I can't speak for what it's like where you are, but here in Perthshire the weather has been fantastic for more than two weeks - except for one wet day on Easter Saturday (which made gardeners happy). I don't think I've ever seen so much blossom and, because it's still a bit on the chilly side with a cool breeze, the spring flowers and the cherry blossom are lasting for ages. It's lovely. Trouble is it makes you want to get out there and that's not good for business! But on Monday I took the Bank Holiday - the first time I can remember doing that for years - and a crowd of us went over to Oban to join the Paddle Steamer Waverley for a day trip to Iona and around Mull. It was quite cold but stunningly beautiful as only the West Coast of Scotland can be. Now I'm not saying that other places can't be - tricky language English! What I mean is that there's nowhere else LIKE the West Coast.
Now it's back to work - doing a lot on updating the website, especially the South Atlantic pages. Today will be the turn of the Falkland Islands. It was super to be back there last November, albeit briefly, and I'm looking forward to the mega Falklands/South Georgia extravaganza next November. As far as I'm aware it will be the first time that it's been possible to combine the two without having to go to South America first and we've designed it so that you spend more time on the Falklands than is possible with an expedition cruise itinerary.
Talking of the Falkland Islands, we've got a new leader - Ali Liddle. Our good friend Will Wagstaff has taken to working the cruise ships down to Antarctica and seems to be enjoying it. Well, he had been doing the Falklands every year for nearly a quarter of a century (started young!) and needed a change. Meeting Ali on the Antarctic trip I did, where she was one of the staff, was a real stroke of luck. She worked on the Falkland Islands as a teacher for many years and, during her time there, was a volunteer with Falkland Conservation for whom she wrote three books including one on the flowers of the Falkland Islands. And, having travelled with her, I know her to be an excellent tour leader who doesn't just know things but also looks after people.
Anyway, enough of all that. Instead of talking about it, it's time I did something about it! Hopefully the new pages will all be on line in a couple of days and I must at this stage give a big thank you to my webmaster, Richard Albion, who is doing a terrific job at getting us high in the search engines and bullying me into activity! I'd better stop writing this or he'll be giving me grief for not having written the copy for the revised Falkland pages!
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