The tranquillity, interrupted only by the occasional bird call, enveloped me as I stood on deck watching the sunrise over the water until both the sky and the mirrored sea were coloured first red, then gold.
For miles around, I was the only person witnessing this spectacle aside from the crew of a lone fishing boat heading out early for the day's catch.
This is the kind of experience you can have on a 12-passenger ship sailing from the Scottish port of Oban around the Western Isles.
We were anchored off Tobermory, the capital of the Isle of Mull, its colourful seafront shops and pubs still yet to wake up to the morning.
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