Eigg & Mull
Whoever on board brought their sunny karma with them, they offered up another spectacular day of clear skies, calm seas and sunshine. Short-sleeved T-shirts were the dress of all as we left the ship. Eigg means “notched” in Gaelic, and comes from the impressive cliffs of lava which overlook this southeastern corner of the island. Sgurr (pronounced “skur” and meaning sharp rock) dominates the landscape and can be identified for miles around. Reintroduced golden eagles now nest in the area in spring. Most of us took off in various directions along one or another of the simple roads near the bay. I took a birding group slowly up the hill, over the cattle-grid, through the forest. Juvenile robin, wren, blackbirds, black-backed gulls, ringed plovers, grey heron, oystercatchers and cormorants were a few who showed themselves to us. On the rocks at the coast were common seals basking in the warmth of the morning, while inland a rabbit hopped along the road in front of us for quite a while.
As a special treat we had Colin, an island resident, take several of us around in his Land Rover, and so travelled the single-lane roads of Eigg to one end and back getting the “inside story” at the same time. As a privileged front-seat rider, I had “Diesel” stand on my lap the whole way so he could ride with his head out the window (Jack Russell terrier).
It was after lunch had been served and we had rounded Point of Ardnamurchan, the westernmost point of land on the British mainland, that a tremendously exciting marine sighting took place – a basking shark; the second-largest shark in our oceans (after the whale shark)! The Chief Mate on the bridge reacted quickly and turned the ship around. As a result we had the most remarkable view of this magnificent animal swimming at the surface with its mouth completely open, dorsal fin out of the water, tail fin breaking the surface in a languorous sashay. As we had all been preparing for the next history presentation in the lounge, everyone was up and about with binoculars and cameras at the ready. Basking sharks start to appear in the waters around Britain in mid- to late- summer, but as with all pelagic species it is extremely difficult to predict where and when one might find them. Like all sharks in the oceans, they are also becoming scarce due to the shark-fining trade world-wide. What an amazing thrill!
The afternoon was spent in the colorful harbor-front town of Tobermory. The sky remained clear, the sun still shone, and the colors of town reflected off the perfectly still waters. Konia with the walkers took a four-footed friend borrowed for the afternoon and head out to the lighthouse, others took the high road to an overview of all. Steve took another group on a gentler historical tour of the town itself.
The Mish Nish pub had a few visitors later…
Whoever on board brought their sunny karma with them, they offered up another spectacular day of clear skies, calm seas and sunshine. Short-sleeved T-shirts were the dress of all as we left the ship. Eigg means “notched” in Gaelic, and comes from the impressive cliffs of lava which overlook this southeastern corner of the island. Sgurr (pronounced “skur” and meaning sharp rock) dominates the landscape and can be identified for miles around. Reintroduced golden eagles now nest in the area in spring. Most of us took off in various directions along one or another of the simple roads near the bay. I took a birding group slowly up the hill, over the cattle-grid, through the forest. Juvenile robin, wren, blackbirds, black-backed gulls, ringed plovers, grey heron, oystercatchers and cormorants were a few who showed themselves to us. On the rocks at the coast were common seals basking in the warmth of the morning, while inland a rabbit hopped along the road in front of us for quite a while.
As a special treat we had Colin, an island resident, take several of us around in his Land Rover, and so travelled the single-lane roads of Eigg to one end and back getting the “inside story” at the same time. As a privileged front-seat rider, I had “Diesel” stand on my lap the whole way so he could ride with his head out the window (Jack Russell terrier).
It was after lunch had been served and we had rounded Point of Ardnamurchan, the westernmost point of land on the British mainland, that a tremendously exciting marine sighting took place – a basking shark; the second-largest shark in our oceans (after the whale shark)! The Chief Mate on the bridge reacted quickly and turned the ship around. As a result we had the most remarkable view of this magnificent animal swimming at the surface with its mouth completely open, dorsal fin out of the water, tail fin breaking the surface in a languorous sashay. As we had all been preparing for the next history presentation in the lounge, everyone was up and about with binoculars and cameras at the ready. Basking sharks start to appear in the waters around Britain in mid- to late- summer, but as with all pelagic species it is extremely difficult to predict where and when one might find them. Like all sharks in the oceans, they are also becoming scarce due to the shark-fining trade world-wide. What an amazing thrill!
The afternoon was spent in the colorful harbor-front town of Tobermory. The sky remained clear, the sun still shone, and the colors of town reflected off the perfectly still waters. Konia with the walkers took a four-footed friend borrowed for the afternoon and head out to the lighthouse, others took the high road to an overview of all. Steve took another group on a gentler historical tour of the town itself.
The Mish Nish pub had a few visitors later…
