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NEWS FROM NORTHERN LIGHT CHARTERS :: MAY 2008 :: NEWEST NEWS FIRST

Fri 16 May | Handover at Fort William  Hjalmar Bjorge arrived back in Oban today after our first successful, scheduled cruise to St Kilda. Mark and Lindsay waved off Lyndon, regulars Margaret and Frances, plus the rest of the group, before heading north to Corpach. The boat is out again a week tomorrow. Meanwhile in Corpach Zuza awaited the arrival of guests for her first longer Outer Hebridean cruise of the season. Mid-afternoon we greeted return guest Eric, plus Northern Light newcomers, aboard. Getting the boat ready on a twelfth consecutive day of lovely sunshine was no real hardship.

Zuza locked out at Corpach around 1545 and met up with Hjalmar Bjorge in the northern reaches of Loch Linnhe in sight of Fort William. The boats got close enough for some documentation to be handed from one to the other and then Hjalmar Bjorge continued north to Corpach while Zuza made her south for her evening anchorage.

It rained a bit later in the afternoon - that is news after so much fantastic sunshine!!!

Wed 14 May | Wardens and whales  Hjalmar Bjorge left St Kilda early this morning for the Sound of Barra. They had a minke whale on the bow and also saw a basking shark. They will spend the night at either Mingulay or Barra Head depending on the forecast and guests' preferences.

Yesterday the St Kilda warden - Bill - and relief ranger - Helen - came onboard to join everyone for dinner. Afterwards Lindsay played her fiddle on the top deck and everyone danced until late.

Tue 13 May | Serious sunshine at St Kilda  The SE wind that was gently blowing yesterday pretty much disappeared today leaving a roasting hot day with flat calm seas, perfect conditions to be at St Kilda (as long as you remembered your sun protection cream and hat). Guests enjoyed a tour of the islands and stacs this morning - Dun, Soay, Boreray, Stac Lee and Stac an Armin - before a long walk on Hirta in the afternoon. The weather looks good for another day at "the islands on the edge of the world" but Hjalmar Bjorge will probably leave tomorrow to enable our passengers - members of a Worcestershire RSPB group -  the opportunity to see birds in another location. 

Mon 12 May | First St Kilda visit of 2008  Hjalmar Bjorge arrived in Village Bay, Hirta, around lunchtime today ensuring everyone got a good long walk in the afternoon. The journey across was very good with calm seas although a SE wind is now blowing - the one direction you really don't want out at St Kilda. If it doesn't increase the plan is to spend a second night at the archipelago tomorrow.

Bristol based photographer Rich McDonough, on holiday in Scotland, snapped this mean 'n' moody shot of Zuza at Corpach in front of Ben Nevis, which he emailed to us today. Rich's galleries can be seen online - why not start with his Scotland photos? Photo: Rich McDonough

Sun 11 May | Double dolphins  Lyndon and fellow shipmates boarded Hjalmar Bjorge in Oban yesterday for, hopefully, our first scheduled St Kilda cruise of the season. They planned a visit and an overnight at the Monach Islands today. Approaching the Sound of Barra six or seven common dolphins were seen and, once in the Sound, our regularly seen bottlenosed dolphins appeared. The group has increased from last year to about a dozen including one, possibly two, calves. The baby we named Cyd in 2006 (after our original ship's dog) will now be one of the grown-ups.

Fri 9 May | The long and short of it  Both boats finished cruises today - Hjalmar Bjorge a long "Not St Kilda" in Oban and Zuza a shorter "Sailing and Seabirds" Inner Hebridean cruise in Corpach. Carole, aboard Zuza on her second Northern Light Charters holiday in two years, had another week of amazing weather. She must be a good luck weather genie (hmm, I wonder how busy she is for the rest of the summer?!). Carole is pictured with Tim, Marc, Phil and Sue relaxing on the boat earlier in the week, right. Photo: Heather McNeill

Sue and Phil declared themselves delighted with their first sailing holiday. In fact they had barely unpacked from a trip on Hjalmar Bjorge (in April) when they decided to take advantage of their B&B season starting a little later than usual. So they repacked and joined Zuza at the last minute. As seasoned motor boaters we asked them for some feedback on our new sailing cruises and if they could tell potential guests what the differences between the two vessels were.

Sue writes, "Our first impression is that you cannot compare the two. Each provides a unique experience and one is no better than the other. The excitement started at the sea lock - a whole new experience for us. Returning to other anchorages on a different boat was exciting. At Lunga we met one of the crew from Turus Mara who had crewed for Tim in the past and wanted us to know that he was 'a first class splendid skipper' (and so say all of us). Food was excellent considering Heather was cooking and crewing. How she managed to produce meals of such a high standard from such a small cupboard was amazing.

