Iona, June, Day 6

I was really looking forward to today: our boat tip on the Birthe Marie a gaff rigged ketch bult in the 1930s. Birthe Marie In 2021 Ben Fogle was also a guest on the boat and it has featured in his BBC series, Sacred Islands, still available on IPlayer. Having boarded and been given our safety talk we motored out into the Sound of Iona.  As soon as we were well out from land, Mark, our skipper, put on all canvas and, despite only light winds, once the motor was cut, we sailed majestically under red sails with only the sound of the the water chuckling under the boat to accompany us.  The bird watchers among us enjoyed watching distant diving gannets and, closer, black guillemots and later a couple of rafts of common guillemot.  As we sailed north we had tempting views of the Treshneish Islands and more distantly Coll and Tiree, as well as up into Lochs Scridain and Na Keal.  Once we turned back into the wind we instantly felt its chilling effects. 

After the morning's activity, Heather and I had lunch in the garden and then Heather did some drawing while I took some long exposure photographs and caught up with my blog.

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