After staying in Loch na Droma Buidhe on Wednesday night we awoke very cold and damp (and without a heater) on Thursday morning. Our initial plan was to head into Salen Jetty, get dried out, top up water and restock supplies there. When I phoned in to confirm it was achievable the owners informed me of a Force 7 forecast from the SW which would result in them closing the pontoons. We had a rethink. The options were to anchor up in Loch Sunart somewhere and sit out the forecast blow of head into Tobermory.

Long story, short! We spent a happy, warm, dry two nights on Tobermory pontoons sitting out the storm and restocking. We actually had a good time and it was, as ever, really comfortable in Tobermory with lots to keep us entertained.

Saturday morning after breakfast and showers we headed off with full water tanks into the Sound of Mull. The weather was 15mph SW gusting up to 25mph. We rigged half the forsail and still spent most of the way down to the Sound of Lorne doing 8 knots.

It was amazing how busy the water is with leisure boats and commercials too. We basically never had a minute without something imminently heading in our direction.

We had great views of the relatively newly uncloaked Duart Castle as we whooshed by then it was furling the foresail, prepping the anchor and getting the iPad ready for the entrance into Loch Don.

There is no way I would have attempted it without Antares Charts. The level of detail makes it so much more achievable and even then I was curling my toes as we went in over the sill.

The zig-zag in past the outer pool into the first pool is very tight and a couple of times we were in 1.5m LAT (with 1m tide) in actuality and according to Antares but on the ground according to Navionics.

The good bit about the entranceway is that it is heavily populated by seals waiting for you to make a mess of the entrance so it is very pretty and very photogenic.

Into the middle pool we anchored on the 3.6m depth marker (with a potential 3.7m tide) so put out 35m of chain. The anchor bit right away and was well dug in before we were finished dropping chain.

There are geese, seals and loads of wildlife around.