Queen Victoria had visited it and so had other famous people; Sir Walter Scott, John Keats, Wordsworth, Jules Verne and Robert Louis Stevenson; this island 10 kilometres west of the Isle of Mull in Scotland which the Vikings called Staffa or Pillar island because the columnar basalt of the island reminded them of their houses, which were built from vertically placed tree-logs. From afar, the island looked like a huge mushroom; the basalt columns stood out prominently; and almost everyone in our boat started to take out their handphones to take shots of it. Then, as our boat approached the island, the Fingal's Cave which is the island's main sea cavern, came into sight. The boat stopped to let us explore the island; and while some people walked up the steep stairs to the highest point of the island which stands at 42 metres above sea level, we took a path that led to the cavern. Later, we went up the stairs but was confronted with a wide expanse of flat land. No one was in sight; I suppose they had walked to the far end of the island to view birds because Staffa has a rich seabird life and birds like the gannets, guillemots, razorbills, great northern divers, fulmars and great skuas either nest or feed from the island. I just wish we had time to go bird watching too...
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