Discovery Day 4

Day 4 was Tobermory – another tender port. Today was the highlight of the cruise for me – a trip to Iona. We set the alarm for 7am, had breakfast and we ready waiting in the Carousel Lounge by 8.45am. As it turned out the day was beautiful – bright clear blue sky and sun! It was an all-day tour so we were supplied with a packed lunch – a sandwich, a breaded chicken breast, apple, banana, yoghurt (and spoon), poppy seed cake and bottle of water. We mustered in the Carousel Lounge and waited while two medical evacuations took precedence – one by tender, one by lifeboat.

 

The drive to the ferry at Ffionfort was two hours with a brief toilet stop at Craigmure while the guide collected our ferry tickets. The scenery of Mull was stunning. We saw seals, herons, highland cattle, hares, red deer and buzzards.

We drove through the Great Glen, still in its winter colours of gold and red, broken by salmon rivers and granite outcrops, green with lichen and moss. The lochs were like glass as we drove along the single track roads that cross the island. The ferry took about 10 minutes to cross the short stretch of water to Iona.

 

At the landing was a small beach worthy of the Caribbean with white shell sand and turquoise water. It was then a short walk uphill to the famous Abbey.

 

We had two hours there to do as we wished before meeting at the ferry at 2.45 to return. Once again – a beautiful island awash with peace and tranquillity – all you could here were birds singing. I have to say Discovery passengers were very well trained and no one was late or lost throughout the cruise, at least on our tours. We retraced our morning journey back to pretty Tobermory, its brightly coloured houses lining the harbour, and tendered back – thankfully a much better experience than yesterday except the tide had risen so the platform had had to be raised to the extent that each tread on the gangway steps slanted downwards alarmingly!

Back on board, fed and watered – metaphorically speaking, the captain came over the tannoy - never a good sign! In this instance it was the man himself as well – usually it was someone speaking on his behalf. Now we found out why when he ended his statement that due to bad weather forecast we would be missing Douglas and heading at full speed to Cobh to get there tomorrow evening and spend the night alongside – he ended with the memorable words – your comfort is more important than safety! OK, we knew what he meant but it was fortunate Caryll and I were in the cabin as we dissolved into fits of laughter. After a pre-dinner cocktail and dinner itself we watched the Abba show and went to bed.