Beautiful Farne Islands

We’re in the Farne Islands, and it is safe to say that these islands are better than expected! We’re currently anchored in the Kettle, a little haven in the middle of a horseshoe of islands, mostly rocky outcrops off Inner Farne. The islands are home to an incredible amount of seabirds, all coming ashore during the summer months to breed. There are guillemots, puffins, terns, gannets and gulls. We’ve also been blessed to have a load of seals come up and say hello. We are the only boat in our little anchorage, making it very peaceful, just us and all the wildlife. My perfect kind of place!
We’ve had a couple great days out so far. The wind has been light, but at least enough to keep us moving, and with not having huge mileage to cover each day, we have been able to take our time and cruise slowly up the coast. We stopped in Amble on Saturday night, which is a rather sleepy little fishing village on the Warkworth River mouth. As always, the marina staff were really friendly and helpful. I was quite impressed by their push for yachts to go green, encouraging recycling and providing the facilities to do it. Once settled, Michael and Jay got out the crabbing lines, but unfortunately were not that successful. Jodie made some chocolate-apple cup cakes which went down really well (both before and after dinner!).
Lauren joined me in a run along the river to Warkworth Castle. This coastline is really quite impressive, with ruined castles on almost every point. We sailed passed Warkworth Castle, Dunstanburgh Castle, and now have Bamburgh Castle in view.
Looking out over Farne Island with it’s old and new light houses with the castle in the far distance makes a beautiful landscape to get lost into. We had quite a few moments of the whole crew just chilling up on deck (and literally chilling too… the weather is not quite warm just yet), watching the wildlife go by.
Everyone was quite excited when we started seeing our first few puffins. These are really sorrowful looking little birds, but incredibly cute. They look a little like sad clowns. They are a little clumsy in the air, and have to flap their wings an incredible 300 to 400 beats per minute to fly. This is because their wings are adapted to help them swim through the water, allowing them to dive down and catch fish, mostly sand eels. They can also hold plenty in their beaks, and somehow manage to catch more fish while still holding onto the ones already caught. Apparently the record stands at an incredible 62 sand eels!!
We were met by some very friendly day touring boatmen, who know this area like the back of their hands, and helped us get settled in a rather tricky anchorage. Once they had left for the day, they offered us the use of their laid moorings, which always makes for a better night’s sleep.
A very peaceful night sleep indeed! It is just beautiful to wake up to the sound of small waves crashing over the outer rocks and the birds….. and nothing else. Michael and I are off to brave the paddle over to Inner Farne to do some island exploration, while the rest of the crew are going to fend off any pirates from our yacht.
Another fantastic day on the great yacht Scarlet!
Cheerio, Cath