And I wake in the morning

With this beautiful let, comes the use of a 17ft boat.  

I use the term boat loosely.  

Not what most of you might consider "boat". It's a second world war landing boat.  Steel, with an outboard motor, and new for this trip - seats.   In prior visits, we sat on Polystyrene blocks.   The seats were a real upgrade. 

We have to be up for 10 am on the first day, and we are given the talk.   Covid /  Animals / where to go / where not to go / risks of death / stupidity / how to use a boat.  (the how not to be stupid talk lasted an hour and a half,  the how to use a boat lasted 3 minutes and used probably 20 words. The only one we remembered was Nipple) 

The boats now are labeled with each house name.

Each house has its own craft.  Its own petrol tank.  Life Jackets are limited  - there are many- just not enough if everyone on the island went out at once (and there were a couple of larger parties).   Spray all life jackets with antibacterial.  That was a new one. 

Himself was ITCHING to get out on the boat.    

I forgot to mention, we visited this island because when himself was 15, he visited the island with his mum and stepdad and step family.   

The family who own this island, still lived there, in their self-built castle, and farmed the land as well as let out homes.   Himself worked the hay while he was there and earned himself some money. 

He has very fond memories of taking the little boat out, and sailing to the mainland for the paper, bread, milk. 

Today - we were just "going out". 

The sky was blue, the sea was flat calm.   We all had our life jackets on and we set off.   Round the island we went.   The island is 3.5 miles long and 1.5 miles across.  There is a little range of islands between it and the mainland - where a seal colony live.   We went round that island too.

We were saddened only to spot 3 seals  - 13 years ago there were many, many more.  20 to 30 perhaps?   but they were there, and they kept a canny eye on us. 

Cormorants were there in plentitude, as were the obligatory seagurls.  Please note: these sea gurls actually behave as sea gurls, and swoop to the sea, and fish.  They don't attack in their need for junk food hits. 

We hadn't taken out the fishing hooks, this was a pleasure-only ride. 

It is an absolute joy to sit in that wee boat and just gaze at the surroundings, listen to the hum of the engine, or at best, sit with the engine off and just drift.   

Eventually, we headed back to the jetty, for the ritual humiliation of me getting off the boat.  (getting on is almost as bad).   However, this time I managed without squealing, or tripping.   Big Win.

Then it was back to the deck while Tooli tried out her Paddle Board.  The Paddle board was purchased the DAY BEFORE WE LEFT.   

After a successful first paddle boarding, Tooli cooked dinner.   BIG WIN.  

We brought a Gousto box with us, check us out with our Posh Hot Dogs... and apple slaw, a cheeky wee glass of rose, and then our evening game of Scrabble.

We were ready for bed at 10.  and Slightly cooked.   What they don't tell you in the talk is that the sun reflects off the sea, like a mirror, and our faces (except Tooli, who had covered herself in Factor 58) were like red balls. 

In the evening, after the sun had gone down, Tooli appeared with a lump of bacon she had saved from breakfast, fastened it to a bolt and a piece of string, and went crabbing.    We caught several - dropping them before we pulled them up on the pier, but then we caught one... and brought it up and then screamed the place down as it took off at a great pace and dived 8 feet off the pier, back into the water.