Weekend trip, 19th & 20th September, Ulva, Little Colonsay, Staffa & Gometra

2nd time lucky, weather looked like we'd have a chance to get out to fingals cave on Staffa, albeit with an ominous wind due on day two.

Trusting the well known accuracy of west coast weather forecasts, a group of 8 paddlers, Oliver, Naomi, Peter, Steve, Mal, Colin, Ken & a first trip for Spencer 'where's he gone?' Noble.

A leisurely 6am start saw us on the ferry from Lochaline at 8.45, we made it to our put in at Ulva ferry and chatted for quite a while. Around 10.20 we realised we should probably get in our freshly packed boats and try and cover some ground.

The first couple of hours passed uneventfully with light air and calm water, we pushed on noticing less wildlife than usual, only a couple of seals and a brief otter spotting. Lunch on Little Colonsay and Spencer made his first disappearance, turning up to hastily eat his lunch while we were getting ready to set off.

We headed out round Little Colonsay looking at the ominous crossing ahead- it seemed way further than I expected on the map as the island ahead was hidden by a light haze you only normally get on a 2 hour plus crossing. Then we rounded little colonsay proper and realised that staffa was about where it was supposed to be.

A new course and a gentle building headwind saw us on staffa after about an hour, those later to arrive piled straight round to fingals cave experiencing some fairly lump water and a couple of speedboats, Spencer appeared above Oliver walking in the cave and proceeded to leap into the water, one of probably not many people to swim in Fingals cave.

After an explore we all landed to explore Staffa, including the group photo below (Spencer missing in the first we took...) and had a bit more food as a fewmore in the group took on the rough water to get to the cave - obviously it had calmed down as we reached slack water - typical.

We then crossed direct to Gometra, and arriving amidst a huge seal colony (at least 50) decided to push on round the island, hoping to get ahead of tomorrows forecast. Some interesting rock hopping and rock not quite hopping led round 'yet another headland' to where we finally camped in Acairseid Mhor. A couple of sea eagles a stag and group of hinds (red) made up for the lack of wildlife at the start of the day. A pretty good camp saw us up in the morning as Spencer ran off into the hills, trying to catch up with Ken, who was cooking his breakfast outside his tent.

The last day was fairly uneventful, with some good rock gardens to pick through and only the occasional strong wind, back in plenty of time for the ferry and enjoyed a sendoff from an Otter playing around as we packed up at Ulva ferry. Not bad.