Scotland - Bass Rock Caves - Sea Kayaking.

One amazing day! Woke 5am to be greeted by thick fog at S.t Abbs Head,then some rain even.At this point I thought it was a day ashore,so went to Eyemouth,and a cooked breakfast by the harbour,slowly made my way North to a quiet little backwater named Seacliff,it's about 3 miles East of North Berwick.The road down is private,and is a toll road - £2 I'm not usually a fan of anything like this,this is the exception.On the way down a sign reads"Seacliff is a special place - help keep it that way" this is one of those rare occasions when you can believe the hype! it really is a special little place.Overlooked by Tantallon castle,a wonderful stretch of beach that is quite popular with surfers,when conditions are right.You may be aware of Bass Rock,because it has been featured on the B.B.C.'s "Coast" Neil Oliver suffering from 3 episodes of bad luck with the weather,whilst attempting to land.Well Neil me old China,heres how to do it. That I was blessed with the weather was an understatement,if you look in the background near the end,the Fife coast,which should be visible is obscured by thunder clouds,no doubt they had heavy rain throughout the day only about 10 miles away.Bass rock is actually the inner core of a long extinct volcano,and is composed of fine grained tough igneous rock,namely phonolite,new one on me that one,it is approx. 100 metres high,and 170 wide,apparently one of the caves passes right through the rock,to negotiate you would need S.C.U.B.A. and need to complete some on foot.The rock is home to approx. 40,000 pairs of Gannets,and the Latin name for the Gannet - Sula Bassana.yes indeedy! My first visit here was in August 1996,and was totally amazing,in them days I was on my power boat and managed to leap ashore and explore the upper reaches,amongst the Gannet chicks,and parent birds,to compare it with a David Attenborough experience would not be exaggerating,getting to within a couple of feet of the birds was easy.To top that day off a helicopter arrived to pick up the lighthouse maintenance crew.I then descended and did a Dive in the West caves(the one with the white seal in) On this dive I encountered a youg seal with only one good fin,who kept swimming off,but enabled me to keep pace,and proceeded to take me on a subsea guided tour of the caves,each cave having numerous seals in - magical stuff.The final bit to mention is,back ashore the so called "Midget Submarine Pen" the little harbour carved from the sandstone bedrock - totally unique.The music is again all my own work,pulling out all the stops here,Kimbara acoustic,capo 4th fret,Yamaha keyboard Fender Strat,bottle neck slide and huge portions of Boss delay,all mixed in the Boss BR 600 - I thank you.

[@hedydd2]

This brings back happy memories of glorious days gone bye. I spent a year living at Seacliff in the square and working for the Dale family who owned it all. Even worked constructing the one way system down to the beach, as up until 1976 all traffic, up and down, had to go through the arch that is now the exit. All the roads were concreted in the 70's all the way down from Aulhame to Scoughall, past Seacliff. The place was resplendent then with cows, pedigree Welsh Cob horses, potatoes, wheat, grass, and lots and lots of cabbages. Where has all the time gone? 1975 is like it was yesterday. We were young then. I was 18. Now we're all old men and women.

[@NicolasValentinScotland]

i should be there tomorrow..!same idea .. brilliant

[@scotland.is.magical528]

Loved the seal waiting for chicks to fall out nests. Big conger do the same. 😉

[@fredsmith7885]

Megalith? See 1:22, 2:20, 2:25, 3:30 and many many more. What else could it be? Lovely video, thank you for the effort and glad you had a nice time!

[@begbieyabass]

My Late Father was a Lighthouse Keeper on the Bass 1960-63

[@GBPaddling]

@Oberbaumbruecke Don't know,of anywhere locally that would rent a kayak,and knowing our country these days,I would be amazed if anybody would hire,due to Health and Safety,litigation e.t.c. I hired one in Benidorm once,but the Continentals are more laid back in this area.I did it,in a motor boat the first time I visited,and it was still an amazing experience,and you can cut the engine,and absorb the atmosphere,just drift a while.Also,you could land,and explore the rock,now that is FANTASTIC!!

[@GBPaddling]

@dianeiles Is - totally,and don't forget you can get a tourist boat trip out there from North Berwick.It's much better by kayak though,although you may be able to land if it's calm enough,and believe me that is special.

[@GBPaddling]

@Oberbaumbruecke No definitely this life,just a case of timing it right to coincide with good weather,then the £330 isn't wasted! ha ha

[@GBPaddling]

@stevenatleven Well I hope I'm wrong for yers,but the forecast I've seen doesn't bode well for the East Coast,think it will be the old chestnut "West is best" this weekend.

[@MessianicFollowship86]

beautiful and fascinating

[@beyo124]

Beautifully captured. Love the music 👍

[@GBPaddling]

Thankee verily much Sean, just wish I'd had HD in those halcyon days. Got some great stuff to upload, but my computer's hard drive is full to capacity ..........again.

[@BarbieG]

I loved your video, I'm hoping to do the Bass Rock Landing Trip soon. A lady at the Seabird Center did tell me that you are actually able to kayak through the cave, it would be an amazing thing to do! The seals were my favourite, so cute!

[@GBPaddling]

Thanks Barbie, it was a really magical day. Sorry to disappoint, but the Cave the Lady mentions, cannot be KAYAKED through, it does penetrate right through, but is only passable by walking, wading, and swimming, depending on height of tide. Landing on the rock is very tricky, and you will be very lucky to land. You would be better doing it soon, before the Gannets leave, it is REALLY spectacular with all the Gannet chicks there, I did it once, and it's like an Attenborough film, good luck.

