Isle of Staffa; Fingal's Cave

Our visit to the Inner Hebrides would have ended at Iona, except that the bus driver's description of Staffa goaded us on. Staffa is mythological...it is the Scottish terminus of the Giant's Causeway. See http://roadeveron.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/day-in-nlorthgiants-causeway-carrick.html. It is the place of Fingal's Cave, both mythological and scenic. Fingal is a rendering of Finn MacCool, builder of the Causeway.  It's all out of Jamie McPherson's Ossian, perhaps the greatest of all literary hoaxes. Staffa is of geological significance...those hexagonal basalt columns. It is of musical importance...the inspiration for Mendelssohn's The Hebrides. Etc.

Obviously he was an unusually erudite bus driver. Maybe they all are, but most just drive. Anyhow, mid-stream, so to speak, we decided to extend our trip and take the six-mile open-sea boat-ride to Staffa. We had to go. We are glad we did.

In a little boat like this , 30-40 passengers

Still in the channel, the White Beach on Iona, site of one of the Vikings' greatest
victories: Vikings 68, Monks 0

Out in the open sea now, feeling that Atlantic swell (the Irish Sea is way south);
fascinating islands on the way  

The Isle of Staffa, Fingal's Cave the big one on the right

The boat now docks on the leeward side and you set foot on the island, gawking at
the great pile of basalt

Thus

Walk a couple hundred feet down a cabled ledge, round a corner, and there you
are at the mouth of Fingal's Cave

Me, there

Vicki, too; the sound of the waves crashing against the back wall, 200 feet inside
the cave, and the echo, were unforgettable

The Giants' Causeway disappears beneath the waves in the
general direction of Ireland

In the distance, Iona, the abbey clearly visible on the left

Basalt columns and cabled walkway on Staffa

View from the top of Staffa

And a parting shot, beginning the long rides back to Oban