Gulf of Corryvreckan
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The Gulf of Corryvreckan (from the Gaelic Coirebhreacain meaning "cauldron of the speckled seas" or "cauldron of the plaid"), also called the Strait of Corryvreckan, is a narrow strait between the islands of Jura and Scarba, in Argyll and Bute, 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 8.5 knots (≈16 km/h), 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 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.
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 [1], 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 1944 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.
