4th – 23rd July (44 arrivals)

Harbour News

Whitefish totalled 1900 boxes from 3 Scottish twin rig trawlers and 1 Anglo Spanish liner. The Scottish boats have been targeting the seasonal squid fishery at Rockall with a few boats finding big shoals of fish close to the Rock. The regular lander Ayr Queen put ashore a decent shot of hake before heading home for his annual summer break.

The shellfish sector has once again been very busy with 22 landings from the displaced east coast prawn fleet, steady landings from the offshore crabbers and the local inshore fleet has worked away well in a period of very settled weather.

The non fishing sector saw the Phoenix Reisen owned 44,500T cruise liner Artania make her maiden call to the village en route from Bremerhaven to Reykjavik. With 1200 passengers and 600 crew onboard including the company owner and his wife, the passengers undertook half day excursions and then spent time visiting the local shops and cafes. Feedback from the owner has been very positive with all concerned delighted with the welcome and the wonderful scenery on offer. Many thanks once again to Chrissy and Celia for manning the marquee and making our visitors feel so welcome and well informed. Artania is booked to visit again in 2013. The luxury superyacht Hampshire II arrived on her maiden voyage from Amsterdam and lay at anchor in the bay for the weekend. Built by Feadship of Holland the 78m custom motoryacht built to the owner’s specification includes a playing field for basketball, tennis, baseball and badminton plus an elevator to the 25m crow’s nest. The Marine Scotland fishery protection vessel Minna called in and was open to the public for the annual Round the Pier Day on Saturday 14th July and the fishfarm vessels Tie Venture and Victoria Viking came in for a layover and equipment respectively.

The public meeting to discuss the new ferry was well supported with approx 40 attendees listening to a presentation from the CEO of CMAL Guy Platten. The ship building order has now been placed with the German yard Flensburger with an anticipated delivery June 2014. The single vessel option has been questioned in some quarters but Mr Platten assured the audience that the new ship design has a strong emphasis on propulsion reliability, contingency and noise reduction.

The Wylde Swan is coming back to the village on the 26th September to carry out 2 voyages on the west coast. The first is a 5 day trip around Skye and the second a 3 day trip in the Minch. Further details can be found at http://www.wyldeswan.eu, to make a reservation email kathi@wyldeswan.eu or pick up a flyer from one of the local shops.

The harbour was saddened to hear of the unexpected passing of Lynne Macpherson, a dedicated mother, granny and wife, Lynne was until recently a stalwart for RNLI fundraising. Her larger than life presence will be sorely missed around the village; our thoughts are with the family at this very sad time.