My bunk in the port hull straddles a large Volvo Penta diesel engine which doubles as a very effective alarm clock! The foul weather that we had anticipated has not arrived and we depart our berth early heading into a calm sea and light winds to cruise towards the North Channel past the islands of Jura and Islay (where the good single malts come from) and onto the Mull of Kintyre.
The winds freshen and swing Westerly so the sails go up and we are ploughing along at 8 to 9 knots in flat water between the islands, just as we pass the last of the Scottish Islands a medium size whale surfaces 50 metres in front of the ship but we are both moving fast and avoid contact, the whale surfaces again on the starboard beam and then quarter before sounding into the Firth which reads as 147 metres deep. Ahead the outline of the Ulster coast materialises.
The Midnight watch is pitch black and freezing cold, following the distant lights on the Irish coast, no shipping to be seen except one small fishing boat. We are close to port now so I remain on deck and we berth in Carrickfergus at 03h00.