Visiting Easdale by Boat

Cullipool (The Atlantic Centre) 56°14.91N   5°39.41W

Boats can tie up here. The Sound of Luing is fast flowing — beware Cleit Rock 56°15.78N   5°37.42W mid-sound, and wind against tide at the western entrance.

Toberonochy (Art and Craft Gallery) 56°13.13N   5°37.7W

Boats can tie up here.

Loch Melfort Hotel 56°13.92N   5°33.3W

A safe cruise up a sheltered loch. Anchor off the hotel for food and visit Arduaine Gardens. On calm days with a RIB you can drop off in the rock gut under the hotel.

Craobh Haven Marina 56°12.74N   5°33.5W

All the facilities of a south coast marina. Under new ownership and being transformed. The Lord of the Isles pub and associated market has reopened.

Dorus Mòr 56°07.6N   5°36.44W

Strong tidal flow here. Immediately to port lies Loch Craignish.

Ardfern Marina 56°10.94N   5°31.77W

Full marina facilities with the Galley of Lorne pub nearby. For a circular tour, head back down the east side of Eilean Righ and Eilean Macaskin.

Crinan Canal Basin 56°05.49N   5°33.32W

Start of the Crinan Canal. Hotel and café at the canal basin. Note that Crinan Harbour pontoon does not welcome visitors — go to just east of the canal entrance, or tie up under the hotel.

Carsaig Bay (mainland) 56°01.90N   5°38.63W

Small jetty — mind the rocks. Sandy bay with islands. Take the ¾ mile walk to Tayvallich 56°01.40N   5°37.44W for a pub, shop, and sheltered harbour with jetty. You can also visit Tayvallich by sea, though it is a long way down the coast and back up the other side of the peninsula.

Fladda Lighthouse 56°14.94N   5°40.85W

Small jetty to tie alongside. Please note and respect that the houses are in private ownership.

Belnahua 56°15.02N   5°41.46W

The most remote of the Scottish Slate Islands, with associated ruins. Drop-off and tie-up is against the rocks. If anchoring off, be aware of the strong tides.

Eilean Dubh Mòr & Eilean Dubh Beag 56°14.10N   5°42.93W

Uninhabited but worth the scramble.

Lunga 56°12.98N   5°41.49W

Jetty available. Inhabited island, worth the scramble.

Scarba 56°11.17N   5°40.7W

Steps for landing into the woods. Note: the jetty at 56°11.56N   5°40.56W is private. The bay at 56°10.08N   5°40.96W beneath the bothy is boulder ground.

Kinuachdrachd (known locally as KD) 56°07.262N   5°41.60W

Stone quay. Head south on the track to Barnhill (private), former home of the author George Orwell.

Ardlussa, Jura (east side) 56°01.70N   5°46.02W

The jetty is private, but gin enthusiasts will want to head up to the Lussa Gin Distillery. The Fletchers own both the distillery and the jetty.

Pigs Bay, North Jura 56°08.50N   5°43.49W

Generally calm. Sandy as the tide drops.

MacLean’s Skull, Glengarrisdale 56°06.59N   5°47.16W

Tie against the south side of the rock island.

Garbh Eileach 56°14.43N   5°45.75W

Jetty available. The west side shows remarkable evidence of snowball earth — a time when Scotland lay south of the equator.

Eileach an Naomh 56°13.177N   5°48.45W

A historic site with ruins attributed to St Columba, 542 AD. Look for rings in the rocks to tie up.

Loch Spelve 56°23.29N   5°43.90W

Spectacular loch, volcanic centre, and good wildlife, but no facilities.

Loch Buie 56°21.23N   5°52.68W

Sandy beaches, an old ruined castle, and wildlife. There is a café with a distinctive red roof — visible from a good distance offshore — serving local food. The jetty 56°21.23N   5°52.68W can be hard to spot.

Carsaig 56°19.21N   5°58.36W

Old herring landing station with a difficult, broken-stone jetty.

Carsaig Arches

Worth a look if you have an interest in geology.

Oban

The gateway to the Isles. Pontoons in the town centre with all the facilities you would expect from a coastal town.

Kerrera Marina 56°23.96N   5°31.05W

Pontoons and café at the north-east end, opposite Oban. Alternatively, anchor off Kerrera Pier and take the coastal track south to Gylen Castle and the Kerrera Tea Room.

