Whitefish totalled 2400 boxes from a single Scottish twin rigger and 7 Anglo Spanish liners. The Inverness registered Adventurer landed a good shot of mixed fish working deepwater grounds to the west of St Kilda. Anglo vessels have fished extremely well with boats landing well above average catches of hake and ling every 5 – 7 days.
Shellfish arrivals have been steady with 11 landings from visiting prawners, 2 scallop landings, weekly visits from the 2 offshore crabbers and the local fleet working away.
Non-fishing was limited to the Tie Venture calling in for fuel and the salmon tank ship Norholm in for a cargo of 90,000 smolts.
Ferry Infrastructure Update
Harbour works have continued despite the intermittent horrendous weather. Sheet-piling and dredging at the Linkspan, rock bund formation and installation of the temporary fenders have all been completed. Caisson construction is on schedule with the base concrete already completed at the Inchgreen dry dock on the Clyde. The contract for the Ferry Terminal extension is due to go out to tender within the next 2 weeks. We expect work on building a second storey to commence in April. Calmac staff will be working from temporary offices in the ferry carpark from the 4th April for the duration of the building works. Full plans and drawings of the pier works, caisson design and terminal extension are available to view at the harbour office.
Keep an eye on the website (www.ullapool-harbour.co.uk) which we’re updating with photos and progress reports.
Tall Ship news
Plans are moving along for our annual harbour-sponsored Tall Ship adventure voyages. This year, the Wylde Swan will take 11 Ullapool trainees aged 15 and over and 2 chaperones from Bergen to Ullapool from 27th July to 1st August inclusive. Both Orkney and the Western Isles have been offered the opportunity for a further 24 trainees to join this voyage. July 26th is the final night of that particular leg of the annual Tall Ships races with a great party atmosphere in Bergen and upwards of 100 ships alongside. The trips were booked up in a single morning; our students are really keen to be involved and it’s great to see so much interest from them. The day-sail for 36 second year High School students has been booked for 20th August; this has proven to be a great success and a lifelong passion is ignited for some of the younger sailors on this trip. These trips are sponsored by the harbour with funds collected from calendar sales and various other fund-raising efforts. This year calendar sales have been fantastic; many thanks. We say this every year but the Wylde Swan Adventure sailing trips are selling out very quickly. The calendar section of the website has details of dates, destinations and prices together with organiser contact details. If you are thinking of going we advise that you start making plans fairly soon.
We’ve had great news too from the Tall Ship Statsraad Lehmkuhl which sailed to Ullapool two years’ ago to say they’ll visit us for the weekend of the 15th to 17th August. The magnificent 3-masted bark built in 1914 will be alongside for 2 nights and we are very much looking forward to welcoming the crew back. Plans are underway for an open evening with a ceilidh and dance on the 16th for 200 guests, buffet and bar together with live music from Feis Rois Ceilidh Trail. We’ll keep you posted!