Sea and Skye

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After another fabulous breakfast, we headed off for a circle tour of the "small loop" around the Isle of Skye. This took us up past Portree and then west to Dunvegan and then back down to Broadford. The loop gave stunning views of the Cuillen Mountains. We stopped in Broadford for some lunch and then headed down to the bottom tip of the Isle of Skye, called Elgol, to get on the AquaXplorer boat tour. The drive down to Elgol was a one-lane windy road with lots of "passing places" where you are meant to pull in if you come up with a car heading toward you on the one-lane road in order to pass each other. This can be quite tricky! The other mentionable thing about the Isle of Skye is that we came across many "road sheep" which we named because they just wander freely on the hills and onto the roads.

This was a four-hour unbelievable tour (felt a little like whale watching in Tofino) and we saw it ALL: minke whales (2), basking sharks (about 7 in total), common harbour seals, gray seals, red deer, puffins, porpoises, sea eagles, guillemots, razorbills. It was amazing! And an added bonus was that on the 4-hour tour, we had no rain and quite a lot of sunshine!! And no seasickness for any of us. We rode in a zodiac boat in full wet gear over our clothes. The guide was great and had lots of interesting stories. We also saw an abandoned shipwreck of a French trawler that got grounded on the rocks in January 2011 by a French Captain who has since been charged and lost his license. We saw the Isle of Rhum, stopped on the Isle of Canna and came up close to Kilmory beach where we saw many red deer that are being studied by 2 researchers that live on that island.

The only thing we didn't see was dolphins. Oh well. We saw more than most of the groups get to see. Actually, since it is nesting season for the birds, all the birds were perched in nests right on the cliffs and easy to see along with the babies in the nests. The timing was good as they only nest for a few weeks and then spend the rest of the year at sea! We also saw caves and had a great close up view of the Cuillen Mountain range.

Back to Kyleakin (where we are staying) for a quick bite and then back to the hotel to relax, blog and have a quiet evening. When we arrived home there was a gorgeous rainbow across the harbour. The scenery from our hotel is spectacular. We are literally steps from the water and can see the tide come up and go out each day!

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Photos

One of the views
This is the drive around the small loop around Isle of Skye

Suited up for the boat ride
The Bella Jane took us on a 4-hour tour to see the ocean life.

Hundreds of bird nests
Each nest has a bird and a baby being protected.

Duh nuh....duh nuh.....
Not Jaws but the second largest species of fish in the world - the Basking Shark.