On the hunt for Nessie

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llUnfortunately, we did not find the Loch Ness monster (aka Nessie) today, but we did have fun looking! We went on a Nessie hunter boat cruise on the Loch (our boat captain sounded a wee bit like Sean Connery!), and learned:

1. The water is black-ish appearing because of the soil around the loch. There is a lot of peat in the soil (maybe Nessie likes peaty whiskey?)

2. Loch Ness is about 50 feet higher than sea level, about mile wide, 23 miles long and DEEP - about 750 feet deep at the deepest point. To illustrate the depth, our boat captain kept moving the boat closer to shore and reading out the depth we approached the shore. Basically, there's a very minimal shoreline, and then a fairly steep drop very close to shore.

3. Loch Ness never ices or freezes over

4. The monster was first sighted in 565 AD

After our boat cruise, we toured Urquhart Castle on the shores of Loch Ness. The ruins were once one of Scotland's largest castles, and was an important stronghold through the 1600s.

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