Solus na Mara hits the Waves again!

On Thursday the 9th of April, Solus na Mara was lifted out of the water at Dunstaffnage Marina, up onto the hard, hosed down and anti-fouled, all ready for the season. She wintered well alongside the pontoon, and Tim, Marina Manager, looked after her so well, day in, day out, night in, night out, only once did she gnaw her way through a mooring line, late into the night during a North Westerly gale in early March. No damage was done. As you can see from the pictures she was well secured.

On Monday the 13th April, on the high tide at 8.30pm just before dark, she was lifted back into the water. She quickly made her way back to the fuelling berth, was refuelled, was watered and after a final washdown of the decks by moonlight, she was then ready for setting sail for her home base in the Sound of Sleat at 7am the following morning.

A strong Easterly blew overnight but the morning broke and the wind eased and we set sail out through the Firth of Lorne into the Sound of Mull and round Ardnamurchan Point, sailing all the way with winds reaching Force 5. A most enjoyable journey. We arrived back at our newly serviced moorings outside Duisdale House Hotel at 3.30pm - A record passage. Solus na Mara was delighted to be home. She looks lovely sitting on the water infront of the Chart Room window in the sunshine this evening. Tomorrow morning, early, we set sail for Armadale to pick up our first sailing guests of the season. How great it is to be back on board. How lucky we are to be able to share the experience with so many of our guests, old and new. It's a dream come true!

Thursday 7th August 2008 - Sailing with Dolphins

Today we had one of the most amazing displays of Bottlenose Dolphins. We sailed from Armadale in a Northerly breeze of 15 knots out towards Rhum and then veered towards the Cuillins and Loch Scavaig, sailing about 5.5 knots in the light breeze. Solus na Mara picks up wind easily; if there is the slightest movement of air, she will find it and she is so beautifully balanced therefore enabling her to sail effortlessly through the water. We had a lovely family aboard from Paris. We continued to sail whilst we had lunch in the cockpit as the day was so fine. As we rounded the Point of Sleat on our homeward journey, we noticed considerable activity 100 mtrs from the shoreline. We started the engine and made our way towards the site of action and within a short period a school of dolphins, about 50, came to join us as we headed back up the Sound of Sleat. The dolphins swam with us with such skill for five miles. They swam beneath us, jumped over our stern, played on the bow, swam upside down, all at 1000 revs - they seemed to prefer this speed as we tended to lose them if we increased or decreased our speed. It is always a delight to see wildlife like this in their natural situation.



In early June we saw a school of over 150 common dolphins in the Sound of Sleat. They also swam with us for half an hour looking almost like a 'field of dolphins'. In May and June there were almost daily sightings of Minke whale. One particular day we had about 50 sightings between the Point of Sleat and the island of Rhum. The end of June and July saw the appearance of Basking Sharks; some so close you could touch the shark from the yacht. One particular morning a basking shark was swimming around our mooring at Armadale and was there to greet us on our return together with a family of otters which he seemed to befriend during the course of the day. It is sometimes awesome to image the level of activity beneath the waves on any one day!