Kayak trip Gardenstown- Pennan

A high pressure area above Scotland on Saturday gave us the impulse to head North and explore the Moray Coast by kayak. We started from Gardenstown, a beautiful pittoresque village, and paddled to Troup Head which is the largest breeding site for gannets in the UK.

After observing the colonies of gannets, guillemots, razor bills and fulmars breeding on the steep cliffs, we headed to the village Pennan and explored some caves. While I was experimenting with the new waterproof camera (stills and video), Jaap couldn't resist to practice his eskimo roll again. Some of the pics are not the best quality, but that might have to do with the extreme digital zoom I had to use in some cases and being on the water at the same time. I guess it will come with practice!



What I really enjoyed doing was making short videos, especially underwater. This is my first attempt in compiling several short videos into one short movie. I hope you like it!

Watercolour painting

The storm and rain yesterday gave me the opportunity to practice a bit more with watercolours. This time I used my newly bought practice book and chose one of the examples to follow step-by-step. It took me much more time than expected and although there are few mistakes in the painting, I'm quite pleased with the result. Most of all, I really enjoyed doing it. Next week my art class will start again so I will hear what my teacher thinks. Then I'm also able to further practice my technical skills so that I can hopefully make progress!

Skiing in Glenshee

And the snow fun continues with skiing at Glenshee with Lucy and Dave last Thursday. I had finished a lot of work the previous days so I thought I deserved a day off! Unfortunately Jaap had meetings so he couldn't come with us. The conditions were excellent; no wind, blue sky, nice snow (apart from a few thin/rocky spots). We had a great day out as you can see on these photos.



Lucy and I also took some video shots, some of them while skiing at the same time. That was a real challenge, but great to do. Be warned though; you might get dizzy watching it!