Thursday, September 5, 2013

Lighthouse Cruise 6 - Hyskeir

Hyskeir light was built in 1907 and automated in 1997.  On two occasions over the last 10 years I have been on cruises where we've attempted a landing, but both times there was too much swell. On this occasion we first attempted to get onto the main landing stage, but had to give that up due to the 4-foot swell. We next tried the stone beach where we were able to get ashore. 



Hyskier is a series of four or five reefs linked by little footbridges. The most substantial bridge (below) is intact, but most of the others have been washed away. However the tide was low, so we could step (or jump) over the channels that those long-gone bridges once spanned.



I have read that the keeper's had a 3-hole golf course (some say 1-hole). I searched each reef, but found nothing that looked like a golf course. But, as you can see in the next photos, there were lots of seals.



Getting off the island proved difficult. The tide had dropped and the shallow beach made it hard to get the RIB out to open water. So Mark Henrys had to step out of the boat and push as a couple of us poled out using the oars. It was a hard go but we managed to do it. Our next stop  - Canna.

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