Sunday 29th May. Lunga and Iona

An early morning, 6.30am, zodiac ride to a very cobbly beach . David was the first ashore and got a wet foot,but Oscar managed to get me ashore  between waves. Once I had managed the unfriendly cobbles it was a steep climb up to a plateau  and then 500 m of very  challenging, springy,  turf to our first sighting of puffins; then a little further to an immense colony of guillemots on the rocks, with puffins nesting on the grass: also cormorants & kittiwakes . We stayed sitting watching them all for at least an hour as the sun gradually lit up more of the cliff face.. Then we sat on the grass on the way back, not more than 5 feet from the sunlit puffins . After this a challenging rock face walk, with Robin clinging on to me!,to reach the altered zodiac embarkation point.

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David and I had a zodiac ride by ourselves back to the ship where we arrived just in time for a 9.30 breakfast: a bacon butty and eggs Benedict as a reward. Then spent a couple of hours lying on deck watching the island scenery go by as the ship repositioned to Iona. We went ashore at 2,30 and had a quick walk before joining the 2nd group visiting the Monastery and Abbey. I enjoyed this, learning quite a lot about the thriving island community - just 120 people - from our guide . The island was owned by Lord Fraser until 1979 when it was given to the nation. David bought me a lovely silver necklace that had been handmade in a local jewellers there

Got back aboard just after 5.  Showered, had a drink in the Panorama lounge, went to Recap and Briefing, wondering why so many people were dressed up. Eventually saw that it was an optional formal night - weird, with no real warning. Ate in Hot Rocks and then listened to some of the music in the Panorama lounge, Raphael on the trumpet!