Sunday 15 July 2012

Huffing and Puffling

When I came down to the boat the other morning I was greeted by a Baby Puffin (Puffling) on the deck of the boat. I was gob smacked it was even there and what on earth was it doing on the boat. I know they are attracted by light and sound but the engines were off, I don't have any flood lights on the boat, so how the hell did it get there.

Before I started to ask questions I put it in the wheelhouse to keep it safe.

On the pier I saw the harbour master and asked him if the harbour office light was on last night. He said no but his assistant said that he was out for a walk and there was lots of noise coming from the harbour office area. He decided to investigate and when he arrived there was a few teenagers playing music quite load and he also noticed the flood light above the harbour office was on, so he turned it off.

Now this could the the answer I was looking for but why my boat? Why was it even on the boat to start with. To be honest I don't have a clue but they are lovely to see, so we decided to take it back out to the open sea.

As we got a bit further out from the harbour we had a look around to see if their were any gulls around and the coast was clear, so we let it go.

Boy oh boy was he happy to be away. Not even a glance back to say thank you.





A few day's before that we saw a seal playing with a lobster pot bouy and we just pointed it out the the guests as they do this quite a lot. 
After we had been to see the seals at the Longstone Island we noticed that the seal was totally wrapped up in rope and his head was under the water. We moved the boat close to the seal and it was drowning so we grabbed the rope and pulled the seal towards the boat. A gentleman on the boat helped me by holding the rope while I pulled the rest of the rope of its neck. After a lot growls and a few attempts to bite me it shot of but yet again not even a little look back to say thank you. 

Oh well at least he lived and that's what its all about.



   
The seal and myself were doing the huffing and puffing and the puffling was just being cute. 

Saying that the Puffling can still give a good nip but I'm glad the seal didn't bite.