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NEWS FROM NORTHERN LIGHT CHARTERS :: OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2008 :: NEWEST NEWS FIRST ::

Tue 18 Nov | New old St Kilda photos  We were lucky enough to recently receive some slides from Alison Sassoon, wife of the late George Sassoon, our friend and neighbour from Lochbuie who helped us get started way back in the early days of Northern Light Charters. George had travelled to St Kilda in 1965 aboard the "Glen Carradale" which was owned by Alastair Gibson. Alastair's son Kenny was another neighbour of ours when we lived in Lochbuie - small world!

A couple of George's photos from his 1965 visit to St Kilda are shown above and the rest can be seen on a new gallery page here. Above (left) George - we think - on the forepeak of "Glen Carradale" (right) passengers at Stac Lee, St Kilda

Wed 12 Nov | Rare bird photos  An email today from Michael McKee who chartered Zuza in September/ October to go looking for little seen birds. He sent us some photos of the very rare gull-billed tern that he and his fellow sailors saw on Tiree. Only the 10th occasion that this species has been seen in Scotland, one of Michael's photos of the tern appears in our Bird Gallery along with this splendid photo, right, of a snowy owl in flight, taken on North Uist. To visit Michael's website of stunning bird photographs click here. Above: snowy owl by Michael McKee

Fri 7 Nov | Hjalmar Bjorge in print  Hannah's birthday today (21 again!) was an excuse for Mark and she to climb Ben Nevis. First job of the day was to buy a map. Imagine our surprise to see Hjalmar Bjorge at Corpach Basin on the front of OS Landranger Map 41. The photographer most likely snapped this shot sometime last winter as Ben Nevis, in the background, has heavy snow on the slopes. Right: Photographer Dennis Hardley snapped Hjalmar Bjorge for the front cover of this Ordnance Survey map

Fri 31 Oct | Charity cheques  Returning guests will know that several years ago Hannah and Mark decided to make a £5 donation to one of two local charities for every cruise guest who booked on any of our boats. Our guests are also given the option of doubling this by paying an additional £5. Today we are delighted to have written cheques for £570 to Argyll Animal Aid and £990 to Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team. Of the total donation of £1560 the sum of £405 came from our very generous passengers this year who opted to pay an extra £5 per head to the charities. Big thanks go to...

Thu 23 Oct | Get your props off  At some point in the late summer it became apparent that something was not quite right with the props on Zuza - nothing to get alarmed about, but an annoyance nonetheless. Mark got the props off today, ready to be couriered back to the manufacturer in Essex. 

Tue 14 Oct | Zuza lifted out at Kerrera  Hannah drove Mark and Tim to Corpach this morning to board Zuza. They took the yacht down to Oban Marina, on the NE of Kerrera, as she is going on the hard-standing over the winter, this being a very safe option for the boat. At 22m and 40-something tons the vessel is one of the biggest to have been taken out of the water here. Below: Zuza coming out of the water at Kerrera by Mark Henrys

Tue 7 Oct | Final day of final trip 2008  Mark, Ylva and Anna waved off regulars York BSAC today before Hjalmar Bjorge set off for Corpach. Unusually for us this is the last trip of the year. We frequently run dive charters through to Christmas but, having run two boats solidly for the summer, we decided to take things a little easier this autumn and winter.

Sun 5 Oct | Wind restricts range  Day four of a dive trip aboard Hjalmar Bjorge. The weather has been somewhat grim so they haven't ventured beyond the Sound of Mull. That said, there is plenty of good diving within the Sound, mainly wrecks and, with pub visits each evening, the 12 divers are managing to enjoy themselves. This evening the calm after the storm was seen in Tobermory. Below: Tobermory harbour early evening by Mark Henrys

Sat 4 Oct | Snowy start and finish  Zuza crew and guests woke this morning to a beautiful but cold day with snow on the tops. As they cruised up Loch Linnhe to Corpach it seemed an appropriate finish to the yacht's first full season in Scotland. When she first sailed out of Corpach at the end of April there was also snow on the tops. Below: snow capped peaks across Loch Linnhe by Heather McNeill

One white-tailed sea eagle was seen off Appin and a pale-bellied Brent Goose was spotted back at base in Corpach. Michael, Trevor, Chris, Alan and Leo have been running an autumn trip similar to this one annually for the last 13 years. 12 of those years have been spent on the Shetland Islands and this year was their first foray into the Hebrides. After reviewing their sightings, and assessing the trip in terms of "points" gained per sighting, they reckoned this was their third most successful trip out of the 13 - we were very happy to be in the top three (in fact there's a rumour going round that Heather refused to make them breakfast unless we were in the top three!).

The group's most noteworthy and unusual sightings are listed below. The Gull-billed Tern which was seen on Tiree was, says Michael, "the rarest bird of the trip and undoubted highlight; only the 10th record for Scotland".

Fri 3 Oct | A Siberian stop-off  Michael and co met Zuza alongside the Railway Pier this morning having spotted two more rare birds on Tiree. There were two separate sightings of a yellow-browed warbler. This little bird is not a UK resident but a rare visitor from Siberia. The even rarer gull-billed tern was seen again too. The guests were delighted with Tiree and thought the amount of bird life there was "staggering".

Thu 2 Oct | Tiree proves tops  Yesterday, as predicted, it blew a hoolie all day so Zuza (with crew but minus guests who opted to stay on Tiree) sat in Tobermory all day. There was a break in the weather this morning so the yacht headed down to Oban Marina on Kerrera. The weather was rough for most of the day and many Outer Hebridean ferry services were cancelled. Our guests did get back from Tiree on the late ferry but it would have been dangerous to transport them across the bay, in the dark, in prevailing conditions so they had a night in the hostel in Oban. Photo: the Glasgow - Oban seaplane over Oban bay by Heather McNeill

Divers from York BSAC joined Hjalmar Bjorge alongside in Oban from 1800 today. The vessel departs early tomorrow morning.

Wed 1 Oct | Tiree proves tops  It's October already. Unsurprisingly there is less news for us to report over these off-season months. This newspage will run from 1 October to 31 December and we'll use it to keep you updated of our progress as we have some exciting plans to put into action over the winter.

news from the previous month [ September ]

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"The overall

experience is one

we will treasure for

the rest of our

lives - not many

holidays live up to

this. "

Graeme & Ann B, Oxon

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

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