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Staffa
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| Photo Information |
| Copyright: Cristina Stoica (albastrica) (210) |
| Genre: Places |
| Medium: Color |
| Date Taken: 2009-07-13 |
| Categories: Daily Life, Nature |
| Exposure: f/7.1, 1/200 seconds |
| More Photo Info: [view] |
| Photo Version: Original Version |
| Date Submitted: 2009-08-01 7:24 |
| Viewed: 85 |
| Points: 1 |
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Staffa lies about 10 kilometres (6 mi) west of Mull, and 9 km northeast of Iona. It is longitudinally oriented north-south, and is a kilometre long by about half a kilometre wide. The circumference is almost 3 km in extent. In the northeast the isle shelves to a shore, but otherwise the coast is rugged and much indented, numerous caves having been carved out by rain, stream and ocean. There is enough grass on the surface to feed a few cattle, and the island contains a spring.
On the east coast are Goat Cave and Clamshell Cave. The latter is 10 m high, about 6 m wide at the entrance, some 45 m long, and on one side of it the ridges of basalt stand out like the ribs of a ship. Near this cave is the pyramidal rock islet of Am Buachaille ('The Herdsman'), a pile of basalt columns fully seen only at low tide. Other outlying rocks include Eilean Dubh to the north-west and a series of skerries stretching for half a kilometre to the south-west. On the southwest shore are Boat Cave and Mackinnon’s Cave (named after an 15th-century abbot of Iona), which has a tunnel connecting it to Cormorant Cave. These caves lie to the south-west and can be accessed from the bay of Port an Fhasgaidh at low tide. In 1945 a mine exploded near Boat Cave causing damage to the cliff face which is still visible. At 107 metres, Mackinnon's Cave is the 79th longest sea cave in the world.
Staffa's most famous feature is Fingal's Cave. This is a huge sea cave near the southern tip of the island some 20 m high and 75 m long formed in cliffs of hexagonal basalt columns. This cliff-face is called the Colonnade or The Great Face and it was these cliffs and its caves that inspired Felix Mendelssohn's Die Hebriden (English: Hebrides Overture opus 26), which was premiered in London in 1832. The original gaelic name for Fingal's Cave is An Uamh Bhin – "the melodious cave" – but it was subsequently renamed after the 3rd-century Irish warrior Fionn MacCool Mendelssohn was nonetheless inspired by the sound of the waves in the cave and waxed lyrical about his visit, claiming that he arrived in Scotland: "with a rake for folk-songs, an ear for the lovely, fragrant countryside, and a heart for the bare legs of the natives. |
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- yanm
![Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 558 W: 40 N: 848]](http://i1.treklens.com/misc/g-s-g.gif)
(8422) - [2009-08-01 8:33]
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consider the time to shoot this will give a better result imo. or at least using the help or mr filter to reduce the harshness of the whites on the splash
