Whilst covid was still a big problem in 2021 things were starting to open up provided adequate precautions were taken. It was at this time I received an email from Classic Sailing about a last minute cancellation to sail on the Pelican of London on leg two of it’s circumnavigation of the UK . The aim of the voyage was to maintain support for the planned circumnavigation of the globe to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s voyage aboard the Beagle. I joined the ship in Glasgow on the 12th of June 2021, moored near the Glen Lee. Covid restrictions were still in effect so we all had to wear masks and to stay alongside for 4 nights with regular covid tests for everyone. When we had four days of clear tests we were allowed to finally set sail.
Motoring down the Clyde and finally reaching the open sea we set sails and headed South towards Ailsa Craig. It felt great to be on the ocean again after the restrictions of the past year and everyone on board was in high spirits. We soon turned North towards Mull and anchored on Loch na Keal. The mix of guest crew onboard this voyage was quite different to past voyages. There were at least nine permanent crew, more than on other ships. There were also a handful of cadets undergoing training as well a a Darwin 200 young scientists, camera crew and dive team. The aim was to visit some well known and some of the most remote islands around the UK, during which the Darwin scientist would perform beach surveys, the dive team would conduct sediment sampling and marine biology surveys whilst the camera crew documented the whole adventure which would eventually form the documentary series Britain’s Secret Islands.
After leaving Mull we headed for the island of Staffa, a beautiful national nature reserve, well known for Fingal’s cave immortalised by Felix Mendelssohn in The Hebrides (overture). We had plenty of time ashore to visit the cave and sit amongst the puffins on the North end of the island, before heading back to Loch na Keal. We spent time in Tobermory , then Oban bay before setting out for the far flung island of St. Kilda (Hirta). As always getting ashore on St. Kilda depends on the weather but luckily we were able to spend quite a bit of time exploring this remote windswept island and finding out more about the lives last inhabitants. When we came ashore we were met by the NTS ranger for a short briefing and introduction to the island. Whilst walking alone amongst the cleits I came face to face with a huge snowy owl, who seemed as surprised as I was, I only just managed to capture an image after it took flight.
Our next destination was the remote islet of Rockall around 163 nautical miles West of St. Kilda. Landing was of course not possible but we circled the rock a couple of times before heading back towards St Kilda and then North to the Flannan Isles, or the seven hunters. From there we headed around the butt of Lewis to anchor in Broad Bay on the East of Lewis and then onto Stornoway for a couple of days alongside. Whilst on Lewis we hired a car to visit some sites including Bostadh Iron Age House, on Bernera and Luskentyre beach in Harris before returning to Stornoway. Unfortunately one of the guest crew fell ill and was taken to hospital inn Stornoway. Whilst we waited for news we sailed into lochs along the coast Our next destination was the remote islet of Rockall around 163 nautical miles West of St. Kilda. Landing was of course not possible but we circled the rock a couple of times before heading back towards St Kilda and then North to the Flannan Isles, or the seven hunters. From there we headed around the butt of Lewis to anchor in Broad Bay on the East of Lewis and then onto Stornoway for a couple of days alongside. Whilst on Lewis we hired a car to visit some sites including Bostadh Iron Age House, on Bernera and Luskentyre beach in Harris before returning to Stornoway. Unfortunately one of the guest crew fell ill and was taken to hospital inn Stornoway. Whilst we waited for news we sailed into lochs along the coast Our next destination was the remote islet of Rockall around 163 nautical miles West of St. Kilda. Landing was of course not possible but we circled the rock a couple of times before heading back towards St Kilda and then North to the Flannan Isles, or the seven hunters. From there we headed around the butt of Lewis to anchor in Broad Bay on the East of Lewis and then onto Stornoway for a couple of days alongside. Whilst on Lewis we hired a car to visit some sites including Bostadh Iron Age House, on Bernera and Luskentyre beach in Harris before returning to Stornoway. Unfortunately one of the guest crew fell ill and was taken to hospital inn Stornoway. Whilst we waited for news we sailed into Loch Shiphoirt and Loch Claidh, we planned to head for Tarbert to meet the crew member when she’d recovered but the weather had other ideas so we headed back to Loch Shiphoirt. We did some sailing around the Shiants sighting minke whales and finally picked up our crewmate near Leumrabhagh on Lewis before heading South to Lochmaddy on North Uist for a short time onshore.
Sailing further South we entered Caolas Bhatarsaigh South of Barra near Vatersay to drop anchor. A long walk over the causeway to Castle Bay for a few beers then a walk back to the ship for dinner, but not before a glorious swim on Traigh Shiar on the West of Vatersay. we were all late for dinner but it was worth it.
A short sail East and we anchored that evening off the East of Rum in Kinloch Bay. The next day we all went ashore to explore Rum which is a beautiful island and includes the very strange abandoned Kinloch Castle which still has all it’s furniture etc. Back on board I helped the Bosun, Ellie replace some safety lines in the rigging and later climbed to ‘touch the button’ at the top of the main mast. Sailing North gain we headed for Loch Bay on the West of Skye, arriving in the afternoon we quickly dropped anchor and all headed to the Stein Inn, the oldest pub on Skye (1790). That evening we had a ceilidh to celebrate a crewmates birthday. This wasn’t the first time as there was a lot of music, singing and dancing on this voyage despite the fact it was supposedly a ‘dry’ ship. We spent another day anchored in Loch Bay so a few of us went for a hike, I left the others and made it to the end of the loch and heading back inevitably ended up at the pub again. I knew I’d drunk too much when I got back to the ship so went straight to my bunk missing dinner. We left Loch Bay the next day and headed North East for our next port of call, Ullapool. We arrived ahead of schedule so had to anchor in Loch Broom to await our berth. I was part of the shore team for berthing and almost fell into the harbour when I tried to grab the mooring line thrown to me. That night in the Seaforth pub the bosun, Ellie and I were ‘married’ in a handfasting and I told here it was legally binding in Scotland, so for the rest of the voyage we referred to each other as husband and wife to everyone’s amusement.
Leaving Ullapool we headed South again and entered Loch Torridon which was spectacular however, in Upper Loch Torridon there were too many creils for safe anchorage so the captain decided to head back down the loch and we finally anchored near Sheildaig. Some of the crew went ashore but I stayed onboard to help Ellie with some rigging work. Shona joined us and we got quite a lot of work done including splicing and whipping for the spanker preventer and vangs. The wind had started to pick up with strong gust so it was decided to head out of the loch and ended up with t moving recovery of the rib after picking up the shore crew. Our aim was to head for Loch Carron but as the wind changed direction we ended up anchoring in Broadford bay for the nigh and head into Loch Carron the next day anchoring off Plockton.
Our last sailing day was just a short hop over to Skye to moor alongside in Portree which is where my part in the Darwin 200 2021 voyage ended. We had a gear farewell party that night with lots of singing and dancing and there were a few tearful goodbyes the next day, especially amongst my watch (Fore watch) as we had all bonded as a great crew, not to mention my wife, Ellie.
Voyage stats: 35 Days onboard, 100 night hours and 1456 Nautical miles travelled.