Last weekend Anomalocaris took on human form, and so disguised mingled with a group of kayak-faring humans. They paddled along the south coast of the Isle of Skye. Sea lochs, home to seals and basking sharks, lie at the foot of the dark Cuillin mountains. Caves carved out by the waves provide shelter for cormorant parents and their hatchlings.

At one point when the group was making for the head of the loch to set up camp, Anomalocaris found himself somehow speeding up and taking the lead. He paddled past inquisitive seal heads and around a small islet to find a good landing spot. Instead there was a red deer fawn teenager, metres away on the rock-and-grass shore. It looked back calmly and beautifully - may have seen through the human disguise... Two more deer, an adult and a fawn, were standing a little further off. For a few precious moments, it was just four deer there, sharing the sound of the waves and a waterfall trickling into the bay. Then as more and more kayaks came gliding in, the family on shore calmly climbed to higher ground and disappeared behind the rocks.

It can be very good sometimes to build up, to plan, and then to go for it alone, to go on a whim...

Let's see for the Abiogenesis water experience tomorrow =)