Puffins!!

After Edinburgh, we drove to the town of Oban on the west coast of Scotland.  Oban is a main ferry center for people wanting to visit the various islands off of the west coast.  We booked an entire day trip that took us to three islands -- Mull, Staffa, and Iona.  We were on a large ferry boat that was transporting large vehicles and cars, as well as people.  Mull was the first stop.  It's a larger island that has about 3,000 people living there.  We road a bus for a little over an hour across the island to the next ferry stop.  The scenery was wonderful -- mountain peaks, lush greenery, and innumerable waterfalls cascading down the mountain side.

Fingals Cave

Once we arrived to the other side, the wind picked up and the rain started.  Unfortunately, it remained with us the rest of the day.  We loaded onto a much smaller boat that had little covered area.  Not all of us were able to sit here, so the rest donned bright yellow rain ponchos provided by the ferry.  Our next stop was Staffa.  People come to Staffa to see two things -- Fingal's Cave and Puffins.

Fingal's Cave is formed by hexagonally-shaped columns of basalt.  They were formed by the way the  lava cooled.  These are neat to see in person, especially for the geology buffs in our group, but for me, I was more excited to see the puffins.

We had to climb up stairs from the beach and then hike about 15 minutes across the top of the island to where the puffins were nesting.  The top of the island was one big grassy field, with lots of undulation and rocky outcroppings.  There were no real trails here, but the path to the puffins was well worn and very easy to follow.  Unfortunately, the wind was whipping and the rain was blowing sideways, but that didn't deter us from reaching the nesting point.  Our efforts were worth it as we could get mere feet from the puffins and take lots of pictures.  I'm not sure anyone had dry clothes on after this hike, but it

was a small inconvenience to be able to catch puffins in person since they spend a large amount of time at sea.  This was definitely one of the trip's best moments so far!

Our final stop was the island of Iona.  Iona is where Christianity took root in Scotland and is home to a well known abbey.  This is where the Book of Kells was created (circa 800 AD), a copy of the four gospels with intricate illustrations and ornamentation.  The Book of Kells is housed at Trinity College in Dublin.  We've seen it before, and it was nice to see the spot where it were created.  David spent a week here at a retreat immediately prior to our arrival in Edinburgh.

Iona Abbey

After Iona, we retraced our steps across Mull and back to Oban.  A very full day, but one that was richly rewarding.