Top three (or more) anchorages

[marisca]

Loch Don.

I don't think you need worry about it getting too busy although I might have to give it a try next year.

I've wanted to go in there for years but I think a Wayfarer would be more the thing than the green behemoth.

Go for it, Ken! It must be a couple of years since her last RNLI tow.

[Storyline]

.....
What amazed us that day (we arrived about 10 and left at about 3pm) was the number of basking sharks. We treid a count of them, with two of us covering 180 degrees each. Not easy and not accurate, but we estimated >150. Some can be seen in most of these images.
.....

Had a similar basking shark encounter off the west coast of the IoM quite close inshore just south of Peel sometime in the 90's. It was amazing with similar numbers that you report, difficult to make an accurate judgement but there must have been >100. Had to carefully zigzag through them - do not know what would have happened had it been dark as they did not seem to make any effort to move out of our way.

[mm5aho]

Had a similar basking shark encounter off the west coast of the IoM quite close inshore just south of Peel sometime in the 90's. It was amazing with similar numbers that you report, difficult to make an accurate judgement but there must have been >100. Had to carefully zigzag through them - do not know what would have happened had it been dark as they did not seem to make any effort to move out of our way.[/quote]

At one point, when we were leaving, having weighed anchor and motoring NE, we touched one that swam across the bow. I think the bow touched the torso, not the tail, but there was an almighty splash and the beast thrashed and sounded so violently that I would not have believed it to be the same animal. It moved from being the lazy looking, dozy, sloth-like behemoth to an angry huge white pointer, and speed changed from idling to incredibly fast in no time. I'm not sure if it was imagination or real, but it seemed as if the normally floppy dorsal fin became erect and stiff.

[Storyline]

Should imagine that would have been scary and also dangerous if you were in a smaller boat !

[sahona]

Re the lighthouse helipads, The Pharos (lighthouse repair ship) has a 'copter and uses it to transfer goods and personnel rather than manhandling big lumps onto boats then over rocks. Makes sense.

[sadlermike]

Limiting myself to places I visited in 2014 I offer;

Loch Scadabay, Harris for the excitement of entering in SE5

Tanera More, Summer Isles for the perfect shelter from a prolonged gale

Village Bay, St Kilda for the pleasure of arriving just before a perfect sun rise and leaving before the islands were lost in fog by 0730

[sam]

Limiting myself to places I visited in 2014 I offer;

Loch Scadabay, Harris for the excitement of entering in SE5

Tanera More, Summer Isles for the perfect shelter from a prolonged gale

Village Bay, St Kilda for the pleasure of arriving just before a perfect sun rise and leaving before the islands were lost in fog by 0730

All three were on my list to visit this summer but didn't get to any of them, but hopefully I'll get to at least two of them in 2015.
I'm guessing that Loch Scadabay would offer good shelter as well once inside?

[mm5aho]

Anchorage for sale

http://www.ckdgalbraith.co.uk/property/ ... er%20Isles

[sadlermike]

Yes, excellent shelter in Loch Scadabay. Depth is the problem. There is limited swinging room. At the deepest place to drop anchor I was swinging into depths of 1.4 metres.

[claymore]

Carsaig Bay
Miss McLaughlan's Bay
Port Ramsey

[sam]

Yes, excellent shelter in Loch Scadabay. Depth is the problem. There is limited swinging room. At the deepest place to drop anchor I was swinging into depths of 1.4 metres.

Was the swinging room limited due to depth or moorings?
The pilot book says that the mud is soft and that a keel would sink into and not come to any harm. I draw 1.7 metres and was planning to go in on a neaps tide.

[cpedw]

Port Ramsey

What brought about the change of heart?

- did you ever park at Port Ramsay at the top end of Lismore? I enjoyed the pilotage getting in there but had a poor nights sleep because of the quarrying activities at Sanda.

June 26 2006 viewtopic.php?f=2&t=415

and

Is it as noisy there as Port Ramsey can be

April 30 2012 viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7016

[cpedw]

Yes, excellent shelter in Loch Scadabay. Depth is the problem. There is limited swinging room. At the deepest place to drop anchor I was swinging into depths of 1.4 metres.

Was the swinging room limited due to depth or moorings?
The pilot book says that the mud is soft and that a keel would sink into and not come to any harm. I draw 1.7 metres and was planning to go in on a neaps tide.

Yes we were in there too this summer. We draw 1.6 m and definitely were aground for a while. That was after we relocated on the advice of a helpful local who came out to advise us. We also bumped gently on something hard a couple of times but it was a very quiet place.

While there are several moorings, these are all small boats in shallow places. Send for Antares Surveys!

Derek

[Shuggy]

We did Loch Don with a 6'9" draft on a spectacularly unmaneouverable 43 footer. It was definitely interesting - the first pool is much smaller than I thought it would be and it was pretty windy when we were in there. However, it's a peach once you're in although it's a bit disconcerting knowing how quickly it shelves on all sides. Definitely worth a pop if you're feeling adventurous. I'm sure it would be absolutely fine with a boat that spins in its own length and/or goes astern with a modicum of predictability.

[sam]

Yes, excellent shelter in Loch Scadabay. Depth is the problem. There is limited swinging room. At the deepest place to drop anchor I was swinging into depths of 1.4 metres.

Was the swinging room limited due to depth or moorings?
The pilot book says that the mud is soft and that a keel would sink into and not come to any harm. I draw 1.7 metres and was planning to go in on a neaps tide.

Yes we were in there too this summer. We draw 1.6 m and definitely were aground for a while. That was after we relocated on the advice of a helpful local who came out to advise us. We also bumped gently on something hard a couple of times but it was a very quiet place.

While there are several moorings, these are all small boats in shallow places. Send for Antares Surveys!

Derek

Thanks.
I have suggested Loch Scadabay to Bob at Antares, he replied that he'd added it to the list.