Wildlife, borders and fantastic sailing.

What an incredible island Farne Island is. Michael and I went for a little walk to get a closer look at the wildlife ashore. We weren’t technically allowed to land on the island in the morning, but some friendly wardens from the Wildlife Trust let it slide and allowed us to have a wander (we gave them a small donation in thanks). The terns were bombarding us from every direction, and thankfully we had followed the advice from the cruising guide which suggested we should wear hats. Michael, being much taller than me, had a few more pecking birds to deal with than me, but I also got a fair share of terns pecking at my head. The reason being that they are in the height of their breeding season, and all the little chicks are starting to hatch. It’s amazing to be able to get so close. The island is also home to breeding puffins, guillemots and cormorants. It was a real privilege to be able to get so close (without disturbing them too much). We were also incredibly lucky with our timing. In three weeks time most of the birds will fly away again, with the fledglings making their first journeys out to sea, where they live for most of their lives.
It was a little sad leaving the peace of the island, but more exploration of the coast was waiting. We had another nice and peaceful sail up to Eyemouth, our first Scottish stop. It’s amazing to think that we have already sailed all the way to Scotland, the time is really flying by!
Eyemouth is a fantastic little village, and we had another friendly welcome from the local harbour master. The whole crew went on a beautiful cliff walk up the coast, then back on board for a superb meal and the new game of the week – Tension. We were all quite impressed with ourselves as we actually manage to play this game by the proper rules, and haven’t yet come up with Scarlet Rules for it.
Sailing up into the Firth of Forth yesterday was yet another great day out on the water. The highlight being sailing past Bass Rock. From a distance it looks like a snow capped rock, but as you get closer it becomes apparent that the entire rock is just covered in big white birds. The gannet colony is really impressive. They are really beautiful birds and to see so many of them so close was incredible. We managed to get Scarlet quite close in next to the cliffs of the rock, and had birds flying all around us. The wind went round to behind us for the first time in a long time, and finally we got the opportunity to get our cruising chute out for a stretch, which was pretty cool and a good bit of afternoon activity, which everyone really enjoyed.
Further up the Firth we saw more seals sunning themselves on the port channel buoys. There were seals on every one, with a few more seals being on channel marker no.16. You could almost imagine the conversation of the seals, ‘hey guys, should we go hang at no.16 today – it’s all happening there’, as if they were choosing which pub to go to.
We’re now tucked up safe and sound in Port Edgar, where Scarlet will be spending the next week having a little rest. We’re all heading into Edinburgh for a bit of city exploration, then it’s a visit to Edinburgh Hospital tomorrow. Jay and Jodie are hard at work creating a picnic lunch for us, looks good!
It has however been a little bit of a slow morning, and a little sad to say goodbye to Lauren, who did another fantastic job as our volunteer this week (and thanks Lauren for providing the ‘buckets’ for our endless tea).
Right, off to Edinburgh we go…. Cath