Scotland: Three Island Tour

*** Finally! Robert finished writing his blog post! But he forgot to mention that the morning before this trip, Mark woke up at 4 am throwing up (but it ended up being from some nasal drainage as he was fine later) AND I was calling the boat company at 7 am to see if the boats were even going in such windy and rainy weather...

Once upon a chilly morning, two families decided to go on boat tour to some islands in Scotland.  Little did they know this day would become one of the most epic boat rides of all time.  First step: get to the boat.  This in and of itself was a great adventure.  We met up in the first town to catch the ferry over to the first island of the three island tour.  This meant FIND PARKING!  Every street was a one way I am sure if it, so around and around we went.  I think we were just trying to find a car park with the best rate, but time was getting short so finally we just took one close to the ferry terminal.  £5 for the day, not bad.  Except we didn't have £5 in coins! The parking attendant guy said we could get change up the street in the paper shop, so I ran up there to exchange paper money for coins. Ok, got them and put them in the machine.  NO!  One of the coins was a dud! (actually happens a lot here). Where's that parking attendant guy?  He was walking around the car park a minute ago.  Oh, found him.  Can I trade coins with you?  Oh, good, thank you.  Now running to the ticket booth to get our prebooked tour ticket.  Now running to the ferry terminal.  Got to the ferry terminal.  Maybe should go back to get hiking boots for everyone in the car.  I ran all the way back to the car.  Arrghh only Katya's and Mark's hiking boots are here.   I thought we packed everyone's hiking boots! Better than nothing.  Ran back and I just made the ferry.  Phew! 

So the ferry took us to the first island called Mull.  Sadly, it was POURING rain when we got off the ferry.  There was a long line of tour buses and we walked all the way to the front of the line to find ours, but there wasn't enough room for our entire group so the driver sent us to another bus back a few but there wasn't enough room there for the whole group either.  In the end we had to split up with me and Kurt and baby J in one bus and everyone else in the other bus.  The tour guide in my bus was was HILARIOUS as he made fun of crazy drivers on the single lane road as only a Scot can!  Who knew Scots were so funny?  Good thing too because the bus ride was like an hour and a half, and because of the clouds and rain and fogged up glass, there wasn't much to see. Thankfully it stopped raining when we got to the boat dock on the other end of the island.  Which was good because we wanted to see something at least. The wind however was gusting so much we were worried if the boats would even go.  We should have picked up on the situation when we heard the boat people offering partial refunds to anyone who didn't want to go on the boats because of the waves.

  

When we finally got on the boat there was no room for us in the indoor section so we were told we'd have to sit in the back, outside!  We worried about this because we had lots of kids and I think some parents were secretly worried, what with the waves, we might lose one or two overboard.  Mostly though we didn't want to get drenched and freezing from the wind and mist that was bound to come up during the ride.  

Never fear!!  The guys on the boat gave us bit yellow parkas to wear!

Though it was obvious the parkas were a bit large, they were at least warm and dry (and smelly).  

Just like "Deadliest Catch"!  Notice the spray coming up from the back of the boat.  That was coming up from the sides too.  And you can't appreciate the movement of the boat but we had to hold on tight several times just to keep from falling over.

As we neared the first island the boat stopped so we could all admire the view for a bit.  In normal circumstances this would have been a good idea, but as soon as the boat stopped, the waves took over and we were literally being tossed back and forth with the waves.

That didn't stop everyone from whipping out their cameras.

It was this cave we were really slowing down to see. 

Just like the "Giant's causeway" in Northern Ireland, this island was formed by volcanic activity resulting in the unique pillars and steps you see here.

Finally the boat docked and we could walk on solid land again.  What a relief!  

There were two things to do on the island.  1) go inside the cave and 2) go find some puffins. We went to the cave first.

These pictures don't do it justice; it was huge and impressive.  But at least we got a family shot. 

And didn't blow away.

Mark found a nice spot out of the worst of the wind. 

And Alex was just glad to be there.

After a good half hour we started our walk to the other end of the little island to see the puffins. 

There are the boats (one is ours) bobbing in the waves, waiting for us all to finish up our little hike on the island.

Maybe one of you seismologists or geologists who are reading this post can explain this scooped-out land formation to me.  I just thought it was impressive, even if I have no idea how it formed.

You can see how the other part of the island green and much more inviting than the rock cave.

The only dock on the island.  This was an uninhabited island, though only 45 minutes from where we started.

This reminded me of a whales ribcage (or that brontosaurus rack of ribs served to Fred Flintstone in the opening sequence of the cartoon show).

See what's missing?  Yup, no puffins.  We didn't get any pictures of the puffins because THERE WEREN'T ANY!  Too windy and cold that day.  So we just ate a snack on the grass and wandered around a bit before boarding the boat again. 

The boat took us to the island of Iona, not far from the island we started from in the first place.  We sort of put the camera away during this leg of the boat ride because several of us were getting seasick (especially baby J who sadly couldn't contain it).  The waves were worse on the way back and then about 10 minutes before docking, it rained.  No, it poured and poured!  The good news was it washed away baby J's mess.  The  bad news is except for the what was covered by the parkas EVERYTHING was soaking wet.  The other family was very smart and had wellies.  The Watsons however, did not bring wellies so all of our shoes and trousers below the parkas were wet, wet, wet!  And then we had to go walking.

The first place we went on the island was at the nearest pub.  It was still pouring rain so everyone just kept the parkas on and we hobbled up the hill to this cozy cafe.  Cozy because it was warm, and cozier because everyone else on the boat had the same idea.  Nonetheless, there was plenty of room so we dried off a bit and ate yummy hot food until everyone was happy again.  

And then the sun came out.  Though still our shoes were soaking wet, we couldn't delay any longer and we went out for a short walk.  Well, that's not entirely true.  I went with Kurt and a couple of kids while everyone else sort of did their own thing while we waited for the ferry to come and take us back to the island with the buses.

I walked up to this place which I think was a church, but now I don't remember.  I didn't want to pay to go in so this was the closest I got.  (I know, really informative).

Instead I went into the little church nearby in the cemetery and saw this for free.

On the hike back to the ferry dock and the rest of the group I stopped at this old nunnery.  I remember thinking this was the best-looking ruined building I'd ever seen.  You almost want to just move in and live here.  Really though I thought it was such a peaceful and beautiful place, and it impressed me how well it is taken care of (considering the obvious). 

While I was out gallivanting, the others were hanging out not he beach, of course.  Where there's a beach you'll find Alex.  

And Mark...who got his trousers so wet we had to take them off.

Jumping ahead, this is the other side of the channel (that's the island Iona in the background where we just were).  And of course while we are waiting for the buses, here's Alex back on the beach, or the rocks in this case.

I wonder what he's thinking. . . .

Yay!! time to get back on the buses and ride an hour and a half back to the other ferry to take us to the mainland.  But this time it's NOT raining and there's no fog in the way.  This time we all rode in the same bus together with the funny Scotsman (Kurt and I told Lyana how funny the guy was and she was sad because the tour guide in the other bus was dull and cranky).  On the way back this time I ended up sleeping most of the way so sadly I missed most everything.

But I definitely didn't miss this.  I love standing outside on the ferries because there's so much beauty to behold from that vantage point. 

Finally we reached our original port.  The crazy adventure was over but even to this day (several months later because it took forever for me to get around to writing this post) we still talk about this day and the fun we had together. It may not have been the best day to take a boat ride and tour a puffin-free island, but in the end it was the perfect adventure and bonding experience for us all. 

Rob