"I rather thought that Zuza was 'Yachting for Softies' in that Tim and Heather were brilliant and allowed individuals as much hands on experience as they felt comfortable with…without any pressure, but we would defy anyone not to get involved! We feel they would be able to handle anyone from novices to experienced sailors. Both are people persons and are happy to spend time teaching/talking about the yacht, navigation, weather and sail versus engine etc.

"Thank you for a wonderful experience, of being closer to the sea and the sound of the sails, wind and water. Unforgettable - 'a must to do again'."

Heather and Tim head home to Skye for not quite a week's break from chartering but Mark, Ylva and Lindsay set off again tomorrow.

The "spotter's list" aboard Hjalmar Bjorge for the past eight nights includes - arctic skua - blackbird - black guillemot ("tystie") - buzzard - chaffinch - cormorant - curlew - dunlin - eider duck - emperor moth - fulmar - gannet - geese - golden eagle - great black backed gull - great northern diver - great skua ("Bonxie") - greylag goose - guillemot - herring gull - heron - hooded crow ("hoodie") - jackdaw - kittiwake - lapwing - Manx shearwater - meadow pipit - merganser - oystercatchers - peacock - peregrine - pied wagtail - porpoises - puffin - raven - razorbill - red deer - redshank - red throated diver - ringed plover - robin - rock dive - rock pipit - roe deer - roseate tern - sanderling - scallops - seals - shag - sheep - shelduck - song thrush - starling - swan - swallow - tern - turnstone - whale bones - wheatear - whimbrel - white tailed sea eagle - a respectable 60 species (not including the bones!). The roseate tern which was seen is described by the RSPB as "one of our rarest seabirds".

Thu 8 May | Lindsay sings for her supper - or rather plays for her breakfast  There’s a rock sticking out of the middle of Gometra harbour and this morning Mark set Lindsay on it where she stood atop and serenaded passengers on both boats with her fiddle. She didn’t attract any seals (this does sometimes happen) but did get rapturous applause from both sets of crew and guests, not to mention the crews of two other yachts anchored in the harbour. Actually it was their fault, I mean, influence, that led to Lindsay's stranding. Last night the yachties (possibly after a couple of sherries) landed themselves on the rock and some people on Hjalmar Bjorge swear they saw a light bulb appear over Mark's head at that very moment. Before he had time to say anything Ann and Fred piped up that Lindsay should be abandoned on the rock with her fiddle reckoning it would make a great image for her next CD cover. Thus it was a fait accompli...poor Lindsay - there was no way she wasn't going to be dumped on the rock!!! Photo: Mark Henrys

On a fourth day of boiling sunshine and blue skies everyone aboard Hjalmar Bjorge and Zuza had some good eagle sightings in Loch Buie in the afternoon. Firstly a golden eagle being mobbed by a single (brave or reckless) peregrine. Secondly a sea eagle was spotted on a nest. Its partner was seen flying around close by then swooping onto the loch surface to catch a fish and return it to its nest-bound mate.

Earlier in the day Zuza had traversed the Ross of Mull stopping at Ardalanish where guests got off for a walk. A golden eagle was spotted and, as it was being watched, was seen to land and settle on a nest. A good vantage point was found and we hope to have a photo to show you soon.

Wed 7 May | A short-sighted short-eared owl  The third day of unbelieveably glorious weather, sunny and very hot with just a little wind. In fact we have had such wall-to-wall blue skies for the last few days that this morning Tim, aboard Zuza, felt minded to write "a cloud was seen" in the log book! Crew and guests are in t-shirts and shorts, barefoot on the warm, wooden decks of the yacht, on their way to Lunga to see the puffins. A little later today Heather got this lovely shot of the yacht with the obliging puffins in the foreground. Photo: Heather McNeill

Earlier today, whilst Zuza was about 5 miles offshore, near Staffa, a short-eared owl approached the yacht and quite determinedly tried to land on the speaders near the top of the mast. Perhaps he was short-sighted and thought it was a tree. In the middle of the sea.

Hjalmar Bjorge has spent some time at the Monach Islands and Barra Head over the last few days. Guests had time to walk on three of four of the main islands at the Monachs (below). Photo: Stella Sutherland

Whilst at the Monachs Helen also took a photo of a gravestone for us to pass on to The War Graves Photographic Project. A few weeks ago we received an email from Martin Briscoe, a TWGPP volunteer, asking if we had a photograph of this headstone marking the grave of Lieutenant William A McNeill who was a Royal Naval Reserve aboard HMS Laurentic during WWI. This 15,000 ton vessel was struck by a mine off the coast of Northern Ireland on 25 January 1917 and sank with the loss of 350 persons onboard. His body was washed up, on an unknown date, on Ceann Iar, one of the Monach Islands which, strangely, form part of the clan lands of the MacNeils of Barra. William McNeill's family came from the Orkney Islands. Photo: Helen Litt

Having left the Monach Islands Hjalmar Bjorge continued onto Mingulay but it was not calm enough to land. This morning while crossing through Gunna Sound, on the way back over to the Inner Hebrides, they saw a juvenile minke whale and two big basking sharks - the first of the season and a few weeks earlier than we usually first see them. They are heading to Gometra this evening where they may well meet up with Zuza.

