May in April!

Heading out

Sweetie stop!

In April, I organised a trip out to the Isle of May for  SSKEG. 10 of us set off from Anstruther for the 8k crossing before arriving at the island. We had arranged to meet up on the island with some of the Lothian club who had paddled over from North Berwick, so all in all, the island was a very busy place that day! Lots of birds on the cliffs, but not many Puffins.

Not even set on monochrome

All finished off with fish and chips from the "Wee Chippy", then icecream for pudding!

Later in April we were up at the CVC at Glenmore. Day 1, I had a great day out in "Sonic Too" on the Spey.  Day 2 was spent up at Sandend having a whale of a time playing in the surf - fantastic!

A snowy wake up

Hard at work splashing!

At the start of the tunnel

In June, our juniors had a great time suggesting and organising a canal trip. The only thing the "oldies" did was drive and supervise.  The put in was at Falkirk, just next to the viaduct, a great opportunity to splash the cars driving below! Then along the canal, through the 630 meter tunnel before stopping for lunch. We eventually made it to Polmont where some very weary paddlers were glad to see the cars again.

In the tunnel

Lunchtime

Sleepy paddler!

Back to the May at last!

Leaving Anstruther

After promising ourselves a trip back out to the Isle of May, we eventually made it. We met up with Young Trevor at Anstruther harbour, a busy wee place as a group from FSKC were also launching from there, heading round the coast a bit to Fifeness.

About half way there

Waiting for a higher tide?

We set off on yet another lovely day and didn't take too long to get to the island. After playing around in some of the caves, some being seal occupied, and cutting through areas that the low tide allowed, we arrived at the harbour only to find out that we weren't first there that day.

Fabby coloured seas

Long way up

Going through a cut

Lining up for target practise?

 A large group of kayaks were already there. As we cut through the surf and trying to figure out who it could be, all we heard was "It's Ken and Sarah!" (our Sunday names!). It was Dave and a group from Lothian Sea Kayak Club who had paddled over from "the other side"! - North Berwick. It was a busy place, with the tide being so low, there was a long humph with the boats - us coming in and them leaving.

Young Trevor, always smiling!

LSKC going back "to the other side"

Isle of May Lighthouse

Frothy seas

 We had a nice lazy lunch stop watching masses of rabbits, but no puffins yet.
There was quite a large swell coming from the east which we had to cut back through, but once out it was fine. We  were accompanied as usual by seals until about half way back.

All downhill?

Arriving back in Anstruther harbour, we could see the paddlers from FSKC had just returned in front of us, either that or they hadn't actually left the harbour!
A quick load of the boats, then it was across the road for some well deserved yummy icecream!
Great times!

RNLB Kingdom of Fife

Party time on the Isle of May

Heading out from anstruther

Trevor nearing the May

Ken

Trevor, Ken and Kevin

On Saturday 16th July we had a wee jaunt across to the May Isle. We had quite a late start due to me having to go in and do some work first. Trevor, Kevin, Ken and myself all met up in Anstruther at 3.30 and headed out to the island. There was a nice gentle swell going over and loads of puffins and gannets to be seen. It wasn't long before we arrived and started to explore the caves and arches that are dotted around the island.

Kevin

Kevin and Sarah

Sarah and Kevin

Sarah

Trevor

Sarah

The last time we were over we never got near to the cliffs due to the waves crashing, so this was great fun. Coming round to Pilgrim's Haven, we heard lots of singing coming from one of the caves. I went over to have a nosey. As my eyes adjusted to the dark of the cave, I saw seals swimming around me. At the very back of the cave was a rocky beach with masses of seals all having the time of their lives, singing, until they decided to take the plunge all together. All I can say is, my reverse paddling is good enough for me! They all came out bobbing around the boat, being nosey back.

Cormorants or Shags?

Whose going to run the gauntlet first?

We carried on round watching various gulls perched on the tiniest ledges with fluffy babies. How they survive, I'll never know. Some of them were quite low and close to the water. If there was a slightly larger swell a lot must be washed away.

Kirkhaven

Trevor

We stopped off at Kirkhaven, where the jetty and visitor's centre is. We had arrived after the last boat trip had left. The other island inhabitants must have realised this and had also come out to play. There were hundreds of rabbits bobbing all over the place. With no predators out there, they must be breeding like, well, rabbits! Back in the boats, we carried on past the Middens. This must be the Puffin section. Although we had seen Puffins all round the island, this is the section where they were flying round in large clouds, a bit like starlings in the evenings. Before we left the island, we were followed again by more playful seals. It's great just sitting still watching them glide under the boats in the clear water.

Kevin's forgotten his boat

Anstruther

Young Trevor back on dry land

Heading back to Anstruther, the sky darkened and the thunder started crashing over towards Edinburgh. All very well if the lightening stayed over there as well, I didn't fancy being out on the open sea with no shelter in the middle of a storm. We arrived back with thankfully no lightening strikes. By now it was raining heavy. As we turned into the harbour, we saw we had a long walk over mud and seaweed. By the time we slithered up to the cars, the rain was coming down in bucket loads. We tied the boats on and got changed quickly before heading back along to the chippy, then into the pub next door for a quick pint, well, we'd earned it.