Visiting Gigha

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mdonnelly

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Leaving on Saturday for a weeks sailing that may have us passing through the Crinan canal and then south towards Gigha. Anybody been there recently? What mooring/berthing facilities are available? Have read reports of a pontoon being planned but have not been able to confirm.
Regards, Mark.
 
The rise and fall of tide at Gigha is almost negligible and the beach is a gentle slope of silver sand, my kids used to swim ashore but it is a fair distance from the moorings though there is a handy rock to rest on half way in.
Visiting the West Coast without a dinghy is tempting fate a bit?
 
Hi Quandary, all the proposed stops will have marinas or pontoons. Since we are almost certain to be passing Gigha would like to visit as we just passed by the last time we were in that area. A dinghy was on my birthday wish last but I got a trip to Iceland instead! ��
 
mdonnelly said:
Leaving on Saturday for a weeks sailing that may have us passing through the Crinan canal and then south towards Gigha. Anybody been there recently? What mooring/berthing facilities are available? Have read reports of a pontoon being planned but have not been able to confirm.
Regards, Mark.
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I was there 3 weeks ago. There are quite a few moorings, but it's a busy place and they get full quickly. The new pier is not anywhere near ready and there was a sort of exclusion zone round the works with lines between buoys. There's plenty of room for anchoring though and is a clean sandy bottom which you can see, and the nearby beaches are easy to land on, but take your wellies. Toilets at the ferry terminal a short walk away seem to be permanently open.
 
Ardminish Bay can be very bumpy in easterlies and IIRC, a moored boat was grounded there a few years ago in bad conditions.

There are sandy bottomed bays to the north and south of Eilean Garbh and also at Craro Bay, and all might be considered in strong easterlies. Antares charts are helpful for Craro.
 
The mind boggles! No dinghy? That rules out 99.999999999% of the West Coast.

Regards

Donald
 
The progress is very slow on the new jetty. I have been several times this year, first in April and last was last week. No perceptible difference in the works.
You can get wifi at the Boathouse(?) near the root of the jetty, and the phone signal is strong, but only 1g.
The pub appeared to be open, but I didn't use it.
Strangely, although there were 17 boats on the buoys, the pub was empty as I walked past at about 9pm.
Nice small beach for dinghies by the jetty root.
Visit the Achamore gardens and go to very top end where the view to Islay and Jura is breathtaking.
Incidently the firm who are doing the work, Campbell, are based on Jura!
 
islecastle1 said:
The progress is very slow on the new jetty. I have been several times this year, first in April and last was last week. No perceptible difference in the works.
You can get wifi at the Boathouse(?) near the root of the jetty, and the phone signal is strong, but only 1g.
The pub appeared to be open, but I didn't use it.
Strangely, although there were 17 boats on the buoys, the pub was empty as I walked past at about 9pm.
Nice small beach for dinghies by the jetty root.
Visit the Achamore gardens and go to very top end where the view to Islay and Jura is breathtaking.
Incidently the firm who are doing the work, Campbell, are based on Jura!
Click to expand...

It doesn't sound like there has been any progress recently.

We sat and had a couple of bottles of beer when we were there at Easter and it was £4:50 a bottle.

The view was gorgeous but I couldn't afford to spend all evening there.
 
West Coast said:
Progress is indeed slow, but I have read that the Gigha community finances are in trouble - so maybe work has stopped?
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Yes, I heard that last week (finances). I hope that the problem is sorted soon. Apparently (hearsay) the windmills are making £160,000 p.a. for the community!
 
I live on Gigha so if I may just clear a few points up.

Any delay to the pontoons has been caused by the weather and more importantly the company charged with the task of making the iron work (for want of a better word) for the pontoons messing the job up.
Finances have nothing to do with any delays, and the island does have debts but is not in financial trouble.
The pontoons are not just for dinghies, they are also for yachts.
Mooring is quite cheap at £10.
When the pontoons are complete, which should be quite soon, then it will make a real difference to the area.
There are permanently open showers and toilets at The Boathouse restaurant, which is at the end of the jetty, and rubbish bins that you are free to use. There is also a petrol station 100 yards up the hill that has red diesel.
The gardens are magnificent.
There are two places to eat and drink, The Gigha Hotel and the Boathouse, both pride themselves on offering value for money.
A beer may have cost £4.50, but that will be one of the local real ales from Colonsay or Islay and £4.50 is an average price to pay for such a beverage.
A pint of draught in the pub is about £3.30 and a pint of draught Peroni in the Boathouse is £4.50. Both places serve excellent house wines at £16 a bottle and most 35ml spirits are £2.50 or less.
Both venues serve excellent food and the Boathouse has gained an entry into the michelin guide this year.

Stop by, you will not be disappointed :)
 
mdonnelly said:
Yeah, I know! Will be marina/pontoon hopping! Besides, borrowing one is not a problem for the week.
Click to expand...

As Aja said, marina/pontoon hopping is not really an option when cruising in Scotland. There are often great lengths of sea between walk-ashore facilities but lots of anchorages. Without a dinghy you are up the creek with no way of getting ashore.
 
Captain Daz said:
I live on Gigha so if I may just clear a few points up.

Any delay to the pontoons has been caused by the weather and more importantly the company charged with the task of making the iron work (for want of a better word) for the pontoons messing the job up.
Finances have nothing to do with any delays, and the island does have debts but is not in financial trouble.
The pontoons are not just for dinghies, they are also for yachts.
Mooring is quite cheap at £10.
When the pontoons are complete, which should be quite soon, then it will make a real difference to the area.
There are permanently open showers and toilets at The Boathouse restaurant, which is at the end of the jetty, and rubbish bins that you are free to use. There is also a petrol station 100 yards up the hill that has red diesel.
The gardens are magnificent.
There are two places to eat and drink, The Gigha Hotel and the Boathouse, both pride themselves on offering value for money.
A beer may have cost £4.50, but that will be one of the local real ales from Colonsay or Islay and £4.50 is an average price to pay for such a beverage.
A pint of draught in the pub is about £3.30 and a pint of draught Peroni in the Boathouse is £4.50. Both places serve excellent house wines at £16 a bottle and most 35ml spirits are £2.50 or less.
Both venues serve excellent food and the Boathouse has gained an entry into the michelin guide this year.

Stop by, you will not be disappointed :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the local input Captain. Gigha is a beautiful and friendly gateway to stops further N and W and often seems to have better weather than nearby. We stopped for a while earlier in the year and weren't impressed by the speed of work on the new jetty - is the job being done on a fixed price? Is there a deadline with penalties at all?

Also, the showers leave a bit to be desired - standards have risen elsewhere - is an upgrade planned at all? I think boaters will happily pay a bit more for better?

Finally, do you imply that yachts will be able to moor on the pontoons? It's a bit shallow that far in I would have thought? An improvement in the jetty with a floating pontoon for dinghies is surely all that is needed.
 
Oh, and the other thing is you're not guaranteed getting a berth either. We got the last berth at Tobermory last week. Without a dinghy best advised to carry plenty food and drink...
 
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