Download Gulf of Corryvreckan

Gulf of Corryvreckan
The Gulf of Corryvreckan (from the Gaelic Coirebhreacain meaning "cauldron of the
speckled seas"), also called the Strait of Corryvreckan, is a narrow strait between the islands
of Jura and Scarba, off the west coast of Scotland.
Strong Atlantic currents and unusual underwater topography conspire to produce a
particularly intense tidal race in the channel. As the flood tide enters the narrow area between
the two islands it speeds up to 12 knots, and also meets a variety of seabed features including
a deep hole and a rising pinnacle. These features combine to create whirlpools, standing
waves and a variety of other surface effects.
The Corryvreckan is the sixth 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, and the roar of the resulting maelstrom can
be heard ten miles away.
The area is currently being considered for Special Area of Conservation status. Minke whales
and porpoises swim in the fast-moving waters and only the most resilient plants and corals
thrive on the seabed.
Scottish mythology has it that the hag goddess Cailleach Beara uses the gulf to wash her
plaid; the whirlpool was her washtub. By winter the cloth was white, and became the white
blanket of snow that falls over Scotland in January. Another legend surrounds Norse king
Breachan (or Brecan). In various stories, Breachan moored his boat near the whirlpool to
impress a local princess, or fled his father across the gulf. In both stories Breachan was swept
into the whirlpool, and his body dragged ashore later by his dog. Breachan may be named
after the whirlpool, or its current name may be a Gaelic pun on his name. Writing in the 7th
century Adamnan called it "Charybdis Brecani".
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. Writer George Orwell and his
son (who lived at Barnhill in northern Jura) were briefly shipwrecked on the skerry of Eilean
Mor (south of the whirlpool) when boating the gulf, and Orwell's one-legged brother-in-law
Bill Dunn was the first person to swim the gulf.
Part of Powell's and Pressburger's 1945 film I Know Where I'm Going! was set at
Corryvreckan, but the waters there were too dangerous for filming, and the nearby (but less
fierce) waters at Bealach a’ Choin Ghlais were used instead.
From Wikipedia