Swimmers brave dangerous tides to collect rock from Uri Geller island
- Published
Seven swimmers - Linda Malcolm, Jo Hood, Bronwyn Macaskill, Jo Lindsay, Claire Gardner, Jeremy Milne, Meg Maitland - made the dangerous expedition
A group of adventurers have swum to an uninhabited Scottish island to collect a rock for celebrity magician Uri Geller.
The Salty Selkies swam 2km to Lamb Island, in the Firth of Forth, which is owned by the self-proclaimed psychic.
Geller had asked the swimmers to bring back a small piece of the island to put in his museum in Jaffa, Israel.
The group of six women and one man, aged between 35 and 72, spent months training and planning the challenge.
Geller bought the island in 2009, describing it as "a very special place - possibly the most mystical island in the world".
Meg Maitland with the stone from Lamb Island
Boats cannot moor there, and the tides and currents in the area made it a dangerous expedition for the swimmers.
Meg Maitland - who found the rock - said: "We had to be very careful because the way the tides run we could get swept along the coast.
"The Firth of Forth is like a funnel, it drains very fast. We had to make sure there were near perfect conditions and that it was low tide.
"The island is in two parts and there is only a very tiny bit of beach."
The 66-year-old added: "It was absolutely fabulous to be on the island. It felt very exciting and we didn't know what we would find when we got there.
"It's an amazing place, very magical, and I feel very proud we completed the challenge."
Claire Gardner, another of the Salty Selkies, said they had been limited in the amount of training they could do in the sea because it was still too cold to spend a long time in the water.
"Luckily, in May it's warmed up a bit, so we knew we had about an hour to complete the challenge before we got too cold," she said.
Meg Maitland with the other swimmers on the island
Fellow swimmer Jo Lindsay added: "It's not every day you're given a challenge by Uri Geller and this sounded like a really fun adventure.
"It combined a great swim, exploring an island we've swam past countless times but never gone too close, and of course a mission to collect a hopefully magical rock for Uri's museum.
"As we swam into a small inlet on the island, watched only by seabirds, it felt very calm and serene. It really is a breathtaking spot."
Speaking from his home in Tel Aviv, Geller said he was delighted by the swimmers' achievements.
The 76-year-old said: "I am very happy they did such an extraordinary feat for me to have a piece of my island here in Jaffa.
"I feel part of Scotland and will come back to visit my island again."
Geller said there was "an invisible force... an energy" on the island, and that he planned to assess the "mystical powers" of the stone.
He stayed on Lamb for one night in 2010 with his brother-in-law Shipi Shtrang and Yorkshireman Andy Strangeway, an adventurer who has slept on all of Scotland's 162 islands larger than 10 hectares.
Geller spent the night on the lump of basalt rock with just a sleeping bag. He described his experience as "hard, freezing and uncomfortable - but well worth all of the aches and pains".
He said: "It's worse than Alcatraz to get on to it. The motorboat was lifted up by a wave - that's when we had to jump off.
"It was a very difficult climb too as it was very steep."
Geller stayed on Lamb for one night in 2010
Geller said he had been so excited to be on the island that he forgot to take a rock with him.
"When I read about the Salty Selkies swimming past my island in 2021, I found it amazingly courageous. I was really taken aback.
"So I Tweeted them to say I was looking for a stone to display in my museum.
"It is very dangerous and you have to know what you are doing, the water is also not warm."
The Salty Selkies decided to turn the challenge into a charity event to raise money for the Beach Wheelchairs charity.
It hires out beach wheelchairs for free from the Beach Hut in North Berwick Harbour, and at Portobello and Seton Sands.
They want to raise £18,500 for another motorized chair for their North Berwick hut due to the overwhelming demand.
So far, they have raised more than £3,400, with Geller donating £1,000.
Since buying Lamb Island, Geller has elevated its status to a micronation and has a flag, constitution and anthem.
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