Even with going very slow and steering courses far away from the mainland to keep the casino open, the Prinsendam can only go as slow as the minimum engine speed dictates. Scrabster is not that far away from Portree and thus with all the extra time on our hands now we did not have to go very fast. With the Prinsendam you bring more engines on line (we have four main ones) if you have to go faster and if you have to go very slow, we run on one engine. With the port cancellation even that one engine was too fast. The wobbly weather outside made floating not an option, so I decided for an early arrival. Drop the anchor early in the morning and then start the ship up leisurely around 6 am, so that all the tenders would be in position and waiting for the guests to invade the Isle of Skye.
Portree is located on the east side of the Isle of Skye at the end of a fjord type inlet called the Sound of Raasay. Rasaay being the island that is flanking this stretch of water at the east side with the Isle of Sky on the west side. There is an opening on the south side, so technically it is not a fjord as such. However that exit or passage is so narrow that it is not navigable for the Prinsendam. Thus on departure we would have to go up the same way as we came down. Although the weather was slowly improving, it was overcast, and we did not see very much of the outside scenery when we approached the anchorage. The hills are covered in dark green grass and trees and that does not help very much to lighten up the sky. Although it was good visibility, anchoring was mainly done on the radar; it made it very easy to park the ship exactly on the right spot.
That spot is pre planned by me the day before. The decision making process it quite simple:
1. As close as possible to the tender dock (right on top of it if possible) to keep the tender distance to a minimum.
2. Enough room to swing around on a stretched anchor chain.
3. Good holding ground for the anchor.
Portree has two anchorages, an inner one, with a maximum swing radius of twice the ships length and an outer one with a minimum swing radius of three ships lengths. Both have a good holding ground consisting of mud mixed with shells (that is indicated in the chart with symbols like: m, sh). I had to opt for the outer anchorage as I needed at least three ships lengths to be able to swing around behind a stretched anchor chain. On arrival the wind was from the North West and that meant that there was no wind at all in the bay and thus I could have used the inner anchorage. The ship would float above its anchor and hardly move at all. However the weather was forecasted to improve and that normally means that the wind shifts to the North East or South East, the only two directions that the bay is exposed to for wind. Thus I opted for the outer anchorage. That meant a tender distance of about a mile but with four tenders that is not much of a problem.
The radar screen of Portree anchorage. As you can see the bearing lines and radar rings have shifted away from the orginal anchorage view as the wind has pushed the ship inland until it lay stretched behind its anchor chain.
So by 02.30 in the morning the Prinsendam came to anchor in 27 meters of water behind 5 lengths of chain (that is about 450 feet of anchor chain out in the water) enough to hold the ship in position. I had measured several points on the charts with distance and direction and transferred these points onto the radar by means of bearing lines and range rings. Thus by conning the ship slowly forward towards the intended spot until the bearing lines were leading to their assigned point and the range rings touching land at the right distance, I could bring the ship right on top of my preferred anchorage.
This what it looks like in day light. The range rings on the radar were laying over the rocks in the fore ground. Photo courtesy: Ships Future Cruise Consultant: Mrs. Elaine Allen.
There we sat until day light came when we lowered the tenders for the guests to go ashore. Famous tours are to Dunvegan Castle and scenic drives over the island. I was glad that I had picked the outer anchorage as the weather indeed improved. The sun came out and the wind shifted to the North East and thus pushed the Prinsendam away until it lay behind its stretched anchor chain.
We left slightly late as we had to wait for delayed tours and then sailed back up North, through the Sound of Rassay; then West and then South, all the way around the Isle of Skye as our next port Belfast is to the south of the Isle. The weather is expected to steadily improve, so we should have a sunny day tomorrow but with a nippy breeze.
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