24 arrivals for the period
Whitefish landings totalled 1200 boxes from one Scottish trawler and one Spanish liner. As ever at this time of the year the whitefish sector is very quiet with both the Scottish and Anglo- Spanish vessels fishing and landing further to the north and east.
Shellfish effort was steady with eight visiting prawn trawl landings. The regular offshore crabber Our Hazel and the local fleet all fished steadily but reported poor returns for their efforts.
Non-fishing was the busiest sector with ten vessels calling in for various reasons. The Hebridean Princess made a day visit as did the luxury German cruise ship Amadea; this brought to an end the 2017 cruise season. The 2018 season promises to be the busiest on record with 29 ships in the diary carrying 25,000 passengers and crew to the village. The Dutch Tall Ship Tecla called in on her way home from a very successful summer season exploring Iceland and Greenland – it’s worth checking out the stunning images on their website alongside details of next year’s adventures. The Marine Scotland research vessel Scotia came alongside for 48 hours to change fishing gear and personnel before heading off for the annual deep-water survey. The ship kindly hosted a class of primary pupils from Ullapool and Sunnyside School in Glasgow – the visit was a great success and a joy for all. Silurian, the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust research yacht, spent a week on the pontoon hosting school visits before heading off to survey the Minch. The Northern Lighthouse purpose built repair and maintenance vessel Pharos called in for a weekend layover. Based in Oban the Pharos is used to maintain and repair the various aids to navigation and lighthouses around the Scottish coastline. War games are once again occupying the coast with operation Joint Warrior well underway. A multinational fleet of fourteen vessels and 3,300 service personnel are taking part in the two-week exercise from Kintyre to Cape Wrath. The Norwegian warship Rauma, one of the participating vessels, called in for fuel and three civilian naval support vessels are also day-running from the harbour. Finally the fishfarm vessel Ossian called in for equipment and the tank ship Viking Junior was in for a layover.
Loopallu on the pier has come and gone. Many thanks to all our regular customers for your patience and understanding throughout the week-long upheaval. The weather remained fair for a weekend packed with great music, words and fun and thankfully the organisers were able to drop the marquees overnight on Saturday before the gales and rain arrived. Congratulations to Robert Hicks and his loyal and hardworking team of supporters for managing such a fantastic spectacle.