We have since sold 'ANANAHI' and now have 'CALLISTO of PARKSTONE an ELIZABETHAN 30
Thirty years ago, before we ever envisaged a life afloat,
we were camped on the white sands in the Morar estuary, halfway between Mallaig
and Arisaig, on the West coast of Scotland. As the sun set a motorsailer inched
its way down the channel towards us. They dropped anchor just in front of us,
put on a bagpipe music tape and sat in the cockpit chinking glasses and relaxing
in the sunset. We decided that some day we would like to do that and so began
our love affair with the Morar Estuary. This year Dave and I decided to fulfil
that ambition. The Clyde Cruising Club makes no mention of the estuary in its
cruising guide and although Admiralty chart 2208 shows the estuary as drying it
does show a channel, which we knew always had at least half a metre of water in
it. Finally in the Imray guide to Skye and N.W.Scotland we found a reference to
the river. "The entrance has a bar on most of which there is no more than 0.2
metres". This was the information that we needed and we decided to use the
echo-sounder to keep us in the channel. We trailed Ananahi, our 18ft Swift to
Arisaig at the beginning of our holiday. The harbourmaster at Mallaig gave us a
set of local tide tables and a 5 day weather forecast. We planned our sail. We
were on a neap tide, rising to springs in a week. We decided to sail from
Arisaig next day two hours after low water, so we could arrive off the entrance
on the last quarter of the flood, when the swell would not hamper our progress
over the bar. Despite bad press in several pilots, Arisaig has a very easy
channel. It is well marked with red and green perches and at low tide we found a
minimum of 8ft in the channel. We lifted our anchor and tacked down the channel,
surrounded by frolicking dolphins. Reaching the bay opposite the "waiting room"
we picked up two transits astern, which guided us to the final red perches of
the south channel. On re-entry there is a very conspicuous white mark on the
cliff south of the channel which can be seen at least three miles out to sea.
With the wind a good force 4 from the east and a tide stream of 1 knot taking us
north, we plotted a course two miles offshore, to avoid the numerous rocks
between Arisaig and Morar. Approaching the estuary, which is hard to see from
the south we sailed past until it opened up to show the large white Morar Hotel
halfway down, which helped us identify our exact position. It was an hour before
high water as we approached the bar at the entrance. The wind was directly ahead
so we had to start the motor. We slowly edged our way towards the entrance
watching the echo sounder, when we were within half a mile we dropped the sails
and half raised the keel. We were slowly picking our way in when the engine cut
out, we were not unduly worried as we were on a weather shore, so we laid a-hull
as Dave changed the plug and opened up the gap. With the engine restarted and 45
minutes to high tide we hugged the south shore, which was free of dangers and
crossed the bar with 6 ft on the echo sounder. Once over the bar we had 9ft in
the channel and looped towards the north shore where the chart showed the
channel to be. I was on the bows, looking at the sandy bottom and Dave was
watching the echo sounder. If we went below 8 ft we turned into the other
direction, the channel seemed to be between 9 and 10 ft so it was easy to locate
it using the soundings. Once level with the hotel we turned south again passing
to starboard of a small island and heading for two small motor boats moored at
the head of the channel. We anchored in a pool of 11ft, put on bagpipe music and
cracked open a bottle of whiskey. The beach was deserted and the white sands
reflected the sunlight towards us. We had finally made it using the tide tables
and echo sounder as our trusty friends. What an idyllic spot, it is perfect for
a lift keel to stay afloat, but a bilge keel could comfortably dry out on the
flat white beaches at either side. We spent the next day basking in the
sunshine, but the evening forecast brought the first of the autumn gales, as two
lows of 995 and 998 quickly followed each other. We were well protected in water
as calm as a Pacific Lagoon, with beaches as white, all that was missing were
the palm trees. We called Arisaig Marine to let them know we were in a safe
anchorage and they told us that it had been so bad that a heavy displacement
yacht had dragged its anchor and landed up on the rocks. We were glad of our
safe haven. The gales abated and on the fifth day we decided to leave two hours
before high water and two days before the spring tide. Once again with the keel
half down and the echo sounder on we felt our way down the channel, it was much
easier the second time and we had 12ft of water down the channel as it was
springs. We easily crossed the bar, dropped the keel and hoisted the sails. The
wind was on the nose so we leisurely tacked back to Arisaig, following the white
mark, transits and perches safely into Loch Nan Ceall and the anchorage at
Arisaig. Two days later we lifted our anchor and had a fantastic beam reach at
6k average to the Island of Eigg, but that’s another story. 4th to 10th
September 1999.
Distance run 19nm.