Life was tough when Alex was young. He was a small lobster and larger lobsters bullied him.
One day a beating went too far. A large lobster cut off both of Alex's claws, leaving him defenceless.
Alex was rescued and taken into the large tank at the Sea Life Centre in Tobermory on Mull where the kind staff fed him.
But Alex wasn't king of the tank. Although he was largest creature in this new glass-walled world, there were two crabs and each of them had one pincer each. (How they each lost one pincer is another story altogether).
So the larger crab was king of the tank. Or at least, he was until a few weeks ago.
Then Alex did what all lobsters do from time to time. Alex shed his shell.
The new Alex which emerged was significantly different from the old Alex in one very important way.
The new Alex had one claw. The crab shat himself.
New Alex was big and tooled up. He took the crown by force.
Today, the other crabs hide in the small nooks and crannys of the tank where Alex and his crushing claw can't reach, fondly remembering when they were in charge.
Occasionally new crabs are introduced to the tank, but they can't learn fast enough.
Alex eats them.
In fact, anything the kind staff drop in the tank, Alex gets to first. Especially the (dead) prawns, which he burries in the sand to save for later.
One day Alex will shed his shell again. perhaps the new new Alex will have two claws.
If he does, he'll be put back in the Sound of Mull. We'll see who's king then.
We learnt all this on a day paddle from Glenborrodale to Tobermory. Honestly, it was better than Eastenders.
"Today is the day for me to finally come to terms with the fact that I am not able to complete what I originally set out to do, my 10 year dream and 3+ years of a 'work in progress'....To solo sea kayak around South Georgia Island."
In short, she has run out of time.
"It is time I accept whole heartedly the entire situation which has led to this extremely disappointing circumstance.
We were 20 days late in departing due to: Gregs injury, time it took to find another crew person, rotten weather which slowed us down sailing to Sth G and finally, my badly bruised and beaten kayak which needed a few 'touch ups'."
We were kayaking in the Sound of Mull at the weekend and ate lunch at bothy on the Morvern shore. The photos below show a verse, pasted onto a piece of wood, which was propped in the window. The sketch of the bothy was on the other side.
The first version was a promo video to go on a page of Terra Santa Kayak Expedition's website. This full version is to give more information to people who're interested in kayaking in this excellent destination. There's also an article to come. I made these videos and wrote the article in exchange for a week kayaking in the Seychelles. Hope you like it!
Despite the title, this DVD is not about canoeing, it’s about canoeists, the people who canoe.
A major part of Justine Curgenven’s documentary-making skill has been to find the right characters and these chosen individuals are relaxed, quirky, interesting and utterly captivated by their chosen sport.
It’s obvious Justine likes them and they both like and trust her.The results are quality documentary making.
Then there is the photography, which divides into two types.First, there are the films where the subject can be shot time and again, asked to repeat sequences from a different angle.These are lovingly directed and photographed from boats, canoes, shore and high cliffs - I had no idea a canoe could be filmed in so many different ways.
Secondly, there are the films where events happen so fast there’s just one chance to capture them.These require a very different approach to camera work and here Justine’s expedition experience is evident.Obviously, I don’t know what she missed, but I’m guessing it’s not much.
It’s not so much a DVD as a film-festival in a box.
A staggering three hours of material is contained in this two DVD set, too much for me to watch in one sitting, which is a good thing.In the style of This Is The Sea, there are twelve films, six on each disc, and I’d roughly categorise them as follows: 2 ‘expedition’ films; 2 white-water ‘jumping-off-waterfalls’ films; and 8 films profiling canoeists.
Only in the expedition films does Justine include herself as a participant in the action.
The first is a journey from Rannoch Moor to Loch Tummel in Scotland.Justine and her partner Barry Shaw, both experienced kayakers but new to canoes, are guided by top coaches Scott Simon and Dave Rossetter.
With cameras clamped to canoe bows and the side of helmets, I felt I was in the canoe with them.Right up to the point where the canoe became trapped between a tree and a rock - that’s when I bailed out.Justine did too, and we see her clinging to that rock in the middle of a rapid while Scott and Dave attempt to recover a fast flooding canoe that’s in danger of being torn to pieces.
The other expedition film is a multi-day descent of the Mountain River in Canada’s remote North West Territories, where canoes, equipment, provisions, and people are flown in by Twin Otter float plane.
Justine joins a outfitted group, organised by Blackfeather Adventure Company, and we watch as guides and paying clients drag, paddle and portage their craft the entire length of the river; from an infant trickle, to a fast flowing adult before emptying into the mighty Mackenzie River.
The side-hikes up neighbouring peaks reveal nothing but wilderness in every direction.What a place.
Two films I’ve classed as white-water ‘jumping off waterfalls’, but that’s not really fair.Only The Moose involves waterfall jumping, something that normally makes me yawn, but since these guys are in canoes it has to be seen to be believed.
The other white-water canoe film is Open Canoe Slalom, which offers all the excitement of a major slalom event with the added difficulty that these boats become increasingly hard to handle as they fill with water.There’s a limit to how much slalom a viewer can watch, so Justine focuses on the competitors’ characters.There’s a real tussle underway between an ageing master, winner of 95 events, and a relatively young upstart who is trying to stop the master reaching 100.It underlines the friendliness of this sport when Justine reveals that the rivals share each other’s canoes.
Almost all the other films are people profiles, beautifully crafted portraits of individuals for whom the way of the paddle is a passion.Birchbark Man is nearing the end of a one thousand mile paddle in his traditional craft.Becky Mason is the daughter of Bill Mason, the man who did so much to popularise canoeing.In Wales, Ray Goodwin demonstrates effortless control of his craft in challenging conditions.
However, the outstanding film is Dougie Down the Pet in which Scott Macgregor takes his four-year old son down the Petawawa River in Canada.
In less accomplished hands, this film could degenerate into soggy sentimentality.Instead Justine delivers a documentary that allows us to see Algonquin Provincial Park through Dougie’s eyes, gazing in child-like wonder at the natural beauty.
Scott has been criticised for running rapids with a three year old on board, but this film is an eloquent answer to such narrow mindedness.This film is a worthy winner of Best Professional Documentary at the USA’s National Paddling Film Festival, and the whole DVD a winner at the Reel Paddling Film Festival and Waterwalker Film Festival.
I had worked on the edit of the Seychelles kayaking video until the early hours of Wednesday morning. (More tomorrow).
So when Liz insisted we go ski-ing it didn't feel too much like bunking off work.
Liz has downhill skied once before, before we met ten years ago. Apart from a day on the slopes, it would be my first skiing in twenty five years.
However, the snow in Scotland is excellent (we were told). So we drove to Glencoe and had a superb half-day on the mountain. No queues, lovely weather and superb scenery.
We'll go again. But prhaps not wait another 25 years. If only we could guarantee such snow ever year.
The Corran Ferry was not running for a couple of hours Sunday, Monday and Tuesday while guys from the council tried to repair a rather big hole in the slpway. Will the repair last until the main work starts at the end of the summer?
At the National Paddling Festival 2010 in the USA, Sea Kayak with Gordon Brown won the category for Best professional Safetly/Instructional Film. And I'm delighted to say Justine Curgenven took best Professional Documentary.
I'm now spending quite a few days locked in an edit suite, but I'll soon have some video to show you of sea kayaking in the Seychelles.
Life was tough when Alex was young. He was a small lobster and larger lobsters bullied him. 
