On a buoy near Iona Sound

anchor choked with weed

We had no problems sleeping soundly at anchor lying off the island of Luing (pronounced Ling). Up at five to see the sun rise, with the pale moon still hanging 
high, reflected in the calm loch. We swallowed cereal and coffee and then broke the peace with engine noise as the anchor came up, swaddled in noxious patches of green weed which Nic removed with a boathook. We motored off to the nearby Sound of Cuan, a narrow opening where spring tides race at 7 knots. Lesley helmed the boat past whirlpools and standing waves, steaming along on a rollercoaster ride at 10 knots. 

Once expelled out the other end of the Sound, we set course westwards to Iona, with the dark rugged coast of Mull on our starboard side. We sailed on the foresail alone in cloudless blue skies, waves glittering in sunlight,  until the easterly winds failed entirely and regretfully we turned the 
engine on. Later the winds rose to become force 5 to 6, gusting 7, right on our nose. 
Navigation took some concentration on the journey, with many rocks to avoid on this 
treacherous coast plus tides and the strong winds to take into account.

Iona cathedral

Eight and a half hours into the journey we arrived at the Sound of Iona. As with all 
narrow channels, this is not a place you can push against the tide. We'd been 
dawdling to make it just as the tide turned in our favour. We could see the cluster of small houses and the grey bulk of the Cathedral on our left as we dodged the Caledonian McBrae ferry which plies across the Sound. 

On buoy in Bull Hole, looking north

Cautiously the boat tracked into a small inlet on the Mull side of the Sound called Bull Hole, which they say is crowded in the summer season. Two surprises greeted us. One, there wasn't a single yacht in sight. Two, it was shockingly shallow. We were arriving at low water but the chart said 4 metres even at the very lowest of low tides. It was mostly 2 metres or less, and we ended up picking up a buoy in just 0.7 metres under our keel. That's just two feet between the bottom of our 7 ton boat and the sand. There seemed to be nowhere near to safely land a dinghy so we stayed on board, close to Iona but not close enough to visit (much too dangerous to dinghy across the Sound and too rough to moor on the Iona side).

After a giant vegetable stew, there was time to read a book and plan the next leg to 
Tobermory on Mull.