It's back to work and school for everyone now but I hope you've enjoyed the summer holidays as much as we have.
I've got lots of writing to be getting on with and quite a few school and library visits already set up for the coming months. If you are interested in having a visit to your school, please get in touch as soon before all the best dates get taken up. I've managed to get a bit of work done during the summer but we've also had a few nice days out together so over the next week or so I will let you know what we've been up to and let you see a few photographs.
We visited Tenby again this year and had a lovely time. The weather was great (most of the time) and we even managed to have a little swim in the sea.
We thought it would be really nice if we could go on a boat to see whales, dolphins, puffins and who knows what else, so we drove to Martin's Haven to board a little boat that would take us out on a bit of a sea safari. The water was calm near the shore but got a little choppier further out so we were given waterproof clothes and lifejackets to keep us warm and dry. It was roasting when we put them on but I'm glad we did as it was certainly a bit cooler out at sea.
The boat whizzed across the water, bouncing along from time to time and covering us is spray as we headed to Grassholm - a small uninhabited island about 8 miles off the Pembrokeshire Coast. Although no people live on the island, it's the home to thousands of Gannets. From a distance it looks like the island is covered in snow but as you get closer you can see and hear all of the birds (when the wind is blowing in the wrong direction you can smell them too).
As well as the Gannets diving into the sea and circling overhead there were seals soaking up the sun on the rocks below... it was quite a sight.
After leaving Grassholm, the boat took us to two other little islands - Skomer and Stokholm - to get a closer look at the seals and see the Guillemots and Kittiwakes in the nests on the cliffs. We caught a fleeting glance of a couple of Porpoises as they came up for air but sadly we didn't see any dolphins. The Puffins had all headed off to see a few days before so we didn't see those either but we still had a great time.
We spent most of the time just relaxing and having a wander round Tenby and some of the other towns and villages, but we did go and visit Pemberton's Chocolate Farm where we saw how they make all of their delicious, handmade, chocolates. In the picture above you can see some of their chocolate animals and eggs. We even got to taste some of the chocolate and make one for ourselves... Yum!
Today I'm busy writing, and researching, all about Christopher Columbus for a book I'm working on so I haven't got much time to write in my diary. I've been interested in Columbus and Explorers since I was in Primary School and one of my favourite books was this wonderful pop-up book all about Columbus's voyage to the new world. The cover of the book has a ship's wheel that rotates to reveal sections of a map. The middle of the book is a fantastic pop up of Columbus's three ships - the Santa Maria, the Nina and the Pinta.
