Sea kayaking with the local wildlife

Grey seal pops up amongst S. Anselms kayakers

Another busy day at the Adventure School with a run, a walk or volleyball before breakfast. Porridge, cereal, toast and a cooked breakfast of fried eggs and bacon put fuel in the tanks ready for the day ahead. In the morning the ‘Blue Moons’ and the ‘Red Arrows’ took to the water in sea kayaks, each pupil paddling their own craft, learning skills and touring around the sea loch with its network of little coves and bays.

Meanwhile, the ‘Blue Whales’ and the ‘Red Snappers’ were competing out on ‘Search to survive’, a wilderness orienteering course out on the peninsular beyond the Adventure School. It is the first steps in independence in this environment, navigating in little squads of three or four without instructors or teachers to help, only to observe the action from a distance.

After lunch, the teams swapped around. It is unusual to see seals in the waters in front of Ardmore in the summer. They tend to be well out into Loch Laxford and closer to the open coastline. Not so today! It was with roars of excitement (and one of terror) that a seal popped its head up amongst one of our little pods of kayakers just off the southern tip of A Chadh-Fi island.

This evening the Red team and the Blue team are preparing for the concert on Thursday night, and allocating events for tomorrow mornings quadrathlon, a four-stage event including a run, a walk with leaky tubes of water, a blindfolded kayak and a swim. All that before breakfast!

There is no sign of this team tiring, they just keep going with a great spirit bringing a real buzz to the Adventure School.