Ships in the Sound Special

A couple of weeks ago we enjoyed a super trip from Kilchoan Pier out to Lunga and Staffa on this fast, modern boat - Staffa Tours' MV Islander. We travelled on the upper deck, which offered a wonderful opportunity to take photos of ships from sea level, rather than from our usual distant perch on the land.

The first we passed was the Arklow Falcon. We see plenty of Arklow Shipping's fleet of forty-four ships moving up and down the Sound, and smart, modern vessels they are - the oldest was delivered in 2003. The Arklow Falcon was built in Spain in 2010, and she's a dry bulk carrier. There's more details about her here.

The Diary has commented before on how smart Arklow Shipping's boats always are. It's an Irish line, based in Arklow in Ireland and Rotterdam, and it's so good to come across owners who take pride in their fleet.

The Fri Wave seems to be the only ship owned by the Fri Wave Shiping Company. She's registered in the Dutch Antilles and is operated by Kopervik Ship Management of Kopervik in Norway. Again, she's a frequent visitor to the Sound of Mull, often carrying, as she is here, a cargo of timber.

The Jacobite, OB560, a prawn creel boat based in Tobermory, works the Sound just about every day of the year. With a crew of two, and a reputation for going out in all weathers, she's a busy little ship and, hopefully, a good earner for her owners.

This is another ship we see in the Sound just about every day of the year - Caledonian MacBrayne's ferry Clansman. It has reached the stage that we recognise her by the very characteristic clunking sound of her engines. She's Cal Mac's second largest vessel, and the cause of some anger locally when she was introduced in 1998 to cover the Oban to Castlebay and Lochboisedale, and Oban to Coll and Tiree routes - she was too big to berth in Tobermory. Prior to that, one of the easiest ways for Kilchoan residents to get to Oban was to cross to Tobermory and catch the Cal Mac ferry south.

Staffa Tours' website is here.