On the Waterfront

The weather on Thursday was the sort of thing we've become used to in Kilchoan this summer, an almost perfect day with enough of a northerly blowing to keep us pleasantly cool.  This yacht anchored in Kilchoan Bay overnight.  To the left of her are the West Ardnamurchan Jetty Committee moorings and, beyond them, the new perch.  The view looks across the Sound of Mull to the Ardmore Point beacon (just behind the perch) and the Glengorm telecommunication masts.

By yesterday the weather had deteriorated, with a strong southeasterly wind and 5mm of rain through the day.  For an otter on the lookout for lunch, the weather doesn't matter too much.  He was swimming around just off the slipway below The Ferry Stores.  Main course, taken on a convenient rock, was a flat fish,....

....followed by several small crabs for afters.  With summer waning and the human activity in the bay falling off, the otters take possession of it for the winter.

Curlews can be seen in large flocks during the summer, but by this time of year they've reverted to their solitary state.  This one was stalking the margins of Kilchoan Bay, looking pretty fed up with the weather.

The Saga Sapphire slipped slowly down the Sound at breakfast time this morning - she's seen here passing Tobermory, with Calve Island to her starboard.  The mist was much thicker yesterday afternoon when the big bulk carrier the Yeoman Bontrup came up the Sound having loaded at Glensanda - we couldn't see her, but we heard her foghorn.

This rather smart catamaran is parked on the grass just by the slipway but no-one seems to know to whom she belongs.  The website address printed on the mast is a for a company in Westcliff-on-Sea in Essex called Hydro Sailing, which offers "Individual and Corporate Performance Sailing for All" - whatever that is.