M.V.Isle of Mull, Oban

The starting point for some of the more popular destinations from Oban is usually a trip aboard the car ferry MV Isle of Mull.

As the destinations are so popular, the operations run on a more professional level. I couldn't help but think that the Oban Terminal was almost like an airport !!

... With a bit of added humour !

The 90m long 4,700 ton vessel built in 1988 has regular sailings throughout the day to Craignure on The Isle of Mull. This is greatly helped by the 15 knots speed which assists in the 23 mile round trip being completed in well under 2 hours.

Throughout its lifetime the ferry has had a few internal renovations making the 46min single journey pleasurable for the traveller.

Other minor renovations !!

... and one of my renovations !

I'll take a quick diversionary break here to discuss a technical issue that caused me to delay publishing this post. Thanks to my original blog mentor, I have been using Picasa from the outset to store and publish images. I am not a techno computer wizard as some followers know by now, but have generally found it a decent quality compared to other sites. Recently I have noticed a definition loss with the images maybe not on my computer but on a standard PC with a larger screen which particularly occurs with edited material. When uploaded into Picasa, the standard megapixel image can be reduced down to kilobyte proportions in the displayed accompanying data. I suppose in the long run it will give me more value in space but on the other hand, I was concerned that viewers might also notice this loss in quality.
I dabbled in Flickr a while back but didn't find it suitable to the way I publish i.e. one image followed by a piece of text. Recently though I was enthused with the Flickr site as it has shown significant improvement both in quality and the very tempting storage account. Unfortunately it's a fail on trying to load more than several images into one post. Maybe the Flickr user who follows me can help me out as my Flickr account is just a source of amusement to me that ... errr ... takes up just a little bit more time :-)
Update May 2014 ... Cracked it and finally got around to copying and pasting this set the following month.
Update July 2019 ... Flickr started charging for their service again earlier this year and as I'm already subscribing for photos with Google, I had to revert back to the original images. I am systematically replacing images from the beginning as my photo storage was a mess. 75 % done at this point.

Back to the post ....

Summer day ... seats full ! ... errr ... not a summer day!

It may be inconceivable to some that staying in Oban for a full five days, I had to use the ferry on three of those days. On the first morning, the weather was grim and the host for my accommodation advised me that if the there were waves in Oban Bay, don't travel as it would be worse on the more exposed distant part of the route. The excitement of risk reeled me in ...

... as long as I checked out the lifeboats ....

... and stayed near the funnel for warmth !

"Just get me there quick, I'm not interested in the scenery"

Once I was happy with what I had captured upstairs, there was just enough time to grab a hot drink...

... although I was a bit bemused about how the pricing policy managed to get into this state !!!

The Craignure Ferry Terminal building !!

One of my objectives of the week was to try and vary the ferries I travelled on but as I discovered, the MV Clansman and MV Lord of The Isles either departed or arrived at unearthly hours. It took me a whole week to research alternatives to the standard routes and destinations with the aid of guides from the ... err ... ship shop ! and the exploration of the calmac on board restaurant facilities.

It was the last crossing on my last day and final trip back to base, so there was no alternative but to choose, queue and try and get through this lot in 46 minutes !!

That just leaves one lasting image remaining in my head ....

Boat giving birth to a bus !!