Lussa Bay Jura Scotland

Great sailing conditions heading up to Lussa Bay

After a fun morning ashore, we left Craighouse Bay on Jura at 1210hrs.  With 15-20 knots of wind from the northwest we had great sailing conditions and beautiful sunny weather as well.

The Paps of Jura

As we sailed north we enjoyed great views of Jura’s coastline bathed in sunlight and then shadow as cumulus clouds tracked serenely overhead.

Hard on the wind in great sailing conditions

Anchored in Lussa Bay.  Bottom:  the northern inlet

It only took us a couple of hours to reach Lussa Bay.  There was already one yacht anchored at the entrance to the northern arm and a smaller boat further inside that reach, so we anchored outside, fairly close to the western beach.  We contemplated pumping up the dinghy and then walking the 2 miles or so to the Lussa Gin distillery but reckoned that they would likely have closed up shop for the day by the time that we got there.  Instead we enjoyed the weather, read our books and watched the seals when the tide dropped and exposed a rocky reef to the west of us.

New, clean watermaker filters.  And, with the wet locker empty it’s an ideal time to exercise the stopcocks that
are under the locker’s floor

We spent Friday morning doing technical jobs – there seems to be a never-ending list of these!  First up was the routine check of the main engine, followed by a check of the generator (which usually entails topping up the oil a fraction).  Then it was onto the watermaker and a change of the salt water intake filters – a good job for getting water everywhere but a useful opportunity to also exercise some of the stopcocks which live under the floor of the wet locker where the filters are located.  Finally, I got right into the generator/machinery space and made some small adjustments to the DuoGen regulator to try to ensure that the DuoGen would fully charge the batteries but would not over-charge them.

Grey seals enjoying the sun

With the jobs complete we enjoyed coffee on deck.  The seals had returned and were obviously enjoying their equivalent of a coffee break in the sun on the warm rocks.

A stag on the headland which protects the northern arm of Lussa Bay

In the opposite direction a stag appeared on the headland to the east of the northern arm.  It was the only deer we saw in the area but, like the seals (and us), it too seemed to be enjoying the warm sunshine.

Rustler 42 Cruachan

Just before we left, the Rustler 42 that had been in the anchorage the previous day returned.  This time we could see her name and port of registry (Cruachan, Glasgow) and we waved and called hello as we motored past to catch the start of the flood tide northwards.

Lussa Bay, Jura, Scotland