"This is where the fun begins"Aer LingusDublin, Ireland: The Battle of JetLagIreland: Wicklow and the last day in DublinOur London experience...Change of plans - I'll be in Scotland 'afore ye (Part I)Change of plans - I'll be in Scotland 'afore ye (Part II)The cross country tour: Edinburgh (Part I)The cross country tour: Edinburgh Castle (Part II)The cross country tour: Journey to Thurso (Part III)The northern adventure: Thuro, Stromness, and WickEdinburgh, Glasgow: To and fro'A few randomsOban, Scotland: The AC Choir and the ColiseumCraignure, Isle of Mull: Yeah...about thatOban, Scotland: Back to Oban / Queen's HotelWestern Adventures: Mull, Iona, Staffa, & Oban (Part I)Western Adventures: Mull, Iona, Staffa, & Oban (Part II)The finale: Last morning in Oban / Last day in Glasgow
 | Zathrak |  | Ireland, England, & Scotland |  | Western Adventures: Mull... |
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May 13 2010, 07:19 AM
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Staffa, United Kingdom
So after our day full of walking and ferry rides we decided that it would be a great idea to get up bright and early and get on another ferry! We were up and out and on a boat by 8am heading for Mull. Once we arrived we managed to find our bus quite easily that would take us over to the other side of the island to Fionaphort (which is where the next ferry was for the next leg of our journey). The bus driver looked like he hated his job, and a few minutes into the ride we knew why. Since Mull is such a small and fairly deserted island, the road to the other end was just one lane, and every now and then you had to swerve off into side bits when another car was approaching. Normally in a small European car this wouldn’t be an issue, but a tour bus is a different story. Luckily we made it there in one piece, and actually the ride wasn’t terrible. The view was of course incredible, and it was relaxing and as calming as could be.
Once we landed in Fionaphort, our goal was to find a boat to take us to Staffa Island. Once we asked around it was determined that none were there, and that we would have to find them on Iona (which was strange and went against everything that we had been told, but oh well I suppose). So onto our next (smaller) ferry we went over to the Isle of Iona. The ride itself only lasted about 5 minutes, so we (and the wind and rain) were over there in no time! Luckily as soon as we left the ferry we found a guy with a boat and asked him about Staffa, and it turned out he was planning a voyage over at noon! This is actually how the conversation went:
Jes: May I ask you a question good sir? (in an almost pirate like accent)
Guy: Aye! (very Scottish like)
Jes: How may we board your vessel? (same pseudo-pirate accent)
Guy: What? (Confused Scottish)
Jes: Um, how do we get on your boat? (Normal Jes voice)
So we decided that we would be joining him to Staffa and until then we would go wondering around Iona until it was sailing time!
The wind on Iona was intense to say the least! It was definitely cooler than we were expecting, and the wind had no problem whipping us all around. We walked through town and made our way to the Abbey the back way, which involved a walk through a sheep pasture, which was quite possibly the best part! We got to come within about 5 feet of both mamma sheep and her sheeplings, and none of them really seemed to mind all that much (they were busy trying to stay warm and eat their grass). There was one mother sheep who we thought at first was crying loudly because she had lost her baby, but as it turned out she was just not happy with us being around! While we loved her and her baby, she did not love us. So through the rain we carried on! I decided that it was just too cold and before we went on our Staffa adventure I should find a hat and possibly some gloves as well. We managed to find a cute little shop where I got a hat and both Jes and I got arm warmers (think leg warmers but for your hands and arms), which were basically gloves without the fingers (so that we could still use our hands for the most part). They were perfect!
After we had seen the town (which did not take long at all), we decided to get a small lunch before we were off to the island. We found the one bar in town and got a small lunch (which really was not all that great, but it served its purpose as a hold-me-over until dinner that evening). From there we joined up with the guy who’s boat we were taking and two girls from Switzerland who would also be joining us. Because of all the wind and rain and the weather being all around against us, the seas were quite rough and choppy. We didn’t think too much of it when we got on, and at first it wasn’t too terrible at all. Once we traveled by boat from Iona to Fionaphort, we docked and picked up probably about another 15 people who would be going to Staffa with us. The whole trip would take about 40 minutes, and so we all crammed into the cabin and were off! At first, all went well; it was a bumpy ride but nothing we couldn’t handle. However, as we got closer and closer to Staffa the seas just got unbearable and our tiny boat was thrown all over the place. And cue our sea-sickness. I started feeling it at first before Jes did, but it did not take long for us both to be cursing our bad lunch and the seas and praying to be on dry land soon. Luckily we weren’t the only ones feeling this way, but that of course is not much consolation when you’re trying not to puke over the edge of a boat in the middle of the Atlantic/Arctic oceans. After what seemed like forever (and like an impossible task), we finally landed on the Isle of Staffa.
Once we managed to get off the boat, we were given two climbing options to take, one was to see the cave and one was to find the allusive puffin birds.
Now, allow me to rant for a moment, because I am apparently the only person to remember very distinctly that the puffin bird went extinct years and years and well, thousands of years ago along with the mammoth and all of those ice age creatures. I very distinctly remember in my elementary school textbooks pages with pictures of the mammoth, the saber-tooth tiger, and of course the puffin. For years I have known them to be extinct, so imagine my surprise when everything on Mull and Iona surrounded these birds! Did they make a comeback that I was not aware of? Do they go against Darwin and the whole evolutionary process? Or did KPS really just have textbooks that were that old and incorrect? Well after listening to me rant about these birds for two days (practically non-stop), Jes decided that we must find them and take a picture of me with them.
So while most everyone who was on our little boat clamored off to the caves, we decided to head up these deadly stairs (what is with Scotland and their piles of rocks as “stairs”?) and ended up on the plateau of the island (dead volcano). Of course we were happy to be on dry land, but now we had to hike across the boggy and mountainous terrain to the furthest northern end of the volcano to find the puffin colony. It took some effort, but luckily there was a bit of a trail to lead us along so we didn’t go falling off the side of the island. We had an hour to find the elusive puffins and make our way back to the ship. Which is easier said than done because while we were hiking we discovered our little boat (and only link back to civilization) was sailing away from the island port where he said they would be! Crisis averted though, I determined that they weren’t leaving us; they simply had to go further out to wait the hour because the seas by the dock were too rough for them to stay there.
...to be continued...
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