Sea kayaking the north end of Boreray and the Stacs.

 We emerged from the cave on the west coast of Boreray. A freshening SW wind blew us north towards Stac an Armin. Our planned route was to go between it and the two small stacs in the foreground then loop back to the north of Boreray and down its east side.

Boreray rose sheer out of the sea and rose to dizzying heights in the great horns of rock which form the summit ridge.

In Geodha na Tarnanach  Gordon found a buoy circulating in the current. It was a St Kilda mail boat of the type used by the St Kildans in the winter when there were few visiting steamers. Some got washed up on the Hebrides, one even got washed up on Norway and the finder forwarded it to the addressee:  the landlord, MacLeod of Dunvegan on Skye. In those days an inflated sheep's stomach replaced the fishing buoy.

We later opened it and discovered it had been released by a member of one of the National Trust for Scotland work parties 6 weeks before. Simon phoned and asked what to do with it. The owner asked that it be released at sea again.

From near Stac an Armin we looked SW to this amazing view of the archipelago. Boreray is on the left. In the middle distance are a small unnamed stac and Stac an Armin. In the distance Dun, Hirta and Soay stretch across the horizon.

We paddled between the two small stacs and Stac an Armin while the Cuma made her way through the gap between these small stacs and Boreray. The Cuma then made her way down the east coast of Boreray

After we rounded the two small stacs we crossed back to Boreray just as the Orca 11 tour boat from Harris made her way through the narrow channel. We could just imagine skipper Angus telling telling his awe struck passengers about these dangerous, wild and uncharted waters when, all of a sudden, a bunch of sea kayakers bobbed up and down from behind a stack.

Words can't describe the north end of Boreray.

 The swell round the east coast was huge and...

...the gusting wind was increasing all the time.

It was rather difficult taking photos in these conditions but Ian has another great selection of photos which capture the bits I have missed out!

Murdani knows these waters so well that he had picked the perfect spot for our rendezvous with the MV Cuma. It was sheltered from the wind, the swell and the tide and soon we were safely aboard. We had completed the most amazing crossing from Hirta to Boreray and the stacs.

The skies had clouded over and the wind was continuing to increase. It was now time to scarper to the shelter of Scarp!

Sea kayaking Stac Lee and the great cave of Boreray

As we paddled under the amazing cliffs of Stac Lee, Simon took station on the bows of the Cuma to film the proceedings.

Stac Lee is the second biggest stac in the British Isles and it blotted out much of the sky as we approached its base. As we slowly paddled beneath it we caught sight of the two great caves of Boreray ahead of us...

 ...and a little further round the largest stac, the great rock fin of Stac an Armin rose from the sea like a menacing giant shark!

It was not just our sight that was being overloaded by the sensational environment at the base of Stac Lee. We were deafened by the constant croaking of thousands of gannets, the smell of their guano overwhelmed our noses and even took our breath away.

A combination of looking up at the thousands of gannets wheeling in the air above, a heaving swell and the smell of the guano meant that we needed to be careful to hang on to our luncheons. Some gannets were not so lucky. Marauding bonxies chased them till they vomited their catch. The bonxies then fought over the partially digested fish.

We now paddled towards the northernmost of the pair of great caves on Boreray.

Gordon went in first. He wanted to see if it would be possible to paddle through a narrow slot at the back of the cave and emerge from another entrance several hundred metres further north. It was and he did but no one else felt up for this aqueous roller coaster in the dark!

There was room for all of us in the cave. There was a boulder beach at the back but it was much too rough to land. What a viewpoint the inside of the cave made. Stac Lee was perfectly framed by the arching roof of the cave.

The Cuma nosed in so that Simon could film us emerging from the darkness of the cave for the DVD he is making. When we emerged we discovered that the wind had got up and was now whistling round the cliffs. It looked like the rest of our Boreray paddle would be even more exciting!

Let's do lunch, in Soay Sound, St Kilda!

 The Cuma was lying waiting for us in the shelter of Soay and...

 ...we boarded her for a first class lunch break.

 It is difficult to imagine a more impressive spot for lunch.

This view shows Stac Dona in the foreground with the tall slender Stac Biorach and Soay Stac behind. Boreray can just be seen in the distance between Soay Stac and the headland of An Campar on Hirta to the right. After lunch our route would take us to Boreray, right through the heart of Soay Stac!

 Soon it was time to get back in the kayaks and...

...bid farewell to Cuma, just as a pod of six dolphins cruised by.

Sea kayaking the SW and W coasts of Hirta, St Kilda

The SW coast of Hirta falls sheer into the sea. Despite the sea level being unchanged for about 6,000 years and being exposed to one of the greatest average wave energies in the British Isles, there is no wave cut platform though there are many geos, arches and caves.

We were paddling NW towards the gap between Soay and Hirta, where we had arranged a rendezvous with the MV Cuma.

It was too rough for even Gordon to paddle through the arch at the foot of Mullach Bi (which we had looked down upon the previous day). However, Gordon and Callum went through a gap in the skerries, which had monstrous swells breaking through.

