Sea Kayaking Isle of Man - Iceland.

In my head there's a list of countries I'd really like to visit. I'm gradually working my way through them one by one. Iceland has always been on the list, but a trip to Reykjavik is usually postponed on grounds of cost. Certainly the £6 pint of beer or £3000.00 air fare would force most people to move the land of Bjork down the list a bit. But things have changed. The collapse of the global economy last year hit every country in the World to some extent, but Iceland fared particularly badly. Indeed the collapse of the Icelandic banks had repercussions far beyond the shores of Iceland, and I know several people who lost money in the Isle of Man branch of one of their larger banks. But the "market" has strange ways of sorting things out. Early last year £1 would buy about 120 Icelandic Krona. Now, for £1 we can get over 200 krona! This phenomenon does not automatically equate to vastly reduced prices, as Icelandic inflation has soared to 17%, and the prices of imported goods can do nothing but rise. Never the less your pound goes allot further and Iceland is rapidly becoming the trendy, nearby, different and not too pricey place to go. With air fares as low as £199 we're off next week to Reykjavik and to hopefully check out the paddling.
Speaking of kayaking the above pictures are from Saturday when Jess and I paddled out to Chicken Rock from Port St Mary.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Like old times.

We nearly didn't go. We hadn't been for ages. But in the end Ian, Jess and myself embarked on our once familiar Saturday morning paddle from Port Erin on the Isle of Man, down to the Sound tidal races. I'm glad we did. Spring tides and a force 4 almost against the flow lent for some challenging conditions. I say challenging because Ian and I both were forced to role! Only Jess came through unscathed. I think perhaps a lack of tidal race time may have left us rusty. Either way we had a great but exhausting time.
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Kayaking Isle of Man - Work.

A little over 4 months ago I gave up my job as a Consultant Anaesthetist at the Nobles Hospital, Isle of Man. Subsequently I set up my own company and I started hiring myself out as a freelance Consultant Anaesthetist. I'm contacted by a hospital or an agency and offered a job. If I like the offer then off I go. I am a bit picky about which jobs I'll do and where I'm willing to work. But so far there has been no shortage of work. Indeed, I've had to turn rather a lot of work down due to prior commitments. It pays well, in fact, I now earn more than I did when I had a full time job. I'm not tied to an organisation and I'm completely my own boss. If I don't like a particular place or hospital, I simply don't have to go back again. I get as much time off as I like and I'm about to enjoy 3 to 4 weeks on the Isle of Man before thinking about taking another job. Best of all though I enjoy the variety. I've just returned from Orkney. The hospital in Kirkwall is tiny and anyone majorly ill needs need to be flown off to the big hospital in Aberdeen with an accompanying doctor. During my 10 days in Orkney I transferred two patients in this way. For the first patient we used an RAF Sea King helicopter, and for the second we used the Scottish Air Ambulance's Eurocopter, which is based in Inverness. The photographs above were taken from inside the Eurocopter.
I think what I'm really trying to say is that there are many people out there doing jobs which make them deeply unhappy. I was one and I've been contacted by many others via this blog. What has become clear to me is that although you may feel trapped you probably are not. There are likely to be options open to you to change and improve your circumstances and frankly no job is worth suffering for.
3 to 4 weeks off means lots of paddling and so hopefully this blog will soon return to it's more usual topic of kayaking.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Orkney

I'm up in Orkney, carrying out a locum anaesthetic job in the local hospital. I'll be here for 10 days and I'm on call for a superhuman 8 of them! Consequently, I flew in and I'm minus a car and a kayak. There just is no time for paddling. In fact and unusually I've been really busy, including spending most of Sunday night in the back of a RAF Sea King helicopter transferring a patient from Orkney to Aberdeen for emergency surgery. That was quite an experience as we spent most of the flight skimming the surface of the sea, periodically looking up at the lights of oil rigs and light houses!
It's not a problem anyway as I know Orkney well. I once lived here and have explored every corner of these islands. Orkney has changed though. Kirkwall is much more vibrant than I remember it with multiple supermarkets and little bistros and trendy shops. I can't help but notice just how Scandinavian it has become. Many of the street, shop and ferry names are Norwegian. The flag pictured above flying on a Norwegian ship moored in Kirkwall is another example. After a vote a few years ago Orkney adopted this as their new flag. At first sight it looks like a Norwegian flag, but in fact the Orcadians have substituted the white section from the Norwegian flag for the yellow colouration above, but otherwise the flag is the same. Perhaps a statement of independence and a recognition of their origins?
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Kayak Isle of Man - Norway.

It was good to paddle through a partial lull in the terrible weather with Jess and Ian this weekend. We went from Port St. Mary to the Sound. It was pretty rough in places and it was nice to have the security of some company. Of late I've been paddling alone as my work related travels continue. It's Orkney next after 3 and a half weeks in the Outer Hebrides. The regular paddles we enjoyed each weekend are probably over as we all have new and different commitments. People's lives change and evolve and new paddling opportunities arise.
Speaking of changes there is a small new section on the main web site, KAYAK.im . I've been emailed by a couple of contacts in Norway to perhaps put some Norwegian content on the site. Of course KAYAK.im is principally about paddling on the Isle of Man. But I was impressed by my Summer paddling experiences in Norway, and so a small "site within a site" has been created which you can find here. I've been promised more content from Norway and I'll post it if and when it becomes available. In the mean time I've written 3 pages about kayaking in Norway and about Noway itself and how to get there, plus a page which focuses on kayaking on the Island of Senja. Any comments or suggestions or inaccuracies noted then please feel free to let me know.
Photos above by Sion Scott in Sogndal, Norway, 2009.
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Harris to Man.

I went the long way round for my return journey from the Western Isles back home to the Isle of Man. I swapped ferries and sailed from Tarbert on the Isle of Harris down to Uig on Skye. This journey is made easier these days now that the Skye Bridge is toll free. Never the less, a gruelling 6 hour drive to Glasgow awaited me. There weren't quite as many camper vans as I had previously encountered in Lofoten in the Summer, but I certainly had plenty of time to take in the stunning scenery. One such observation was the ferocious tidal race pouring under the Bridge at Connel. These are the Falls of Laura and are a famous play spot for kayakers. Millions of gallons of sea water pour over a shelf under the bridge from Loch Etive, creating whirlpools, standing waves and boils. I'd observed several races on the way down as various Lochs emptied into the sea, but I'd never seen anything like this. I broke my journey and parked up to take a look. The waves weren't huge, but whipped up by an opposing wind a gnarly high speed torrent lay before me. I had never been in water moving this fast before. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to venture in, despite having my kayak with me. There were quite a number of sea kayakers parked up by the race. They were obviously on a schedule too, as all kayaks remained firmly lashed to roof racks!?
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Isle of Man Kayaking - Western Isles.

It's nearly time to leave the Western Isles and return home to the Isle of Man. It's been a very special 3 weeks in many different ways. The sea kayaking up here is exceptional. There is everything a paddler could want from stunning Atlantic surf beaches, to sheltered lochs, open inter-island crossings and stunning scenery and wildlife. Be prepared for rough water and bad weather, but if you are an all season paddler then the Outer Hebrides are well worth a visit. Nothing else for me can compare to the magical trip around Scarp I undertook a few weeks ago, with it's white beaches, sparse but friendly inhabitants and the atmospheric abandoned, but slowly being reclaimed, village.
Finally, many thanks to the Cabarfeidh Hotel in Stornoway who have looked after me so well over the past 3 weeks.
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