Left Port Ellen in brilliant sub, calm sea with mist, enough to use radar at the entrance/ exit from the North Channel traffic separation zone, where we detected only one ship at five or six miles, moving away. Motorsailed till mid-afternoon then sailed past Malin Head with a gradually rising north-easterly (max 17K) to Port Salon, a modern but attractive holiday village in a sandy bay on Loch Swilly in the republic. Kids were jumping from the jetty, having a lot of noisy holiday fun. Picked up free mooring. Calm night. The pub restaurant looked (and sounded) good from a distance but we decided to rest on board.
Passage notes: 61 miles, 10.5 hours, max NE 4, min calm, bright with fog patches down to1 mile visibility, radar on while crossing shipping lanes but little traffic.
