Isle of Staffa, Scotland
Our first day in the Hebrides dawned bright and sunny, with a fresh breeze from the west and a following sea as we sailed up the Sound of Iona. The morning was spent in a visit—pilgrimage is almost a better word—to the very holy site of Iona, founded by the Irish Saint Columba in 563 A.D. and the source from which Celtic Christianity dispersed throughout the British Isles and beyond. The beautifully restored monastery, the pink granite walls of the nunnery and the magnificent Iona Celtic crosses stand in testament to the remarkable history of the island.
During lunch Endeavour sailed north to the remote Isle of Staffa, the site of Fingal’s Cave which inspired Mendelssohn’s Hebridean Overture. Staffa displays one of the world’s best examples of columnar basalt and Fingal’s cave (on the right) has been carved by wave action into the central layer of lava. Three layers are easily visible on the cliff face of the island: a lower layer of volcanic ash representing the first, explosive phase of the eruptive sequence, a central layer exhibiting the beautiful polygonal columns occasionally produced when basalt flows cool very slowly and an upper layer representing another basaltic lava flow with some, poorly developed columns. This third layer probably provided the insulation which allowed the central layer to cool slowly and regularly. One can read the story of the rocks directly in the cliff face and see the effects of the massive volcanic activity which produced most of the land of the Hebrides between 66 and 50 million years ago as the early Atlantic Ocean opened. The movement of North America away from Europe stretched the Earth’s crust and the tension allowed this volcanic material to flow out over the surface of the land. Today these volcanic rocks produce the grand scenery of western Scotland that we see on every side as we cruise through the Inner Hebrides.
Our first day in the Hebrides dawned bright and sunny, with a fresh breeze from the west and a following sea as we sailed up the Sound of Iona. The morning was spent in a visit—pilgrimage is almost a better word—to the very holy site of Iona, founded by the Irish Saint Columba in 563 A.D. and the source from which Celtic Christianity dispersed throughout the British Isles and beyond. The beautifully restored monastery, the pink granite walls of the nunnery and the magnificent Iona Celtic crosses stand in testament to the remarkable history of the island.
During lunch Endeavour sailed north to the remote Isle of Staffa, the site of Fingal’s Cave which inspired Mendelssohn’s Hebridean Overture. Staffa displays one of the world’s best examples of columnar basalt and Fingal’s cave (on the right) has been carved by wave action into the central layer of lava. Three layers are easily visible on the cliff face of the island: a lower layer of volcanic ash representing the first, explosive phase of the eruptive sequence, a central layer exhibiting the beautiful polygonal columns occasionally produced when basalt flows cool very slowly and an upper layer representing another basaltic lava flow with some, poorly developed columns. This third layer probably provided the insulation which allowed the central layer to cool slowly and regularly. One can read the story of the rocks directly in the cliff face and see the effects of the massive volcanic activity which produced most of the land of the Hebrides between 66 and 50 million years ago as the early Atlantic Ocean opened. The movement of North America away from Europe stretched the Earth’s crust and the tension allowed this volcanic material to flow out over the surface of the land. Today these volcanic rocks produce the grand scenery of western Scotland that we see on every side as we cruise through the Inner Hebrides.
