With all the work on Sun Dog pretty much finished we have been really keen to get her out of the marina, and to familiarise ourselves with the new equipment and changes we have made to her since last year.
The work carried out by Chris (of DDZ Marine) was to his usual high standard with no snagging work required. This attention to detail and customer satisfaction should be the norm in the marine industry, but sadly it’s NOT!! Chris is an employee (not director/shareholder) of DDZ, but should he ever set out on his own, he could be pretty confident of receiving the order for any business I could put his way.
By the time we got through to the boat on the Friday night and got everything sorted out, we were running a bit late but decided to set off that night, so Sara took us out of the marina, with our options being to nip into Rothesay (where there has been considerable investment) and on this link you can see the lifting bridge to access the inner harbour – the alternative being to carry on till we reached Colintraive; and we opted for the latter. This is one of our favourite spots, and as we arrived after the ferry had stopped for the night, we had a night of total peace and tranquility in a really beautiful spot.
Next day the forecast was for the wind to go round to the North/North East Force 5/6, but when we set off the sun was shining as we explored down the coastline of the West Kyle, and then we turned the corner at Ardlamont Point, which separates the Kyles of Bute from Loch Fyne, and had a really good sail, (with Sara still on the helm, willing the wind God’s to give us more than the 15-22 kts we were enjoying), down to our planned overnight stop at Portavadie Marina. The development of this marina continues, with the investment being substantial, and it’s fair to say that the marina was the busiest I have ever seen. We took the opportunity to refuel, booked a table for a meal (a “must do” at weekends) and took a berth for the night.
Note: The longest pontoons with the widest turning areas are to be found nearest the entrance/exit. The further in you go the shorter the pontoons.
We enjoyed our night, and had the unexpectant pleasure of bumping into our friend Roger who was up in Scotland for the week sailing with his friend Paul, whilst his better half Hilary, is over in the USA.
The weather forecast was still the same the next morning, but as we exited the marina we were in glorious sunshine, with flat calm conditions, and pretty clear blue skies. Not being a “sailing purist” I simply put up the mainsail, stuck her into gear and motorsailed back down Loch Fyne. Roger on the other hand, who came out at the back of us, hoisted all his sails and must have intended waiting on the breeze to fill in!!
As we were gently meandering back down Loch Fyne, and really enjoying being out on the water, we came across the largest pod (?) of porpoise we have ever seen, and assume they were Harbour Porpoise – I can only image there must have been a sizeable school of fish that they were all hunting – a simply wonderful sight – the sea alive with the tantalising glimpses of their back and fins.
We decided not to go back through the Kyles but instead headed for Millport on the Isle of Cumbrae (big Cumbrae) and pick up a mooring. There are some good photographs on the header within the above link which show the anchorage. I have to say that the wind never filled in at all during the day and we enjoyed a lovely (almost) summers day…….and for all we know Roger is still out there on board Doucier patiently waiting on the wind filling in 😉
From Millport it was back into the marina, where we carried out some further work, re-marking off the chain at 10 metre intervals, giving the boat a good old wash down, and then left for home feeling better after our first trip of the year, and absolutely delighted that everything worked as we had hoped.