Is Balamory a real place?
Well, sort of, Tobermory is just a little place and I didn't spend too much time in the town itself, I mean, it only has one street, but what a colorful street it is.
Filled with little quaint shops and old buildings - and despite its small size, it's a very interesting little place - I had to post a few more pictures...
The highlight for me was learning about the Tobermory Cat, such an impressive little kitty, and that his owner was a nice guy also.
We had some little issues on the first day, but nothing the captain couldn't handle with some well-placed charm - but every other day was just grand. All the staff there were very nice, in fact, one of the guys who worked for the marina was actually, as a kid, an extra in the Balamory TV show!
I think many of the locals were press-ganged into being extras! Some locals got a bit tired of some tourists who constantly approached their homes asking if a particular character from the show was at home as some of their homes had been used on the TV Show - so obviously, the person didn't actually live there, and never did - and they got really sick of their doors being knocked on all the time by children hoping to meet their favorite character!
One story I heard about, from a few people, was about one home, that was extensively featured on the show, and the older guy that lived there got soooo sick of it he just started telling people that knocked on his door, that he had killed the character and buried him in the backyard!!
I can only imagine the frustration of having your doorbell rung all the time, I'm sure the novelty wore off REAL fast!
Like I had mentioned before, we moved our home away from all the other yachts, as you can see in the picture below, for both safety and privacy - plus the wi-fi was better, it was also better for the crew - as they are very suspicious of people, and like their peace and quiet to fully relax topside. And, that suspicion occasionally generates little funny moments. People sometimes notice the cats and begin to walk over for a closer look - as soon as they're noticed approaching - the crew disappears below decks, then you see the people stop in their tracks and walk away - then once they're a certain distance away, the crew reappears, so they turn around - then the process repeats. Love my cats! I swear they know what they're doing!
We stayed here for a few days and for 90% of that time it rained, and the wind gusted, but we did have one nice day and the crew made the most of it!
But the town itself was lovely to look at, and I did snap a number of photos....and here they are... Some of them aren't great, but anyway - have a peek at Tobermory!
That's all for this post, not really a 'proper' Ship's Blog entry, but I just wanted to show the place off a little, I thought perhaps the next blog post will be about us leaving here, and I didn't want the significance of this place to be diluted by whatever happens next in the blog - It really was a pleasant little place.
The crew and I had a decent time here, and if you ever get to go - I think you will too! It really has a unique Scottish charm that I haven't seen anywhere else! Plus the cat...and did I mention the cat? There's a famous cat here!