Corryvreckan

Corryvreckan is a whirlpool, which is located between the islands of Jura and Scarba in the Scottish Hebrides.
Image credit: http://www.hebridean-wild.co.uk/about.html

Extract from Wikipedia article:

The Corryvreckan is the third largest whirlpool in the world, and is on the northern side of the gulf, surrounding a pyramid-shaped basalt pinnacle that rises from depths of 70 m to 29 m at its rounded top. Flood tides and inflow from the Firth of Lorne to the west can drive the waters of Corryvreckan to waves of over 30 feet (9 m), and the roar of the resulting maelstrom can be heard ten miles (16 km) away.

Formerly classified by the Admiralty as unnavigable (the Admiralty's West Coast of Scotland Pilot guide to inshore waters still calls it "very violent and dangerous" and says "no vessel should then attempt this passage without local knowledge"), its treacherous waters are nevertheless still sailed and swum by a few hardy adventurers.

However, the image below is the Corryvreckan I'm most looking forward to seeing: a new limited edition Single Malt from Ardbeg, which I ordered yesterday.


Image credit: Ardbeg

Comments

Anonymous said…
I kayaked through the Corryvreckan once in my sea kayak – obviously it was during the hour of ‘slack’ water that you get as the tide turns. But it still made you really focused on those tidal calculations! The whiskey looks interesting. I’m off to Islay in a few weeks on a cycle / distillery tour.
3:03 PM
Alan Parkinson said…
Ooh, very jealous of the Islay trip - one of those things on my 'to do' list...
Interesting Corryvreckan story!
Closest I get to a Whirlpool is when I'm washing my underpants...
3:15 PM
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