Tobermory Tales - may 2004

Well, not exactly Klingons so much as dolphins...



I was hard at work this lunchtime when I got a call from my wife to say there was a pod of dolphins close to shore near Duart Castle and putting on a bit of a show. I passed on the good tidings to those nice people at the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust who were going to try and get across to take a look.



It didn't take more than a few more seconds thought to shutdown the PC and pull on my bike leathers, then to blast across the island.



They'd moved west by the time I reached Craignure where a pod of between 6 and maybe a dozen dolphins were frolicking just offshore of the CalMac linkspan.



Common dolphins by my reckoning, and having a whale of a time (!). Rolling on the surface and even jumping out of the water!



They did this for about ten minutes while I watched before a hard shower of rain drove me to shelter.



When I came out of hiding they'd gone, possibly west along the Sound, but I wasn't disappointed as I'd enjoyed a great show.



Just a pity the westher was so wet that I couldn't get any pictures for you all.



Cheers

Gary

It seems that way, anyway. We've had some beautifully sunny weather here on Mull this week, in between the regular showers of rain and Mackerel.

Steph and I took the kids out to Aros Park for a few hours running around as they were getting stirr-crazy indoors.



Aros Park is a wonderful place of woods and trees, water and rocks. On the outskirts of Tobermory, it was once the site of a great house but is now managed by Forest Enterprise, the great house having long-since been demolished.



This time of year the trees and shrubbery are alive with colour as the blossoms are blooming and the birds are nesting. Eagles are often to be seen soaring high above the park and seals can be viewed in the bay.

More pictures are available at http://www.Balamory.org.uk

Cheers
Gary

Great weather on Mull on Sunday for the first call to Tobermory of the PS Waverley.

The Waverley is the last remaining Clyde Steamer and is a gorgeous example of a steam-powered packet steamer.


She steamed into Tobermory Bay around lunchtime and moored-up alongside the CalMac Pier to take on passengers for an afternoon cruise to Tiree and back.

Returning in the early evening she delighted on-lookers with her sharp lines and graceful turn of speed. Being a paddle steamer she isn't equipped with propellers - instead two large paddle-wheels provide propulsion, drived by a set of powerful steam engines below-decks.


Next time she comes to Tobermory I'm hoping to take Spike aboard for the trip as he's fascinated by boats and engines, steam engines especially.

Cheers
Gary

Monday lunchtime crawled round with a call from Steph to say we were going off-island for a few hours. When this conundrum was explained it transpired we were off on a sea life survey with those nice people from Turus Mara and our friends at the HWDT for a cruise out from Ulva Ferry to the Isle of Lunga (part of the Treshnish Isles).

The trip took us out past Fladda to the Carnburg Islands and thence down to Lunga where we landed for an hour or so.

These islands are teeming with life, be-it seals or cetaceans or birds or plants. Lunga is carpetted with Primroses and other with flowers plus huge numbers of Puffins, Shag, and Guillemots.


The Puffins are so tame you can get within a few feet of them and they're constantly popping up and down from their burrows on the cliff edges.


All in all both Steph and myself, not to mention the kids, had a wonderful time. Our special thanks to everyone involved.

Cheers
Gary

Well done to the Ukraine for winning last night's Eurovision Song Contest. By far the best performance, regardless of how well they could sing or whether the song was any good.

The Eurovision Song Contest is one of the high-spots of the television year, so long as you don't take it at all seriously. You don't watch it 'cos its good - you watch it cos it's so bad!

We always have a whale of a time - a few years ago a friend invented a drinking game to be played whilst it was on. If there's enough interest I might post the rules, but basically it involves drinking a lot of booze.

In case anyone missed it (shame on you!) the Ukrainian entry involved a female lead dressed like Xena the Warrior Princess plus assorted male Goth-types, leaping and prancing on stage. Lots of flesh, leather and whips in evidence.

The UK seems to have been forgiven a bit for Iraq and actually managed to get a few votes this year too.

Anyhow, enough of this nonesense. Bravo Ukraine!

TTFN
Gary

...well today's news is that the BBC are in town for a fortnight filming a new series of Balamory.

(For those without children this is a surreal TV programme for young children transmitted on the CBeebies channel and occasionally others, and set in Tobermory.)

My youngest boy, Spike, and several of his nursery friends were involved in filming on Tuesday and from what I can gather they all had a whale of a time.


No doubt there'll be much more to tell over the coming weeks about the exploits of our heroes, Miss Hooley, PC Plum (Plummy to his mates!), Spencer, Josie Jump, Penny Pockets and Suzi Sweep, not forgetting Archie the Inventor.

Here's my eldest daughter, Natasha, preparing to hijack the 'Daisy Bus'.

More to follow...

Gary