ACHMELVICH BAY, SCOTLAND
That’s not a mistake - this idyllic seascape is, indeed, in Scotland, on the north-west coast. The shimmering white sand is made up of the crushed shells of marine creatures washed up by waves and wind, which over the millennia has created a rare sand-plain landscape known as machair (found only here and in north-west Ireland). As inviting as the turquoise waters might look, they’re a bracing 13°C or so in summer. Below the surface awaits a beautiful world inhabited by dogfish, moon jellyfish, sea urchins, sea squirts, colourful spotted ballan wrasse, sunstars and maerl (pink ‘Scottish coral’ that’s actually a kind of algae with a brittle skeleton). All of these can be seen on the new North West Highland Snorkel Trail, launched in July, which features…