Isle of Lismore

Not the easiest place to land — the jetties are in private ownership. A circumnavigation makes for a great trip. Your best bet for a visit is to head to Port Appin 56°33.27N   5°24.92W, with a hotel on the pier and a shop up the road.

Dunstaffnage Marina 56°27.16N   5°26.03W

Full marina facilities.

Loch Etive — Taynuilt 56°26.68N   5°13.74W

Head up Loch Etive under the Connel Bridge — watch the tide at the Falls of Lora — and on to Taynuilt with its old concrete jetty. Visit the old ironworks, which produced cannonballs used by Nelson at Trafalgar. The latter stages of James Bond’s Skyfall were filmed at the head of the loch (though not the lodge itself).

Lochaline 56°32.41N   5°46.15W

Well-sheltered harbour wall and pontoons, café, pub, and other facilities.

Duart Castle (home of Clan MacLean) 56°27.40N   5°39.46W

Jetty available.

Craignure, Mull 56°28.18N   5°42.05W

Use the harbour. Co-op and pub.

The Boathouse Restaurant, Kingairloch (Loch A’Choire) 56°37.0N   5°31.05W

Easy jetty for tying alongside, with superb wildlife in the area.

Holly Tree Inn, Loch Leven 56°40.55N   5°14.62W

Jetty and pontoon associated with the inn.

North Ballachulish 56°41.35N   5°10.79W

Jetty, hotel, and art gallery.

Ballachulish 56°40.84N   5°07.77W

Private hotel pontoon — call ahead for meals, with the village nearby.

Kinlochleven 56°42.77N   4°58.78W

Village, ice-climbing and rock centre, pubs. Bit of a scramble.

Scalasaig, Gigha 55°40.37N   5°43.89W

Pontoons south of the ferry terminal, café, shops, and sandy beaches. Consider calling in at the MacCormaig Isles 55°54.92N   5°44.07W en route — safe anchorage and a wooden jetty on Eilean Mòr with its chapel. A popular tour is Gigha to Craighouse on Jura and home.

Craighouse 55°50.09N   6°56.80W

The ‘capital’ of Jura, with hotel, shop, café, and distillery. In the Sound of Islay, Port Askaig is probably the best tie-up point — use the fishing quay near the lifeboat station, though fishing boats take priority. Hotel, shop, and a number of distilleries on the shore. Try Bunnahabhain, which has a jetty 55°53.01N   6°07.47W. Pop into Loch Tarbert on the west side of Jura 55°57.58N   5°57.79W — it’s quite spectacular.

Scalasaig, Colonsay 56°04.11N   6°11.17W

A popular day tour from Easdale. Sandy beaches, shop, café, and hotel with a great jetty for easy landing — pull your boat forward to leave room for others. A must is to head down to the RSPB reserve on Oronsay 56°00.69N   6°13.90W: anchor off the shell house and walk to the priory.

Tobermory 56°37.20N   6°03.88W

The capital of Mull, with colourful houses, pubs, pontoons, diesel, and petrol.

Suggested clockwise circuit from Easdale

Sandy beaches along the southern shore; David Balfour’s Bay 56°17.34N   6°22.51W and many other hidden bays to explore. Erraid is on the south-west corner — the quarries that supplied stone for Dubh Artach and Skerryvore Lighthouses. Big jetty 56°18.08N   6°22.04W — the signalling station is open.

Visit Iona 56°19.82N   6°23.42W and its Abbey (booking a tour is now almost essential), cafés, and hotels. Head north to Staffa — Fingal’s Cave 56°25.86N   6°20.5W and puffins 56°26.20N   6°20.16W. The Treshnish Isles 56°29.85N   6°25.0W are worth visiting for seabirds. If you are hungry, visit the Boathouse on Ulva 56°28.84N   6°09.10W (made famous by Banjo and Ro). Calgary Bay 56°34.55N   6°17.54W is beautiful. Continue to Tobermory 56°37.20N   6°03.88W, then round Duart Castle 56°27.40N   5°39.46W and back to Easdale.

Salen 56°42.73N   5°46.65W

Pontoons, hotel, and other facilities. Loch Sunart is a major loch and very picturesque.

Glenbeg — Ardnamurchan Distillery 56°41.14N   5°56.07W

Jetty available.

Kilchoan 56°41.32N   6°05.61W

Pier with a walk up to the village.

Ardnamurchan Point 56°43.65N   6°13.4W

The most westerly point on the British mainland. The lighthouse is open, there is a café, and there is an old jetty.