If any of your crew are climbers, this is where to head for – the awesome back door to the Cuillins, without doubt the most dramatic anchorage in the Hebrides. I can't better Frank Cowper's 1896 opinion: "For those delighting in wild, extraordinary scenery this district is well worth exploring, and for doing it comfortably there is nothing like a yacht".

As you approach from the south the climbers in your crew will all be vying with each other to name the various peaks along the ridge, and to retell their most dramatic exploits from being helicoptered off after trying to cross the ridge without enough daylight to their fastest traverse in winter, and so on. But draw their attention back to sea level, and take a look at the seals on Sgeir Doigich on your way in (you may have to look back if they are sheltering from a southerly wind). And divert the climbers from discussing the niceties of rock climbing to watch out for that much more interesting piece of rock underwater as you turn in to starboard, hit by several yachts every year because it is closer to the island than you think.

These days the anchorage is more crowded than it was not so long ago, and there is a steady stream of boats bringing tourists from Elgol. And why not, the short walk up the river to Loch Coruisk and a view of the ridge is terrific. And on a very hot day, take a shower in the waterfall that cascades down into the sea.

But don’t get trapped here in a southerly gale, or indeed be here in any sort of gale. As John McClintock opines in 1938: "Not that wind direction matters much in Scavaig, for be it north, south, east or west, if the wind be strong at all, terrific squalls, born on the mountain tops, will roar down from all points of the compass, and blast you and your boat with a broadside of venomous fury".

North of Ardnamurchan

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  The view south from the anchorage

   Loch Coruisk and the Cuillin Ridge