St Kilda Magic

Oops, I forgot to tell you to let go!
Day 3

Anchorage: St Kilda
Distance Travelled: 52.7 miles

We woke up to day three still in the fog but it cleared up slightly as we finished our breakfast. Everyone was excited to be headed straight to St Kilda which took our minds off the fact that we were going in and out of the fog for most of the day. Every so often throughout our journey a grey seal would pop up, not too far from the boat to be encased by the fog, and once we reached a point where we could see for a reasonable distance we were able to see a Minke Whale. It stayed, for the most part, close to the boat and at one point it came up for a breath a couple of metres in front of the boat, luckily not hitting us in the process!

By the time we had reached St Kilda we had seen 2 seals, 13 grey seals, 2 minke whales, 2 porpoise and 1unidentified animal, while the hydrophone was still faulty.

After a great exploration of St Kilda, we all returned to the boat where Kerry, Richard, Tom, Hannah, Elliot and I all went swimming. This involved jumping from the boat, the mast and swinging from a rope as good ways to reach the sea below. After a crash landing was made back on to the deck from the rope swing Richard looked round, chuckling and said “Oops, I forgot to tell you to let go!”

I once heard someone say that once you'd been to St Kilda, you'd spend your entire life trying to explain to others what it is like and how magical it felt to walk amongst its sea cliffs and ruins. I have to say that i totally agree with that. I feel incredibly privalaged that I made it there and spent a good few hours walking quietly across the island feeling very small and insignificant, but completely at peace.