Elgol is one of the most beautiful places on earth I mean look…..
and not just the views, there is the amazing shore line with it’s view of the Cuillin ridge – a holy grail for photographers, the fabulous coffee and cakes at Hermione’s cafe the Elgol Shop, (a personal holy grail for me) and the famous honeycomb cliff (you can abseil off here with Mike Lates of Skye Guides). It is frankly a little piece of heaven on a stick. One of our favourite family trips is to sail with the lovely Misty Isle from Elgol over to Loch Scavaig, looking out for seals and dolphins en route and enjoying the wonderful hospitality of the MacKinnon family who have run this business for over 40 years. So when we heard that this year they had added another boat to the fleet we were quickly booked aboard for an early season trip on the Heather Grace.
New deckhand, Thomas, delivering the safety drill with style and panache at the start of the trip.
Fishing boats at anchor in Elgol bay.
Skipper Seamus MacKinnon at the wheel.
Arriving at Loch Scavaig – the adventurous children scampered up the steps to the landing platform.
A short walk takes you to the breathtaking Loch Coruisk. After an hour scrambling on the rocks, enjoying a picnic and posing like extras in Titantic it was back off to the Heather Grace for a short trip to the seal colony. We were welcomed back aboard with coffee and hot chocolate and biscuits. Thomas even kept a smile on his face when 4 year old Kate spilled her hot chocolate all over the newly scrubbed deck.
The absolute highlight of our day for the children was taking the wheel on the return trip to Elgol. 7 year old Tom approach the boat driving in a sensible and watchful manner, paying close attention to Seamus’ navigational directions. 4 year old Kate took a more inquisitive approach by seeing just how far the wheel goes one way and how quickly she could turn it the other way. None of the passengers were actually sick during her turn at the wheel but I suspect it was a close run thing.
It is a long standing joke with the owners that we are a bit of a jinx on wild life watching when we are aboard. Tales of huge pods of dolphins and whales being spotted all summer long (and the photos as proof) are common on these trips…but never when we are there. But it doesn’t matter. We love the trip, we love exploring Loch Coruisk and going to visit the seals. Soon, we are off on a trip to see the puffins on nearby Canna. We can’t recommend a trip on the Mistly Isle stongly enough..but if you are booking and are keen to see dolphins I suggest you ask if the Woodhouse’s are booked that day, and if we are book for a trip we’re not on!
