Well, due to bad weather our itinerary has been completely changed, so we don’t know where we will be going from one day to the next. Interestingly enough, no one seems to be at all bothered by this. They sit in the lounge, clutching their binoculars and cameras with long lenses, sipping champagne. One couple told us that on their last cruise on the ship they didn’t stop anywhere at all, so I was thankful when the captain announced that although we would miss our stop on the Isle of Rum where we would have had a beach landing at Kilmory Bay so we could see red deer, we would spend the morning cruising by the islands, and after lunch we would anchor, and be able to go ashore on the Isle of Eigg.

The lifeboats are open, and quite honestly don’t look that exciting, so I was happy to see that the ship also carries 2 little tenders, and these were lowered so we could go ashore. It was quite cold and wet, not to mention rough, going from the ship to the island, and then when we got there we were unable to dock as a small cargo ship had taken up all of the space on the pier and there was no room for us. We bobbed around in the water for a while, getting colder and wetter. It was clear that the cargo ship had a lot of stuff on board, and it was going to take a long time to offload it all. But never fear, our trusty boat driver finally managed to maneuver our little boat into a small space on the dock, and once more we were on dry land.

The Isle of Eigg is said to be one of the most beautiful Hebridean Islands if you believe their tourism web page. It certainly is really lovely, and Brian and I set off on a hike to explore the island. It wasn’t raining quite so hard, so that was an improvement. There were fields and fields of bluebells and wild garlic. There were moss covered woods to wander through. There were sweeping vistas of the cliffs and nearby islands. And there were sheep. It was all very peaceful, and we had a good time exploring the island and chatting to the locals and tourists.

The cargo ship was still there when we returned to the pier, but by then our tender driver had perfected the art of docking the tender and we were able to return to the ship with no further ado.

That night was the welcome on board dinner – sort of like a low-key gala dinner on Queen Mary 2. Everyone was dressed in formal clothes, and the champagne flowed freely. Dinner was excellent,

and we had a pleasant evening meeting our fellow travelers and drinking champagne and single malt whisky (well Brian was).

There are 50 passengers on board, and 14 of them are a noisy family from Belgium. There is also a German couple, and another American couple. Everyone else is from the UK, and most have been on the ship several times. They are all keen bird watchers and judging from the constant sound of popping corks of Tattinger bottles, also avid consumers of champagne.

We enjoyed everyone’s company and I was quite exhausted when we finally retired to our cozy cabin. It was not the day we were expecting, but it really was a lovely day.