The day started with Skip and I oversleeping due to the alarm not being turned on (DOH!), and while rushing through breakfast I managed to put yogurt into my coffee instead of milk (DOH DOH!). Despite the late start and lumpy coffee it was still a great day – the weather was perfect, and we were out until midnight again taking photos. The morning was spent enjoying the landscape, talking to Rod, Hawk, and Marlene, and failing miserably while attempting to take a few pictures that capture the awesomeness of the surroundings here. Dad and I proved we were related when Larry spotted a flower he was looking for and yelled “That’s it!” – the Skipper and I began packing our gear to leave before the confusion was resolved.
The evening hours were again spent at the Latrabjarg Cliffs with the sea birds, and tonight I think I may have actually gotten some good pictures of puffins. The birds were unexpectedly calm, and several times I found myself sitting next to the cliff face only a few feet from one. After two hours of photographing I set off for a hike along the cliffs, and I’d put this path in my list of the top ten best hikes I’ve ever done. Sheep were grazing along the way, birds were flying by and calling out, and the light kept getting more and more dramatic as the sun dipped. When finally I turned around I was over a thousand feet above the ocean along sheer cliffs that were home to hundreds and hundreds of Northern fulmars. Being a bit late I had to do some trail running (in hiking boots and carrying a photo backpack) to make it to the van by midnight, but an hour later I arrived sweaty with two minutes to spare. Wakeup is at 7:30 tomorrow, so it will be another light sleep night, but a few more cups of lumpy coffee and I should be good for another day.
As a side note, after hearing my dad utter “Holy mackerel” or “Heavens to Mergatroid” or some other Skip-ism the other night I commented that I never really heard anyone else use these phrases; sadly it appears that I was mistaken, and the trip-wide “Holy mackerel” count now stands at about twenty-eight. Perhaps it’s a generational thing, but I’ve yet to figure out how exactly invoking a heavenly fish made it into the English lexicon.