We found this part of Scotland to be an ideal cruising ground. It provides for a spectacular scenery, secure anchorages and nice people.  We saw amaizing flocks of seabirds, dolphines and seals. If a safe haven is required, you can find it in Oban, Tobermory or Mallaig, all in the right distance to provision on fuel and water. And then there are on all islands, small as they are, community shops (on Canna the „community“ consisting of exactly 19 souls). In these charming shops you will find produce of the islands, like jam, honey, vegetables but also lamb and venison meat or handcrafted goods like knitted socks or small paintings. Take what you need, write it down in a scrap book and deposite the money in an honesty box, all on good faith. The same means of payment applies to the mooring fees, in case you chose to pick up a buoy.

„The western lands are where mists fall and enwrap the world in grey, grim silence. Then, on a summer‘s afternoon, the darkness melts and the astonishing beauty is before you. Distant blue mountains shade down to the sea, swatches of every green, of purple, of grey rise from the water, coloured by moving clouds above“. This is how Libby Purves described it in 1988, and this is how we too experienced the beauty of it all today.

What keeps a sailor diligent in this region are the winds, which tend to be variable. They often kept us busy reefing in and out and reefing in again. Sometimes the wind fell away to nothing, so that we made only snail-like progress and could not restist switching on the engine. Only to pick up again to full force after a short while.