Fingals Cave and Puffin Pong!

We set our alarm for 6:00 am to catch the tide through the Sound of Iona.  There had been rain overnight but the sun was peeping though the clouds already, as we picked our way carefully through the labyrinth of rocks surrounding our anchorage.
In the still morning light, we motored past the famous Iona Cathedral where Saint Columba had founded a monastery in 563 to bring Christianity to Scotland and the north of England.  Later in the day, this would be crowded with visitors crossing to Iona from the adjacent island of Mull but for now it was deserted.
Iona Abbey
Then we set a course to the uninhabited island of Staffa where we would find "Fingals Cave" with its curious black, hexagon shaped basalt columns.  These were formed when molten lava solidified in a particular way resulting in contraction and cracking to form the long columns.  Despite the calm conditions, the sea surrounding the island surged against the cliffs and we kept a safe distance off to avoid underwater rocks marked on our chart.
Fingals Cave
Our final course took us to the also uninhabited Treshnish islands, where we anchored amongst the rocky islets next to Lunga island.

Our Anchorage in the Treshnish Islands
We could hear seals barking and saw seabirds - cormorants, guillemots, razorbills and PUFFINS swimming and diving in the water around us.  This is what we had come to see!  The Treshnish islands are home to breeding colonies of seals and sea birds including puffins.
We quickly inflated our dinghy and rowed ashore to investigate.  Then, having tied to a rock, we headed off to look for puffins.  Sure enough, they were on the cliff side close to the path, hopping in and out of their hollows in the grassy soil.  They have many visitors walking by every day but were remarkably unconcerned by our presence and let us approach to a couple of metres away.

Puffins on Lunga in the Treshnish Islands
One of the things we had noticed after we had dropped our anchor was a powerful smell rather like rotting animal droppings coming from the shore.  Judging by the wind direction, it could only have come from the enormous puffin colony - what smelly birds!




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