We went for our yearly Farne Island trip yesterday. Cornflake, Mr Wonderful et moi. And it was a strange experience. Mostly because of the weather.
I was anticipating Easterly winds, meaning heavy roll and swell, Sea Sick in the tarot cards...
A heavy fog, and rain on the way up North, we were scouting the skies in the car, looking for some blue to appear, but it would be four in the afternoon before the sun finally burned through the thick fog layers.
We started our trip by picking up boat tickets, in Seahouses, talked to a couple from Holland, and met up with Sea Dog Meghan. Photographed on earlier occasions, this time she was really cute.
Wearing an instant doggie suit, made to pick her up by the handle, as she is becoming too old to go down the stairs to the boats. Ladders is a better word. Depending on the water in the harbor and the tides, you board high or low, the vertical ladders are not for me either, sadly enough I am too big for a handle.
It looks like this... Broad ribbons go under her belly, and support her, and you can just pick her up and swoop her to where you want her. She is a heavy one though, a yorkie allright, small dogs, but this one is a SEA DOG and is a bit over format. It was nice to see her back.
Boats were already floating in and out, lots of activity in the small harbor, almost totally geared up for tourism. Eco and normal. Divers, bird watchers, seal watchers, they all end up in Seahouses to take one of the boats to one of the islands around.
In town, shops are open and the tools of the trade are stalled so kids can pick the one they want.
Fishing nets, lined up, candy colors, the net being a better option, as there is not much sand in Seahouses itself. You have to venture more to Bamburgh beach to find sand.
It was low tide big time, so we had to board on the outer side of the harbor, next to the lighthouse. We even found parking on the pier itself, while I had tought that Seahouses was going to be crowded. The british kids are not out of school yet, the boats were not packed like sardines like on other occasions.
We choose the somewhat bigger boat, the Glad Tidings III, the two left before us, with no shelter against possible downpours, I preferred the bigger brother. With at least a decent stearing hut to shelter behind.
Mr Wonderful was up for the trip, we both found a nice spot on the boat, we both like the sea and the water.
Leaving the harbor behind, it soon became clear that fog was out there, it soon engulfed us, we heard lots of fog horns sounding.
Visibility was in patches, I would have said 50 meters, the islands were bearably on the horizon, other vessels had to come rather close before we could spot them.
Nowadays fishermen have GPS and radar, but I can imagine that this is how boats run on cliffs, especially in the dangerous waters around the British Isles, with known sand banks, hiding under the waves, together with rocky outcrops from the Islands. You need to know your way around in these waters.
No problem for our skippers, they do it on a daily base, and know the waters with eyes closed. Good to know...
On good days, Bamburgh Castle is always a marker, but today, only a vague masse is there, and only people having been here before know it is Bamburgh.
I had taken medication against seasickness and did pretty well, up to the last half hour from the trip going to the Island. They never go in a straight line, we are taken to see seals, and have a view of the pinnacles, with shags, kittiwakes and puffins nesting on top, the swell was beginning to get to me.
Holding on to my camera, like a drowning man to a life boey, and try to avoid all thoughts of fish food, although I came close.
The seals were their normal selves, fat and easy going, waiting on sun to appear to start the more serious basking for the day.
I love them, in the water they are pure elegance, outside they look like big lumps, needing all the weed they can find to rest comfortably before going back into sea for fishing.
Two different breeds, grey ones and speckled ones. I forgot their names. Fog does not only clog up the Northsea, it also affects my brain directly.
Close to the seals we saw something red peeping out of the water, at first looking like seal heads, but they were divers. Funny. Often seals look like little men bobbing up and down in the waves, this time they were real men.
The pinacles still the same as last year. Waves crashing upon them, birds on the top. The sick making smell of bird guano... Nothing changed.
Except the big group of puffins we saw. I have been to Seahouses many times, but this was the day of the Puffins.
Thousands of them...
Comical red beaks, marked eyes, and orange paws. Puffins as we know them. The fishing seemed to go allright, as I did see some of them with fish.
They are amazing when they lift off from the water, pulling their heavy body up in the air, with only small wings. It’s the speed of the flapping that does the trick.
The guys flapping like crazy overhead are puffins.
Getting closer to the Island we see what they are fishing for in the undeep waters, small black fish and sand eels. Their major food force. Needed as they use a lot of energy raising their single chick.
I am praying that I can get off board, as my stomach is sinking deeper by the minute, and I am loosing the will to live...
I need land! Soon! Let me kiss the ground... never mind the bird poop. I need to get on dry land!
Our stay on the Island is a rewarding one, loooooots of nesting puffin pairs, the burroughs are filled to the brim. Wowhsee, Terns, here we come.
And don’t laugh about my hat, I did not get hurt...
What a sweet face Meghan has! It is nice that there is equipment that keeps her part of things as she ages. I love the divers/seals - no wonder sharks occasionally get confused!
Puffins are just so cute! Thanks for the smell of sea and the look of the cool here in the hot and HUMID desert!
Posted by: Christine | 29 June 2009 at 05:46 PM