Saint Columba landed on many of the islands in Argyll, so we are told, but not on this pair as far as I know — Eilean Dubh Mor (i.e. big black island) and Eilean Dubh Beg (i.e. small black island). Maybe there are no suitably uncomfortable monastic caves in which to meditate although there is a rather snug and more-or-less invisible cave under the bracken just under the crags south of the anchorage, and another one near the shore overlooking Scarba. The two islands are covered with heather and bracken, with a great all round view from the top of Eilean Dubh Mor, the more varied of the two — from the cliffs of Mull, up the Firth of Lorne, across to Easdale and Cullipool, over Lunga to Luing, across to Scarba, Colonsay in the distance, and finally to the Garvellach Islands in the foreground. There always seem to be seals in this anchorage, and in the spring you have to avoid treading on the great black backed gull eggs and chicks.
