The north end is particularly treacherous, being filled with skerries, small islands, strong tidal currents and whirlpools.
The south end, in contrast, is much wider and more open; most of the small islands and reefs are close to shore. The ferries to Colonsay and Islay from the mainland skirt the southern end of the sound.
Intermittently between 1946 and 1949, George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950)), stayed in Barnhill, a farmhouse on the northeast of the island overlooking the Sound, while he completed his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.[6]