Kintyre and wanted to try and meet up with us.  We decided we could go to Ardminish Bay on Gigha as there were visitors moorings so we wouldn’t have to anchor.  We could carry on to Ardfern from there.
Monday’s forecast was S or SE 5 to 6 becoming SW 4 to 5 later.  We were OK with reaching across to Gigha in this much wind.  Getting the anchor up by hand was a bit of a struggle even though we only had 10m out.  The holding was very good with the anchor well dug in.  Eventually it was up and we threaded our way northwards through yet more rocks until we could head east for Gigha.  

We had the choice of close reaching to go south of Gigha or broader reaching to pass north of the island.  We chose the latter as the tide would give us a bit of help and the apparent wind would be slightly less.  We were soon down to a double reefed mainsail and 3 reefs in the genoa with gusts of 26 knots, fast sailing and quite hard work but making good time.  Meanwhile we had made the phone calls to KER, not helpful, and Ardfern Yacht Centre who confirmed they could have a new windlass delivered to them on Wednesday.
As we approached the north end of Gigha the gusts got stronger, approaching 30 knots.  There were black squalls approaching us from the SW and in the Sound of Gigha we had heavy hail squalls with gusts up to 37 knots!  As usual the boat performed beautifully and we actually enjoyed the sail despite the hail and rain.  We were a bit anxious about how we were going to get the sails down in these conditions but luck was on our side and the heavy squalls eased off as we approached Ardminish Bay so with all the reefs in we were under canvassed.  We picked up the nearest buoy to the pontoon so we didn’t have to bother with the engine on the dinghy, tidied up the boat and had a very late lunch we had intended to have on passage.

Going ashore we discovered that the toilets, showers and laundry referred to in the pilot actually burnt down a couple of years ago!  The Boathouse restaurant, near the pontoon had toilets and a single shower available to share between sailors and any campers on their campsite.  A local lady told us where the shop was and the Gigha hotel and the craft shop which we could visit in the morning so we returned to the boat for dinner.

We contacted Julie and Graham to arrange to meet.  They had booked a wildlife trip for Tuesday and were coming across to Gigha on Wednesday so we had Tuesday to ourselves to explore.  We visited the local shop then walked as far as Achamore House and gardens, which we didn’t visit, then returned to the boat for lunch.  

The sun came out after lunch and we braved a trip to the craft shop and Gigha Hotel without waterproofs.  After tea and cakes in the hotel, which we found to be a bit dreary, we came out to find it was raining again so we were back on board with soggy bottoms!
Wednesday morning we got showers, nice and hot despite Debbie pulling the shower rail off the wall! I’m not quite sure what the French couple who showered between the two of us thought about the quality of the facilities!  Julie and Graham arrived on the 11.30 ferry and we were introduced to Truffle and Fudge, their 11 month old Cockapoo puppies and went to the craft shop for coffee, a much nicer place than the hotel, then back to the Boathouse restaurant for a prolonged lunch which we were able to have outside in the sunshine.  

None of us were that keen to visit the house and gardens so we drove to the north end of the island for the views and to give the dogs a run around.  Both went in the water and Fudge blotted his copy book by rolling in something smelly that came from the back end of a cow!!!  

Speaking of cows, they were free to roam in the North of the island and thought nothing about standing in the road to graze the verges, oblivious of us in the car waiting to get past.  

Fudge had a wash in the sea to get the worst off then a further more thorough wash when we were back by the Boathouse.  I suspect a further wash will take place when Julie and Graham are back to their cottage on the mainland.  When they left for the ferry we visited the shop to see if they had any bananas.  They hadn’t so we consoled ourselves with locally made ice creams.  Leaving the shop the sunshine had been replaced by rain.  Ice creams in the rain could only be in Scotland!  Back on board we got the dinghy on board in gaps in the rain ready for the trip to Ardfern in the morning.