Tue 6 May | Sue the skipper  Attention all shipping! Attention all shipping! Sue is driving the boat! Sue is driving the boat! Steer away! Steer away now! No, really, she was good at it (right). Photo: Heather McNeill

It’s been such calm weather that there has not been much hard sailing done so far but Zuza was trotting along happily at 7 knots with just the genny up and all the guests, in turn, have had a go at steering whilst underway. 

Yesterday Zuza spent time at Rum (two photos below) and overnighted at Canna. Although the deer on Rum are managed and not truly "wild" they still made a splendid sight which delighted the guests. Photos: Heather McNeill

The boat continued to Lochs Scavaig and Coruisk where a decent lengthy walk was taken. A black throated diver was spotted off Loch Scavaig, a species which is uncommon in the UK - the RSPB estimates there to be a little over 200 resident breeding pairs - and is more often seen in autumn or winter.

Sun 4 May | Shiant Islands visit  A rather grim day today weatherwise. Grey, wet, drizzly – a true "driech" Highland day. Hjalmar Bjorge visited the Shiant Islands (above) where guests admired the tall sea cliffs (right) and saw for themselves why some people refer to the Shiants as "a mini St Kilda". Photos: Stella Sutherland

Sat 3 May | Rona: the first of the year  Guests aboard Hjalmar Bjorge visited Rona today. An island between the Applecross peninsula on the mainland and the Isle of Skye it claims "one of the most beautiful anchorages in Scotland" at Acarseid Mhor (Big Harbour). The island's only permanent resident, caretaker Bill, and a visiting marine biologist confirmed our guests were the first to set foot on the island this year!

Mark had a scallop dive in the afternoon providing a supplement to dinner for all guests bar one who is allergic to shellfish.

Zuza was ready to go, with all guests aboard, and safety briefing delivered, by mid-afternoon today. We were pleased to welcome back Marc, all the way from the west coast of America, who has travelled with us aboard Chalice, Poplar Diver, Elizabeth G and Hjalmar Bjorge in the past. In fact, all the guests onboard today, have cruised on our motor vessels before and we very much hope they enjoy their week with sails.

Fri 2 May | Last day for Zuza's first  Zuza tied up at Corpach basin today having completed her first cruise of the season. There were a lot of individual quirks of the boat for Tim and Heather to learn and they appreciated having Tim's mate Donnie (on the right of the photo) onboard for this first week. He proved himself very helpful and handy on a number of occasions. Photo: Hannah Thompson

Tim and Heather agreed the weather conditions had been just about perfect for the boat's first proper cruise. Light winds enabled them to judge how the vessel handled and she proved to be very responsive. Through the week they enjoyed some gentle sailing in winds of up to about 25 knots. 

Peter, a guest with a real enthusiasm for wildlife, has promised a checklist detailing what was seen throughout the week...a sneak preview includes golden and sea eagles, a peregrine, minke whales, puffins and otters.

Aboard Hjalmar Bjorge guest Audrey's birthday was celebrated (right) as the vessel was tied up at Inverie in Loch Nevis. Photo: Stella Sutherland

Sailing through the Sound of Iona	Zuza in front of Kerrera and Mull

Thu 1 May | Both boats briefly berth in Oban  Zuza, which finishes a "Sailing and Seabirds" cruise tomorrow, stopped briefly alongside Hjalmar Bjorge in Oban this afternoon. Yesterday they travelled through the Sound of Iona, under sail, and Heather snapped a photo as they passed Iona Abbey, above left. Photos: Heather McNeill (left) and Hannah Thompson (right)

Hannah got one photo of Zuza as she sailed in front of Kerrera (above right) but the battery in her camera died after this one was taken. A kind-hearted stranger on the pier - who turned out to be called Chris Brough - took a picture of Zuza coming into the pier (right) and emailed it when he got home. The weather was very changeable today but, as you can see from the photo, was greatly improved by the afternoon. Photo: Chris Brough

Zuza was in and out of Oban before crew on Hjalmar Bjorge welcomed aboard 11 guests for an eight night "Not St Kilda" cruise. They departed from Oban about 1630 bound for Tobermory.

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Northern Light Charters, Achnacraig, Achindarroch, Duror of Appin, Argyll PA38 4BS | Tel: +44 (0)1631 740595

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