This wasn't enough for Gordon so he found an offshore skerry with a gap...

...that had jagged teeth at the bottom. After studying it for a while, he nipped round the outside...

...then successfully powered through before...

...the swell receded revealing those teeth.

Turning a corner, we now paddled below the equally dramatic west coast of Hirta.

Ken was doing a lot of paddling in the double as Simon, up front, shouted directions as he filmed our progress.

We now approached Soay Sound and we could see Murdani in the Cuma scouting the conditions beyond the stacs.

We had arrived early because the swell had precluded detailed exploration of all the arches and caves.

Murdani had judged that the tide race through the gaps between Soay, Stac Biorach 73m, Soay Stac 61m and An Campar 270m on Hirta was not still not conducive to safe sea kayaking. So he motored over to the SE coast of Soay and prepared a lunch for us while we waited for slack water by the stacs. One by one, we paddled across Soay Sound towards the Cuma.

Ian enjoys paddling the Etain in front of Soay Stac, on the way to a luncheon stop with a difference!.

Hirta, an island of two valleys.

As we made our way down  the south ridge of Mullach Mor from the radar station...

...we got a great, bonxie's eye view of the valley down to the Village Bay area and the open ocean beyond. Away to the SE, the great stac of Levenish seemed to float above the sea.

As we descended further, we could make out every detail in the Village; the whitewashed factor's house, the curving street, the circular wall of the cemetery and the head wall that ran right round the hill side of the village were all clear. It was strange to think that this was about as much of the World as the vast majority of St Kildans ever saw.

We now made our  round the headwall...

...of Gleann Mor, the valley...

...on the NW side of Hirta. This glen was probably permanently inhabited up until 1,000 years ago when the climate was better. In more recent centuries it was inhabited only in summer. An ancient Iron Age wheelhouse, called the Amazon's House by Martin Martin in 1695, lies beneath the radar station on the slopes of Mullach Mor. The Amazon was a mythological female warrior/hunter who roamed the great lands that in legend used to connect Harris to St Kilda before sinking beneath the waves of the Atlantic.



An evening paddle in the lee of Dun.

The forecast was not looking promising, the wind was due to increase 5-6 from the NE, imminently. We launched from the Cuma at 6pm...

...and made for the Dun Gap in beautiful evening sunshine.

The wind and the tide were whistling through the Dun Gap as I looked back past Giasgeir, in mid channel, to Oisebhal (293m) on Hirta.

Mostly it was sheltered in the lee of Dun but there were some vicious down draughts round the headlands and one of the party capsized as a rogue swell broke over a skerry. Donald soon performed a rescue but our team mate was wearing a two piece and got bitterly cold, despite being given two extra jackets, hat and gloves. Please excuse the blurred photo, it was a bit bouncy, I was trying to see if I could offer assistance and I was desperately trying to obey director Simon's "Exit stage left" command, as he was filming the whole proceeding!

 Ian and I felt quite snug in our dry suits. We now paddled into the tunnel...

...that cuts right through An Faing

then turned hard right to go through another much smaller tunnel that leads through to the inlet of A'Chlaisir.

Some of the party then entered the cavern that connects right through to the opposite side of Dun at Seilg Geodha. There was too much swell coming through for us but Gordon got right through and back again. It was impressive seeing him being spewed back into the dark cavern on the top of a 2m wall of white water that shot out of the narrow slot!

We now continued towards the SE point of Dun...

...under towering and sometimes overhanging cliffs.

As we approached Giumachsgor we could see the tide race that was sweeping past the point of Dun. Either we could get through the arch or we would need to return by the Dun gap, we would not be going round the point!

We felt the full force of the wind once we were round Giumachsgor. We ferry glided across wind and tide to the SE wall of the arch. I just managed to hold station here. The tide was rushing through against us as was the wind, which was gusting through and lifting the surface off the sea. Gordon paddled forward into the mayhem and managed to get through to the far side. From my position, I could see through the arch into Village Bay, where he turned on the top of a large wave. He then surfed into the arch again and dodged the reef in its middle. It was an incredible demonstration of paddling skill. No one followed him through. Unfortunately the one photo, I risked taking, was of my spray deck, so you will need to wait and see the video from Gordon's deck mounted cam. I am sure this will make it into the final version of the second "Sea kayaking with Gordon Brown" DVD, which Simon is currently editing.

We returned to Hirta through a very windy Dun Gap. The crossing to the pier was quite bumpy as it was exposed to the wind and the swell that had quickly built up. Behind us, the setting sun lit up the top of the outlying stack of Levenish in a warm glow but we were now deep in the shade of the cliffs of Dun and Hirta. We securely tied our kayaks to the pier railings then Gary ferried us in the RIB back to the Cuma. We enjoyed a well deserved meal at the end of a fantastic day and went to bed early. It was a disturbed night as the Cuma rocked uneasily in the swell, her timbers creaked and the wind whistled through her rigging.