Over, under, through and round St Kilda

Next morning after Anne had arranged her bags, then rearranged her bags, then rearranged them again and I had lost my glasses for about the 3rd time that morning we were ready for paddling.

The gap from the outside

Mike at the gap on the inside

It was a busy bay we launched into as a cruise ship had arrived during the night and was busy ferrying passengers over to St Kilda. We started off towards the point to see what the conditions would be like, but found that they were a bit bumpy, so we made our way over to Dun again, this time staying on the bayside. Murty took us over to what looked like a solid cliff. Tucked into it was the other side of the passage we had been in the previous evening. Hubby dear disappeared into it, closely followed by Iain. I went to have a wee look and ended up going through as well. This gap was a bit narrow to say the least and at quite a jaunty angle. TG had been adamant she was not going in and I have to say I was a bit concerned at the thought of coming back out of that gap, so it was a relief to see her emerging through the gap as well. We were by now all in the cave. We headed on through the cave and out the other side to be greeted by loads of young, nosey seals. We carried on up the coast, in, out and under lots of caves and arches. The colour and clarity of the water was wonderful. Just about every rock we passed had its own resident seal sunning itself (yes, we had sunshine!).





Going through the Soay arch

We carried on up the coast to the Soay arches. Looking through them it was easy to see how bumpy the water was, so I wasn't too surprised to see Hubby dear  disappear through, quickly followed by Iain. Murty was happily bobbing around halfway encouraging me through. Off I went, past the point of what seemed like no return! Once out, my next concern was whether I would manage to turn round to go back through or would I have to paddle all the way round Soay to get back to the Cuma which had now arrived. The fact that the Cuma had lunch on it and I was starving was the prompt I needed. Once TG and Mike had a run through, we all about turned and headed back.

After lunch, we headed back to Village bay where it was decided we could have time ashore. Once ashore we all traipsed up to the PO. We had to get postcards with the Puffin stamp on it. Writing the cards caused a bit of a problem. No glasses with me, so I haven't a clue what I wrote, that and the fact after being on moving water so much, I couldn't stand still. I was still bouncing up and down and swaying.

Looking over to the flat calm looking Soay arch from up high

Borerey

Hubby dear, TG, Ian and myself decided to follow the road up the hill, over the ridge then back down to the village.  After numerous muggings by the Bonxies, we were treated to a fantastic view from the top. Back down in the village, we went to school and church (see, we really are good) and watched a gang of young Soay sheep playing around. They really are quite cute, unlike their rather manky looking parents.

Back on board, a huge roast dinner followed by ice cream , hm mm. Then there was some serious discussions going on, such as, which whisky should be opened first.