Silently... and stealthily it crept forward across the hard, rippled sand.
It paused... and glided onwards towards the sea oblivious of our presence.
Why! Why was this sensitive creature unaware of us?
I then realised the strength and direction of the January wind as it sent fine sand whipping past my ears and turned waves into a turbulent mousse... our smell had not reached the poised creature.
Onwards it moved; quickly and silently, then into the sea just below the crest of a long wave.
The otter swam deftly - tail outstretched, to a nearby black, seaweeded rock. It was so beautiful.
"How lucky you are, Annie," said Steve.
"I have not seen an otter on the sand in 3 years."
"Look, look! There are some seals," he yelled.
Again, our noise and smells had been carried behind us in the near gale force wind. One seal: so cockily, stretched on its back and surveyed us as if it were lounging on an overstuffed settee - but had only buoyant waves.
Interest was mutual.
Sights such as these are priceless to me far more so than a row of pearls. 'Nature's pearls,' I guess.
Two more seals appeared. Then a fourth, and they all dipped under, to swim away, but to have another curious look from a safer distance.
Jet beads among the pearls?
Up on the golf course the Highland cattle stared, backs towards the hillocks. Black eyes from beneath haphazard fringes that seemed to almost obliterate the view.
Sheep huddled to stone walls, and only a few gulls fled across the skies.
Hurricane - gale force wind 12!
Monday morning the scene was silent and white with snow - a not common event on Coll... and how the wind blew.
Ice, sleet, hail, snow, rain and wind all in two days, and this did not make me sad. I consider myself lucky.
This is a Coll unknown to the summer holiday makers.
The hollows in the hills have still snow; sleet rushes down the'windows; the wind howls and skies look filled with even more snow - lots of it.
Puddles, galore, but I have seen few ducks. .. ducks are the village green gossips of life, but here on Coll it must be the wind seeking out every nook and cranny.
Beyond the low hills is only sea and sky
the best backdrop of Mother Nature; the moonstone, maybe?
And what of the Castle - Breacachadh. It is a stalwart haven with its solid walls and low doorways with history seeping out of every stone. It would not have surprised me to have found a ghost warrior standing beside me in the downstairs lounge; and long haired hounds resting outside the porchway, long noses on even longer paws.
Above all, the hospitality and codependence of Coll is so evident, and oft sparkles as the diamond.
What brought me to Coll... from distant Pakistan?
The 'Project Trust' of Ballyhough.
No boundaries, no glass nor metal bars for Nature's treasures but the strong thread of respect and awareness complete the string.
