A good day for fish. We left Castlebay with hardly any wind with the idea of going to Eriskay. On the way out we toyed with the idea of going to Mingulay, but decided it would be a pain to motor there and back (it’s not a good enough anchorage to stay overnight) and conditions might not be good as there is quite a big tide (coefficient: 101). So we headed North, after a while stopping the motor and sailing very slowly against the tide. Spotted Porpoises (type not known) in the distance, one Minke Whale near enough to hear it blowing and also a Basking Shark which came very close to the boat. Then it went a bit quiet and we decided to motor into North Bay rather than motor all the way to Eriskay. Pam did some fishing, hoping that she might catch something as we got into shallower water. After a while she spotted several Basking Sharks, so she pulled in the line (including a mackerel) and we stopped the engine and sailed extremely slowly towards the Basking Sharks. They took no notice and we had good views of about 6 of them – they seemed to be various sizes.
On the way into North Bay Pam caught another fish. We walked along to take a look at the airport, which is on the beach, but the last flight had left, so we returned to the boat and had fish for supper. North Bay is a quiet little place except for the fish processing plant which makes a continual low humming noise. However it is good to see that they have several active fishing boats and also sell fish and shellfish from the place.
Maybe tomorrow we will buy some shellfish and go to Eriskay.
