Kiloran Bay and Port Sgibinis, Colonsay

[Telo]

Like a Donald McGill character, Kiloran Bay is wide with a sandy bottom. Given the right conditions, it's a very pleasant place to pass the night, as we did on passage from Dallens Bay to Tory Island.

We anchored in a NNE3/4, but even then there was a little bit of swell. As I recall, the bay is not mentioned in the Clyde Cruising Club's Sailing Directions and I'd guess that it's exposure to the Atlantic would be the reason. Haswell-Smith describes it as an "occasional" anchorage and potentially dangerous in Westerlies.

According to Martin Martin's account, c1695, "Kilouran is the principal church in this isle, and the village in which this church is, hath its name from it. There are two ruinous chapels in the south side of this isle. There were two stone chests found lately in Kilouran sands, which were composed of five stones each, and had human bones in them".

More recently, Hamish Haswell-Smith writes of Neolithic, pre-Christian, early Christian and Viking finds in the area.

If you look closely at the photograph below, you should see the mast of a yacht beyond the blue boat in the foreground. This larger yacht was at anchor in Port Sgibinis; bounded by rocks on both sides, it looks like a tight fit with limited swinging space.





- http://webapp.navionics.com/

[wully]

Looks nice.

[Storyline]

Have heard the beach there is lovely.

[Telo]

Have heard the beach there is lovely.

It looked fabulous, but in anything but the most benign conditions the swell would make it difficult to safely land the dinghy.

[SteveN]

Have heard the beach there is lovely.

The beach in 2004.

[Storyline]

Looks nice. The whole of Colonsay seems to suffer from more than it's fair share of swell. Came alongside the pier at Scalasaig years ago and there was a large yacht unattended. Had only been moored up for 10 minutes or so waiting for crew to run up to the hotel for ciggies when there was a bang and the central cleat on the foredeck on the large yacht ripped out. The swell was hardly noticeable from offshore and it was relatively calm. Have only been back once since and we anchored off but there are a couple of other anchorages further south shown on Antares so we might try again in settled westerlies.

[Nick]

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The anchorage off Oronsay is remarkably sheltered - I anchored there this year and it blew up to a F6 W/NW - we had a very comfortable night with virtually no swell.

[Storyline]

Nick, was that Caolas Mor ? It is included in Antares and looking at it there appears to be at least 3 places to go so no need to worry about other boats being in there first. Also the beach looks nice so will definitely visit next time we are in the area with northerlies - thanks for the tip

[Nick]

Nick, was that Caolas Mor ?

Aye, loads of space and very well sheltered W-N, pretty good SW-NE

A lovely spot, with a really remote feel even with a few boats in.

Perfectly positioned for a transit of the Sound of Isla in the morning.

[Storyline]

Thanks Nick, it does look like a good place and I cannot believe that we have not tried it before. Many times we have come up the Sound of Islay bound for the west coast of Mull as we had easterlies and have ended up in Tarbert (again) or Tinkers Hole (again) so this year we were determined to go somewhere new and ended up in Ardnalish. Caolas Mor will be another chance to try somewhere new - getting harder to find but helped enormously by Antares. Have to admit we have become stuck in old ways and usually revisit favourites - this year marked our 60th night in Phuilladobhrain but also 5 new places. Determined to do somewhere new every cruise in future.