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Date visited
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Howard [ Just Imagine ] 31-Dec-1969

Scalasaig



Port Mor (Anchorage)


Romadi 1982

This was our first landfall, coming from the Azores in 1982 on Romadi, a 28ft 1949 Harrison Butler cutter.

Since it was called 'Port' Mor, we hoped that we would be able to check in here, but were surprised to find only a few sheep. The engine was not working, so we had little choice but to stay.

We asked a local fisherman who was anchored in the bay, if we could borrow and copy his charts of the area. At first he said that that would not be possible, as he was leaving right away.

He actually left the anchorage, and then came back, and handed us a roll of charts. Then he told us that the keys were in his VW bug on the shore, and we could borrow his car, take a tour of the island and return it to him in Scalasaig, that evening.

So we traced the charts, rowed ashore, had a wonderful tour of the island and met up with the fisherman in Scalasaig.

We offered to buy him a pint in the bar, and we soon learned that you don't just buy a pint, you need to buy a pint and a "wee dram" of scotch as a chaser.

The fisherman gave us fresh crabs that he had just caught, and then drove us back to Port Mor to our boat.

When we got to the water's edge we found that somehow, the temporary plug had come loose from the Avon Redcrest, and half the dinghy was deflated. It took a little while, a little bit of dizziness, but I successfully re-inflated the dinghy using my mouth.

We had tried to buy a bath from an inn in the town, but they said the water levels on the island were too low. Jayne was desperate and tired of sponge baths, and we did not have much water onboard, so she valiantly plunged into the freezing cold waters of the bay. She said it was the coldest water she had ever experienced, and she came shooting back out in an instant.

The wind blew into the bay for the next few days, and nothing we could do would revive the Stuart Turner engine. We even tried heating the plugs on the stove but to no avail. So we were stuck there until our friendly fisherman showed up some days later. He gave us a tow to open waters and we continued our sail up to Oban.
Howard and Jayne [ Romadi ] 23-Aug-1982