Lysblink Seaways - Day 5 Afternoon

The Lysblink Seaways is now safely anchored in a new position a mile to the east of Mingary Pier.  The salvors have started the process of pumping her fuel from the lower tanks into the two higher ones.  Whether the fuel will remain there when she is taken away still doesn't seem certain - they may pump it off the ship into a tanker which will be brought alongside, though this will be difficult in view of the poor forecast for the next two days.

There are still a lot of worries in the community, but the mood amongst those working on the ship is much more positive.  The two local creel fishermen use this area, and some creels have had to be moved.

The earliest the Lysblink Seaways is likely to be towed away is Wednesday.

Lysblink Seaways - Day 5 Morning

Yesterday afternoon brought fine weather, a light northwesterly and sunshine.

During the night, in continuing calm weather, the tug Kingdom of Fife steamed up and down the coastline to the west of Mingary Pier, but....

....by morning she was back with the Lysblink Seaways - the Kingdom of Fife isn't visible in this picture as she is hidden by the ship.  But what we noticed was that the Lysblink Seaways was considerably further out, so we assumed she had been towed there in preparation for today's southerly high winds.

We were down at the pier by nine, where the news was that the ship had moved inshore during the early morning, as the forecast high winds began to build, and had had to be towed out into deeper water.  No-one seems sure whether the movement inshore was because she had dragged her anchors.

By this time the wind was south-southeasterly, force 6, and gusting.

The small craft in the foreground of this picture is the Spanish John II, out of Mallaig.  She had brought the hot tapping equipment which enables the salvage crews to pump the ship's fuel from the lower tanks into two higher tanks.

As we walked home from the pier, we realised that the ship was under tow.  It looked as if she was being taken eastwards into the wide bay between Mingary Castle and Maclean's Nose, perhaps to better holding ground.

Winds are forecast to rise to force 7, gusting over force 8, by midday.  The forecast for the next two days is for further spells of stormy weather, perhaps worse than today.

Lysblink Seaways - She's Away Again

Around eleven this morning, contractors began to tow the Lysblink Seaways away from Mingary Pier.  Picture shows her being moved eastwards, towards Maclean's Nose, perhaps to better holding ground for the anchors.

It seems a strange time to be doing this.  The wind is SSE, just short of a gale, and gusting - exactly what was forecast a couple of days ago.

Otter Sighting

Walking along the Ormsaigbeg road we saw an otter moving across one of the croft fields which run down to the beach.  These otters are often called 'sea otters', not because they're a separate species but because they spend most of their hunting time in the sea.  But they need fresh water, and often seem to build their holts higher up the hill, between the road and the common grazings fence.

Watching it, it went through the fence, crossed the next field....

....slid into the drainage ditch running down the field, and half swam, half walked upstream towards us.

By moving quickly and covertly down the road, we were in position to watch it pass through the culvert under our feet.

Lysblink Seaways - Day 4 Morning

With the wind now in the northwest, the weather has turned colder.  Even on the western side of Kilchoan Bay, where the air temperature very rarely gets down to zero, the thermometer this morning was reading 0.5C and there was a sharp ground frost.

Men from Briggs Marine are seen here getting a new oil boom out, even though there has been no sign of leaking oil.  The story around is that, although a fuel tank might have been breached, it was, fortunately, empty.  Welders are on board working in the fuel tanks, and the salvage teams will later move the fuel into the safe tanks.  Despite all this, an oil spill is still a worry.

Damage to the bottom of the Lysblink Seaways is considerable and there are questions whether she'll ever sail again, or be towed away for scrap.  Meanwhile, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency's Enforcement Officer - the maritime equivalent of a policeman in British waters - has been on the ship and interviewed captain and crew.

There are two boats seen here tied up alongside the Lysblink Seaways.  Forth Jouster is on the inside - she's seen with a crane deployed - and the smaller barge at left is being used to ferry heavy equipment between the slipway and the Jouster.

Although everyone here remains very worried, some locals have reason to smile.  One item of equipment that has to go out is this 5 tonne generator which has arrived on the back of a truck.  Bert Cameron, seen here, runs a building equipment hire company from his home in Ormsaigmore, and he was asked to lift it down the slipway to the barge.  He hasn't anything which will do that, but he's thought of a way round: the truck has a crane that can lift it onto his trailer, he can then back the trailer down the slipway to where the barge's crane can reach it.

The main worry for the MCA, the salvage teams and everyone on shore is the forecast.  This is XCWeather's prediction for tomorrow, and that southerly wind gusting well above gale force around 12 midday is the worst possible news.