Trip to Staffa

One of our days in Iona, we took a boat trip to the Island of Staffa with a group of people -some of them were staying at the McLeod centre with us, some were just folks visiting Mull or Iona for the day. It took about 1/2 an hour to get there in the boat.

The best part of this trip was getting up close and personal with some puffins. Puffins love people because we scare the seagulls away from their nests.

When we get off the boat, we all hike up a hill (about a 20 minute walk). We could see a flock of puffins on the water below us, and when we sat down and stayed still for a little while, they flew up to check us out. We were surrounded by at least 30 birds - flying back and forth to their nests, and just hanging out near the humans.

Beth took this video - there was no zoom involved, we were really this close to them.

As a bonus, we saw a mother seal and her pups on the way into Staffa, and a whale on the way back to Iona. We didn't try and take a picture of the whale, we just watched her.

The Captain of the boat is a local - born and bred on Iona - and loves showing the area off to visitors. He spent some time with the different groups on the boat, talking about interesting bits of information. There is a town on Mull whose name we can't remember, but it gave it's name to the tune of "Morning is Broken". He also said he rememberd Katherine from the last time she went to see the puffins. We're not sure if we believe him, it might be because he's a good story teller, but it made Katherine feel good!

Comments

  1. Knitting LambAugust 4, 2010 at 7:23 AM

    Greetings:
    Loved the video of the puffin. You are so lucky to be so close. The tune for "Morning has Broken"is Bunessan. Fred Graham's teachings had me looking it up immediately. Iona sounds really great. It is certainly is on my 'bucket list' to visit. Continue to enjoy your trip. Lynne

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