Boat Trip to Staffa Island

Wednesday we took a boat trip to the island of Staffa. There is a big cave, Fingal’s Cave, there into which the ocean flows and sometimes makes beautiful sounds. Supposedly, following a visit to the

island in 1829 Felix Mendelssohn was inspired to write the Hebrides Overture. We didn’t hear the special sound, but we did get to look into the cave. The best part of the day for me, though, was seeing Puffins for the first time. They are so cute, and they love being near people because people keep the seagulls away. It seems that the gulls will snatch the food out of the Puffins’ beaks as they are carrying it back to their young. With people around, the gulls are not so brave. We got to watch them fly and land and walk around for about fifteen minutes. It was wonderful. We saw seals both as we were going to and from Staffa. Also, the water up in this part of the world is crystal clear and turquoise in places. It looks very like the Caribbean.

The 9:00 PM worship was conducted mostly without words. The congregation was given papers with little diagrams of the order of worship, like the picture of a bell for bell ringing, a candle being lit for candle lighting, you get the picture (yes, pun intended). At one point we all got up walked out of the Abbey church, walked around the cloister walk and then back to our seats. The music was hummed. The only spoken part was the Scripture reading. It was an interesting experience. It certainly gave you space to think. Later we attended a Taize worship in a smaller chapel on the grounds. The space was lighted only by candles. They were placed up on shelves, on a table and in large candle stands. Each one of the participants was also given a candle to hold. Tom and I knew all of the chants so we were able to participate fully without spending time learning the music. I really loved it.