The Phantom Menace

22-23Jul13

An interesting night: when anchoring there is always a slight doubt even when you trust your anchor is well set, especially when the wind swings round 180 degrees possibly pulling the wrong way on the flukes and especially when you are surrounded on three sides by rocky reefs – reefs which look very black and daunting when seen lit only by the moon. However, the anchor held well and we left the bay mid-morning for the short hop to Portree on Skye.

Again there was only light wind to sail but we were in no rush. Under sail and with the engine off for the first time in a while we noticed a new 'knocking' noise at the stern which we concluded was something wrapped around the propeller – a new noise like this one tends to invoke a paranoid reaction and plans were set for all emergency outomes for 'what if'. We had installed a new rope cutter before leaving for such an eventuality and it seems to have achieved its purpose: forward drive was OK despite the knock and after a quick burst of reverse a thump from below then things seemed better. The knock was still there so we kept the speed down, the wind having now dropped, and headed for a mooring buoy at Portee as planned.

In all our books, guides and website descriptions many places have a chandlery though, like here, we have discovered the majority of this information to be well out of date and no such help available. We needed to either dive below ourselves or get help from someone local. Our dive/snorkel gear was none existent and was something we had failed to acquire before leaving; along the way we have tried unsuccessfully to find any such gear at all. The Harbour Master was very curt with us quoting Health & Safety and was very little help. We managed to borrow a mask and fins from an ex-navy man who owns a local B&B (Medina) after asking a local fisherman for ideas – it has to be repeated again that people up here go to great lengths to help with all sorts of problems when you have a genuine problem.

Creating a make-shift wetsuit from thermals and additional layers, the water is still very cold here, the propeller had to be inspected. Some cold-shock prevention with water down the back, a line dropped below the hull from port to starboard to pull down on and to counteract the body's natural bouyancy and it was a quick dive to inspect the situation. Most of what we had inadvertantly picked up had now gone leaving just some fishing line with a weight attached which must have been the cause of the thumping noise.

We have enjoyed being here, exploring and taking some long walks up and around this very verdant side of the country. North West Scotland is far more alive with tourism and is in total contrast with the more rugged and quieter North, the softer and kinder Orkney Islands and the remoteness of Shetland. The weather is now changing and some of the thundery showers have headed our way. Our next stop is south towards Plockton, Lochalsh and the Sound of Sleat providing our phantom noise does not return indicating something more serious. We will not know until we leave and may have to return for further remedies.