Today's the day for our excursion to the Treshnish Isles and
the Isle of Staffa. It's pouring rain in the morning, so the
trip is postponed until noon, hoping for clearer weather.
This gives me time to take a few
photos of Tobermory. At noon the weather clears, right on cue,
and we take vans across Mull to the Ulva ferry dock,
where we board the excursion boat. Our first stop is Lunga, one
of the small islands in the Treshnish Isles. We quickly discover
one of the puffin colonies and are amazed at how tame they are.
We climb the heights of Lunga to reach the big colony of nesting
seabirds, mostly guillemots. We come upon some naturalists
who are camped out on Lunga, doing their annual bird count.
Then we pick our way back down to
the puffins, where Lisa and Saunie have set out a magnificent
picnic for us. The naturalists claim they are out of whiskey,
so we share ours with them. The final stop is Fingal's Cave on the Isle of Staffa. The island is composed of hexagonal columns of basalt, caused by the rapid cooling of lava. Total miles: 0 (yeah!) |