[@GBPaddling]

Forgot to mention this was the final installment of the "Holy Trinity" Farnes,S.t. Abbs and Bass Rock - all completed in perfect U.K. weather conditions.It is hard to imagine bettering this trip in the future....

[@GBPaddling]

That's extremely interesting, I always thought it was just a rumour about the Midget Subs, I know they existed, that's for sure, but about them being stored there at Seacliff. But who knows? there would've been a lot of secrecy in the War, obviously, and the story must've come from somewhere. I'd like to see them, can't beat a bit of history, and the UK is one of the best places in the world for all that.

[@scotland.is.magical528]

Theres one of the x subs decomposing on a beach along lothian coast. Not sure where, but iv seen pictures

[@GBPaddling]

@alanshunter It was indeed agreat day,and so far this year,I haven't had one anywhere near as good! Absolutely love Bass Rock,is there a better afternoon paddle from mainland U.K? Love Seacliff as well,it's just one of those places that tick all the right boxes for me.Always wondered which of the caves it is that penetrates the rock,and which one you emerge from,on the "Darkside"

[@NicolasValentinScotland]

I kayak fish everyweek ..lately I have been to loch fyne ,loch long ,loch etive .loch lomond ,torness,and I catch at every trip ..hopefully tomorrow will be the same ..i usualy post photos of my trip on FLICKR .COM .....NICOLAS VALENTIN...Have a look at the catches !!

[@stevenatleven]

@GBPaddling Great stuff,going to Seacliff on Sunday hope we get the same conditions.

[@GBPaddling]

@Oberbaumbruecke Yes indeed,the landing is near the Lighthouse,and the trip up the rock is just one of lifes' experiences.If the Gannets have chicks on the nest,You are in for a treat.A path leads up to the summit,and you can almost touch the birds.There is an old but good video "Weirs' Way" on KZbin showing some of the journey up there.

[@clairecadoux471]

Thought you werent allowed to land when gannets there. Especially when nesting, who does that?

[@GBPaddling]

@onlywhenpissed Quite simply...it's the difference between summer, and winter. Those glorious summers. In fact, this was still spring really,end of May. It was an unforgettable trip, I did 4 paddles, and they were all superb, lost the tape for 1 trip though. The S.t Abbs Trip is superb as well, but beware of the Indian in Eyemouth, I had a Rogan Josh, and it led to a Rogan Splosh..5 times, ha ha, and that was BEFORE I launched,arse like a stuntman's tyre........ha ha.

[@GBPaddling]

@1nicolas1963 Hope it goes well,have just returned from the far Northweast of Scotland and as brilliant as it was(is) they don't have a Bass Rock,it is a unique place even Europe wide there isn't much to compare,Skelligs off Kerry (Eire) or parts of Shetland and Orkney maybe,it really is THAT special.It's got to be one of the best afternoon paddles in the U.K.

[@GBPaddling]

The blue one, it's in my early videos 'Foggy Dolphins' and 'Mad World'. There's somebody coming looking at it at 8.30 tonight supposedly. You can come out with us anyway, even if you don't buy it, just get some practice in, 'till you feel confident, it took me 3 or 4 trips, in calm seas, before I felt OK. The best thing though, would be have some lessons, if you can afford it, Matt did, and it really speeds the process up, but at the end of the day, it's all down to "Practice makes perfect."

[@GBPaddling]

@onlywhenpissed Yeah,it's like "Here he is,bomb doors open"

[@GBPaddling]

Sammy Fox.........ha ha, she turned out to be a bit of a Lesbo, I think. I went up the Rock, and it was just fabulous, the Lighthouse Maintenance team got picked up by Helicopter, whilst I was up there, even though it was flat calm. I'd love to go back up, in them days, it was a grey area, as to whether or not you were trespassing, and there was a gate that could be locked. Now of course the Land Reform Act has removed all those doubts.

[@feiz01]

Great work again mr Virgo , you should approach a tv Chanel with your work, you make a deal I'm sure. , where you live dude, anglesea?

[@GBPaddling]

@Oberbaumbruecke I think you're right,just one problem the extortionate cost of getting there by ferry £330 last quote!!!

[@feiz01]

Uwhich Capella? What colour mate theirs a couple in Warrington? And if I buy it can I come on a couple trips out with you ;)

[@GBPaddling]

@SealScotland The ones in the West Cave,are visited by trip boats so seem more used to Human contact,this is true in other places I visit,but is no guarantee that they will be friendly,they are all indivdual.Check out my "Seal Compilation" video for a cross section of all the different characters,the Mothers in particular,some allow you close to their Pups,others have hissed like a Banshee,for just looking in their direction from 50 metres away!!!!

[@GBPaddling]

@1nicolas1963 Everyone ask's me do I fish from my Kayak,the thing is I love fish,but it dosen't love me! gives me terrible heartburn,though I've just had some Haddock from the fish van at Scourie last week and it was absolutely superb,lovely flaky white chunks,no fat dripping off,and a perfect thin coat of crispy batter - tremendous.

[@GBPaddling]

The centre of the known Cosmiverse, otherwise known as Wigan, ha ha. Have you got yourself a Kayak yet? I'm selling my old Capella, it's on EBay, and Gumtree Manchester, there's also a paddle and some other stuff.

[@romakayak]

A very smelly island when downwind!

[@clairecadoux471]

Shame about the music. Folk may spend a while choosing but we silently hate losing the natural sounds you heard.