I woke up to the smell of fresh brewed coffee coming from somewhere on the boat -- I followed it up to the main deck of the boat where I found coffee, juice and breakfast. As I ate breakfast, the boat started up and began to make our way toward the Isle of Mull.
The boat ride was quite smooth and we passed stunning views of the countryside. We had several guides with us for our trip. Euan is a guide and owner of H&I Adventures, Kevin is a poet and guide for H&I, Tim is a photographer and guide for H&I and Stewart is veteran hiking guide and owner of Caledonian Adventures. Stewart is a wealth of knowledge. He explained to us that the places on the mainland we would be going are extremely difficult to reach by land. The boat would also be taking us to isolated islands only reached by boat.
The first stop was Tobermory, a quaint seaside village on the Isle of Mull (only accessible by boat). The homes and shops on the main road are all painted bright colors. This offers a contrast from the dark greens and blues that the land and sea give off around these buildings. There were a handful of boats that were anchored up in the bay as well, including a life rescue boat. I would love to have heard the stories the men on that boat could tell! We began a hike up a trail just outside of town. The trail wrapped around the hillside that overlooked the bay. It was beautiful. There may very well be more waterfalls in Scotland than people -- perfect for an amateur photographer like me. It's impossible to keep track of all the waterfalls' names. We passed several on our way up to the top of a rather large fall. I was stopped at the first of the smaller ones and took multiple pictures. The group patiently waited for me. I was fairly certain they were all thinking that the hike was going to take the better part of a week if I took this many pictures of each of the upcoming waterfalls. Each waterfall was stunning in its own way. About half way up, we ran into Euan, Kevin, and Tim who were doing a photo shoot for mountain biking next to one of the bigger lower falls. We chatted for a bit and then we continued on the upper falls. They were simply stunning. Stewart provided more history about Tobermory, Mull, and the falls and then we made our way back down to Tobermory. 
Lunch was on the boat and as we ate we pulled out of Tobermory and back out to sea. We made our way over to what seemed like a random piece of scenic hillside. We grabbed our bags, boarded a dingy, and were dropped off on the rocky shore of the land in front of us. As the dingy pulled away and back toward the boat, I could not help but feel the awesome feeling of being completely and utterly “off the map.” We stood on this rocky shore, with small waves crashing in, as if we had been shipwrecked. However, we were dry and we had a great plan. Stewart led us up a hill that was littered in old ruins of stone houses from hundreds of years ago. He explained to us that this is where farmers used to live and keep their livestock before being run off the land some time ago. These stone ruins were all that was left of what most likely were the only people to ever live here. There were not even trails for the first half of this hike. We simply hiked straight up the hillside, over rocks, through boggy grassy areas and over small streams and creeks. 
The views out over the sea loch were simply breathtaking. Once we were about three-fourths of the way up, looking through binoculars we noticed a white line in the middle of the sea loch. We looked closer and it became evident that what we were looking at was a whale. It really speaks to the scope of this place that we were looking at something as massive as a whale, yet it appeared in our binoculars as only a small, white ripple in the water below. We found an old dirt road at the top of the hill that we followed down the other side. As we made our way down the backside of the hill, we saw our boat anchored up in a small bay. Stewart informed us that Rob, our Sean Connery look-a-like boat captain, was diving for scallops. This is music to any seafood lover’s ears. We found Rob back on the boat, knife in hand, cleaning scallops out of the shell. Oh what a beautiful sight. We each cleaned a scallop or two but it was evident who the real pro was. I had a raw scallop with some fresh squeezed lemon. It was a little piece of heaven. Scallops, when eaten raw after only being out of the sea for a handful of minutes, are incredible. 
Rob cleaned and cleaned until he thought we had enough. Then he threw the rest of his catch back out to sea. Part of me cried a little on the inside when he did that, but we had a good size bucket full of scallops and it was indeed enough. Needless to say, dinner was incredible. After scallops, we enjoyed bread and butter pudding, local cheeses and local whiskey. We stayed up late again, telling stories, listening to Kevin’s poetry, laughing and carrying on. All in a boat, anchored in a bay, miles and miles away from any other living person, let alone any part of civilization. We were a bunch of friends, on a boat by wild land, far removed from the grid, and enjoying every moment of it. See all of H&I Adventures tours here > 