Heading South from Oban: IslaY, Jura and Gigha
Oban to Oban
Dates: 1 - 9 May 2026 (8 Nights)
£1980.00 per person sharing twin cabin
Oban is a great base to explore from. It’s easy to get there by road or train and is right in the middle of what many regard as the best sailing ground in the world. An eight day trip will give us enough time to do some proper exploring.
The west coast of Scotland has such an amazing array of islands, lochs, mountains, wildlife and culture.
And this, the beginning of May is a simply brilliant time to get out on the water. Spring is roaring into life and by some meteorological twist of fate this week is often lovely and sunny.
It’s not really a sailing thing but this is usually the week when the beech trees sprout their new leaves with a display of the brightest most alive green that the universe can ever offer.
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On this trip we’ll aim to head south. One of our first stops may be the Garvellach Islands. It’s recently been discovered that these islands are formed of what some think could be the oldest rock anywhere on the surface of the planet. They are also the home of an amazing, tiny and very ancient “Bee-hive” monastery.
Further south we will encounter the infamous Corryvreckan. This is a stretch of water north of Jura where the shape of the islands conspires to force millions of tons of water through tiny gap. The result is marine pyrotechnics with crazy whirlpools and waves that appear from nowhere. We’ll need to use a bit of navigational cunning to get close but not too close.
Jura is a beautiful and surprisingly remote island. Closer to the mainland than neighbouring Islay but with a population of only 130. The north end is almost uninhabited. Interestingly one of the very few buildings up here is a tiny cottage where George Orwell stayed while writing the novel 1984.
Jura is almost cut in half by Loch Tarbert, this area of water cuts deep into its west coast. With a bit of cunning we can navigate far into Jura’s interior.
The waters of the west of Scotland are well known to navigators for strong currents. These can be particularly strong in the waters between islands. The Sound of Islay is a great example of this. Trying to pass through here at the wrong time can be slow work. If we get it wrong we can be sailing at full speed through the water whilst going nowhere over the ground, a bit like trying to run up a downward escalator. But with good timing we can shoot through a passage such as this like a cork from a Champaign bottle.
Sailing down the Sound of Islay, the whiskey capital of the universe, we pass two distilleries. On a couple of occasions the distillery at Caol-Ila have given us a friendly toot on their steam horn.
If we head south east from here we can drop anchor at Gigha, a charming little island off the Kintyre coast. One of our favourite places and home to the Wee Isle Dairy. Makers of some smashing Ice-cream. Our favourite is Bramble and Peat flavour.
All this awaits us on this spring time exploration and theres always the choice to kick back and relax enjoying the slow pace of life. Or if you want you can get stuck in with some sailing, learning how to get the boat going as she effortlessly glides through these amazing waters.