When anchoring off Fionnphort you have to keep out of the way of the ferry to Iona, and on land from the tourist hoards heading for Iona — 140 000 a year it is said. There can be an astonishing number of coaches lined up on the harbour wall. However, if you do anchor, there are some rather good things to do (the alternative is to anchor in the Bull Hole and walk over to Fionnphort).
The village shop has a giftie sort of a place attached to it (Fingal Arts and Crafts), and attached to that is a remarkably good little bookshop, at least for books about Scotland and in particular the West Coast. Somehow I have missed the Creel Seafood Bar by the Ferry Terminal which opened in 2014 and is deservedly, in that horribly clichéd phrase, 'award winning'. It sounds lovely, has excellent revues, and has been rebuilt after a fire in 2024. Across on the beach you will find a huge granite boulder with a most impressive split through it, apparently made by local quarrymen in 1870, before the Duke of Argyll stopped them going further when he realised that the rock was of geological interest. And of course the typically-for-these-parts pink granite rocks are all around.
And finally, if you walk a few minutes up the hill out of the village, you will come to a very minor road to the left leading to a small and rather swish restaurant which opened in 2009 in a converted bothy — the Ninth Wave Restaurant, where "luxury meets sustainability" (ph 01681 700757). A few years later it won the Highlands and Islands Restaurant of the year award, then into the Good Food Guide. And even more awards since then. Impressive. Jonny Lamont does the fishing during the day (maybe not still?) and serves the wine in the evening, while his Canadian wife Carla cooks and explains every course (and has written a book about how they got to be where they are (The Ninth Wave. Love and Food on the Isle of Mull, Birlinn, Edinburgh, 2014). Sounds great, and absolutely is great. Only 16 covers, ever so friendly, no rush, relaxed, brilliant cooking. Strangely they are now only doing lunches on three days a week (which are not inexpensive). No children under 12, and no dogs.
