The Boat Trip

We moved to Coll last January from Northamptonshire, which is about as far from the sea as you can get. The sea was something to look for, the excitement of seeing it first from the car, always a bit special. It comes complete with rock pools, huge waves, slippery seaweed, noises, smells and leaves a reminder in sandy socks, but it was always seen from the edge. I never thought of it with boats. The two questions newcomers to Coll get asked are “Why did you move to Coll” and “When are you getting a boat?” Why would I want a boat, we aren’t even by the sea, I don’t want a boat, or a pearl necklace, or a motor bike.

In 1999 when Roy ordered his boat he offered a trip in it as a lot in the auction of promises held at the school and we were given this as a Christmas present. We followed Roy’s progress through the various courses with some impatience although we finally took our trip in August when he had had it some time. We went from the middle pier down the west End, round Gunna and back. At first the boat seemed very small, we were very low and Coll looked much higher that it does form the ferry. We passed Arinthluic quite quickly, I hadn’t realised how close to the pier it was, it seems much further round by road. Roy had been out earlier and seen some dolphins and we headed there. We saw a couple from a distance but they disappeared as we got closer. Then we saw a basking shark. I hadn’t seen any from the beaches and it was hard to believe just how big it was. Now the boat really felt small. We chugged on down the coast with my perceptions of where houses were and how far apart changing every minute. We passed Crossapol beach with a lone figure on it and went between Coll and Gunna. The water was so clear here it would have made a swimming pool look murky. On the bottom there were loads of sand eels, they looked about a foot away but a penny dropped in the water took ages to land. 

On the rocks loads of seals stared at us and all around were basking sharks, they were as common as sheep. There were people too, Charlie in his boa and several fishing boats in a hurry. All the time Roy was telling us what he had seen earlier and what we could expect to see next. As we rounded Gunna we got a good look at Tiree, similar but not the same as Coll. On the way back Roy kept the boat further from Coll, it looked more island like, more as it appears from the ferry. Away from Coll the Treshnish Isles beckoned, no longer just landmarks but a possible destination, our next trip perhaps. So now when people ask “when are you getting a boat” we don’t answer straight away. 

N.S.