Some people know the Isle of Skye from the romanticized song, “Over the Seas to Skye”, but for those who aren’t familiar with its geography, it’s an island of Scotland and part of the Inner Hebrides close to the mainland. It’s an island of about 12,500 people with craggy mountains overlooking the lochs and seas. For the most part the mountains are barren but sheep and cows can be seen grazing on the hills and close to the road.
I have been to Skye four times now and to our port at Portree three times; Barb has been there four times too but each of us was here once separately from each other. Today was the best weather Barb has encountered in rainy Skye, but I encountered good weather when I was there without Barb; however that time I just ferried from the mainland on foot for better views of my favorite castle in Britain in terms of setting and view, Eilean Donan Castle at the Kyle of Lochalsh on the mainland. Since we visited Eilean Donan last year when our cruise anchored in Portree, we opted to do something different this time. We chose to take an easy bus trip called “Northern Skye Scenic Drive” which made a loop along the coast of the Trotternisch Range of Mountains. We chose to sit on the left side of the bus as we figured (correctly) that we would have the sea on our side of the bus. Since neither of us had visited this part of Skye, it was a new experience for us and we were pleased we had chosen this excursion.
Over and over we could see famous Scottish purple “heather on the hill” along with beautiful wildflowers (aka weeds) of white and yellow mixed with the heather. The twisted roads rose and fell as they revealed different beautiful seascapes. Thank goodness for digital cameras because I was snapping pictures constantly and can choose what to keep and what to delete! The weather today was much like yesterday – beautiful sunshine, followed by dark clouds and bursts of rain. The rain came two or three times today like yesterday but came mostly as we were riding rather than we would be out. There was plenty of blue sky and sunshine to enhance picture quality which made Barb say it was her best Skye weather ever. Several times we got off the bus to take in the beauty of Skye and to take advantage of photo opportunities.
We stopped at the Skye Museum of Island Life, a mixture of a few authentic and mostly recreated crofters’ thatched-roof cottages. We had seen numerous ruins of abandoned stone crofters’ cottages along the road but had a chance to go inside several buildings to see the way of life 19th century Scottish people lived on Skye. The thatch was fastened with wire because we were told that in this area, winds have been clocked up to 196 mph! Without the added protection, the thatched roofs would never survive.
As we approached the northern part of the island the imposing landscape of The Storr, the highest peak of the Trotternisch Range came into view. The summit rises to almost 2400 feet (low by “real” mountain standards) but high for Scotland. We viewed Kilt Rock which is formed in almost tartan-like pattern. We got off the bus to look way over the fence and behind us to watch a 200 foot waterfall fall to the shoreline below. From there we returned to Portree and had a few minutes to wander the town before boarding our tender to return to the ship for our early departure.
Having visited Skye just last year at almost the same time of year, we were pleased with the better weather this time. Seas were much calmer this year. Skies didn’t open with torrents of rain like it did at times last year. Last year, on our excursion, it became so rainy, that people didn’t take the opportunity to get out to see some of the scenic areas. This time, it wasn’t an issue. Last year, some afternoon shore excursions didn’t make their runs because seas were so rough there was concern that that guests wouldn’t be able to get back to the ship. Some of our friends last year just got to Portree on the tender and were told tender service was closing and only returns to the ship were being attempted. We were over an hour late leaving Portree last year as there was major difficulty in raising the tenders. We remember sitting at dinner last year watching the crew making many vain attempts to raise the tenders because the winds and seas were buffeting the small boats.
When we returned to the ship, our favorite Port Lecturer Barbara Haenni described our next port, Akureyri, Iceland. It’s our only Icelandic port on our return voyage and she describes Akureyri by saying that if she could visit only one port in Iceland, it would be Akureyri. That’s a powerful endorsement from as refined a world traveler as she is! We look forward to seeing our Icelandic friends, Grétar and his wife Kristin. We saw them when we visited Reykjavik, and since they have a summer home in Akureyri, we are pleased to have the opportunity to connect once again while we are there.
Following the Titanic theme of this cruise, the Shore Excursions Manager, Joe, led a Q & A session on truth and fiction related to the sinking of the Titanic in April 1912. He has written three books on the subject and is a real expert on that legendary ship. For an hour, he took question after question answering anything people asked about the ill-fated Titanic as well including how our own ship(!) compares with the Titanic. One thing we learned was that the Maasdam is a larger ship in terms of total tonnage and is wider but not as long as the Titanic. We also have enough lifeboats to accommodate everyone on board. (What a relief that is!!) But that has been the case since soon after the sinking of the Titanic.
And now tomorrow … our first sea day since a week ago Sunday PLUS an extra hour of sleep tonight as we regain an hour of the time we lost on our eastbound journey.
Chuck
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