The following day I slept in, so I had some fruit and coffee delivered to the room at the last call. The coffee is so good here. Each day The Island Hotel posts the boats/tours that are available from Tresco. Since it was a Sunday there wasn't too much available but there was a wildlife tour to St. Agnes so I went ahead and decided to do that.
I <3 room service!
I walked around the property since the tour was later in the day. I love the resort... It would have been even more nice if it was warmer outside at the beach.
Since the island doesn't allow cars there was this cute road sign while walking to the pier to go to the wildlife tour.
While walking I came upon the St. Nicholas church. I was really disappointed that I missed the service. I had planned to wake up early, get breakfast and make it but I was exhausted... (not a proper excuse, though, I know).
Another view as I was walking past the church.
Because I was still early for the tour I shopped at the Gallery Tresco, the only real store on the island with local art pieces.
Then I started getting hungry so I stopped at the only food store on the island. It was more like a combination of a small grocery store and a convenient store... I got some great apples and some yogurt raisins. The apples were so good, LOL.
While I was eating my apples (I had to go back for more) I saw this great mosaic on the wall outside the grocery store. Love! It totally described my life at that exact time.
Then I went on the wildlife tour, which turned out to be a tour to St Agnes island. It began with a narration of the surrounding islands. This was Hangman's Island... Can you tell why?
An old fortress and the ruins were here. Very interesting to see, it looked really out of place. But since this was the most western part of the world before 1492 I could see why it might be necessary.
I got a lot of great pictures of the waves hitting the rocky cliffs or rocky island pieces. Such a beautiful day.
Then we saw a great cluster of Puffins. They were sort of in the middle of the picture on the second level of the rocky cliffs. It was so neat to see them. A wonderful woman on the tour boat, Jan, let me use her binoculars to see them up close. It was absolutely one of my favorite things about the Isles of Scilly to me.
And then we saw some seals swimming in the ocean! You can see a small head popping out of the water to greet the boat.
Then we saw a seal climb onto the rocks from the water. We watched him/her for a while, too.
More Scilly birds!!
A beautiful lighthouse...
Then we landed on St Agnes Island, another car-less island, and I walked around touring the island. I was unprepared because I thought it was just a wildlife tour but I was pleased to see another island.
What beautiful flowers there were...everywhere. And so bright!
I found a plant shop that served as a gift shop. I found some post cards there that I could send from the St Agnes post office.
I walked up the hill to see the St Agnes lighthouse...
And on the way found the local Post Office. Unfortunately, British post offices aren't open on Sundays either. But they had a collection box for mail, so it worked out.
Then I went back to where the boat loaded and waited for our return.
The Turks Head pub was there and I decided to have a local ale.
What a view! It was one of my favorite vacation moments... So peaceful. Until I dropped my camera into the glass accidentally...
After I got off the boat it was around 4pm. I had way too much time before dinner but everything on the island was closed. But I decided to make the half mile walk to the Tresco Abbey Gardens even though they were closed. I didn't know if I'd be able to see them but I had nothing else to do and it was good exercise. While I was walking I came upon this strange bird that followed me for a bit.
The road I was following was long, and isolated. Since it was covered with trees on both sides it made me a bit weary but I was fine...as I knew I would be.
As I walking closer to the Abbey I came upon these .... cactus roses is what they seemed like. I'm not flower specialist so I'm not sure what they were but they were really beautiful but very durable like a cactus. They were pretty all in bloom with each other and clustered as they were.
This was the entrance to the Tresco Abbey Gardens but as they were closed...there was not much to see. I wish I had toured them instead of the other island but I was torn in my decision and I can always go back. :)
Since my other camera was dunked in a pint of ale I had to resort to using my iPhone for photography at this point. Plus with the sun directly overhead it was very difficult to get a good picture of the Abbey.
Then I took the mile and a half walk back to the Island Hotel and showered up for dinner. Because it was my last night I got an optimal table facing the beautiful water. It was a Sunday buffet dinner but it began with an appetizer. I got the crap and salmon plate. Very tasty.... I love my seafood.
Then there was an optional half lobster. It was delicious. Completely wined and dined!
Having a glass of champagne to celebrate my last night on the Isles of Scilly. =Bliss
The Sunday buffet was a lot of different meats. I tried my first duck. It was tasty but...not something I'd eat often. So much food!
And this is the BEST dessert I've EVER had!! I would have licked the bowl if I could have. :)
And I spent the rest of the night drinking coffee, blogging and reading Alice in Wonderland. Total relaxation at its best. I miss the Isles of Scilly!
After a few hours wait I finally got to the heliport and got my boarding pass. Out of 22 seats I was 19 so I was a little weary of where I would end up sitting.
It is so loud loading a helicopter! But what an adventure...
From my seat I got great views of the islands.
Isn't that amazing??
I took many more pictures than the displays here but I just couldn't get enough of the beauty.
And, eventually the Isles of Scilly were out of view... :(
I can't wait to see where my next island trip will take me!
I actually was the only passenger sitting backwards. I snuck this picture when no one was looking :)
And then I got a good shot coming back in Penzance.
And as soon as I got back into Penzance I had to go to the Rail Station to get my train back to London.
But the next train wasn't for 2-3 hours so I found a seat in the train station and got a bite to eat and worked on my blogging.
I got a cappucino and tried a sausage kolache, type pastry. GROSS! Then I tried the cherry danish...GROSS even though I had asked for the cake beside it. They didn't have WiFi so I wrote for my other sight on VirtualTourist.com and just saved my entries to upload later.
The small Penzance train station. The end of the line! Quite amazing to think this train station goes for hundreds and hundreds of miles but stops right here.
Then I got on my 7 hour train ride back to London. I was still so hungry from my journey, and since I didn't like the food at the station I went to the snack counter on the train. It had plenty of items. I got the turkey panini, chips, sour patch worms and a water.
My plan the whole time was to find a cheap hotel by Paddington Station in London where I could crash for the night and explore London a bit more. But there was a huge music concert going on AND Wimbleton so there were no hotels available. I ended up crashing at the airport all night long in this coffee shop. Again, it wasn't so bad. I got plenty of my blogging done and it gave me a chance to get on American time.
