Rona to Mallaig 29 May 2024

 

Lighthouse at Eileen Ban just before we went under the Skye Bridge

And just after going under the Skye Bridge was Gavin Maxwell’s cottage, also on the island of Eilean Ban.  This was the last home of the famous Scottish author of ‘Ring of Bright Water’.

It has been a reasonable wildlife day for us.  We have seen Harbour Porpoise, and even got a distant picture of one (they tend to surface only once or twice and then stay down, and they are not generally attracted to the boat, making them hard to photograph with a phone), plus Harbour Seals and also Bottlenose Dolphins - the latter briefly came to the boat just before we went under the bridge.


Look carefully in the left hand picture and you will just see a Harbour Porpoise surfacing as we motored south between Raasay and Skye in mirror calm conditions. 
The right hand picture has Harbour Seals loafing on rocks just off the town of Kyle of Lochalsh.

Four Bottlenose Dolphins ride our bow wave shortly before we went under the Skye Bridge.

Our route took us through the narrow Kylerhea channel again - the tide was not running as quickly as on our northerly journey, so it was a bit more sedate this time.  We had time to look at the tiny Glenelg car ferry with a swivelling car deck that frequently crosses the channel, skippered by Isabelle Law, a Kylerhea resident and the first ever female skipper of the Skye ferry.

Glenelg car ferry which crossed just in front of us from Skye to the mainland carrying just one car (I’m pretty sure it was taking 3 cars on the return journey).

We arrived into Mallaig harbour at 14.30 following the Mallaig - Ardvasar ferry and a large transport vessel full of farmed salmon.  We claimed the hammerhead in the marina, and the marina manager immediately came down to tell us that was fine, as long as we are only staying two nights.  Sounds good to us.

The day has been much cloudier and cold than forecast, but has brightened up just in time for a BBQ on board.

Rona venison barbie.  Very tasty.


The boat bird list was short at just 22 species - the best being a Cuckoo on Rona.

Our route:






































































































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