Swimmers brave dangerous tides to collect rock from Uri Geller island

A radical of adventurers person swum to an uninhabited Scottish land to cod a stone for personage magician Uri Geller.

The Salty Selkies swam 2kms to Lamb Island, successful the Firth of Forth, which is owned by the self-proclaimed psychic.

Geller had asked the swimmers to bring backmost a tiny portion of the land to enactment successful his depository successful Jaffa, Israel.

The radical of six women and 1 man, aged betwixt 35 and 72, spent months grooming and readying the challenge.

Geller bought the land successful 2009, describing it arsenic "a precise peculiar spot - perchance the astir mystical land successful the world".

Boats cannot moor there, and the tides and currents successful the country made it a unsafe expedition for the swimmers.

Meg Maitland - who recovered the stone - said: "We had to beryllium precise cautious due to the fact that the mode the tides tally we could get swept on the coast.

"The Firth of Forth is similar a funnel, it drains precise fast. We had to marque definite determination were adjacent cleanable conditions and that it was debased tide.

"The land is successful 2 parts and determination is lone a precise tiny spot of beach."

The 66-year-old added: "It was perfectly fabulous to beryllium connected the island. It felt precise breathtaking and we didn't cognize what we would find erstwhile we got there.

"It's an astonishing place, precise magical, and I consciousness precise arrogant we completed the challenge."

Claire Gardner, different of the Salty Selkies, said they had been constricted successful the magnitude of grooming they could bash successful the oversea due to the fact that it was inactive excessively acold to walk a agelong clip successful the water.

"Luckily, successful May it's warmed up a bit, truthful we knew we had astir an hr to implicit the situation earlier we got excessively cold," she said.

Fellow swimmer Jo Lindsay added: "It's not each time you're fixed a situation by Uri Geller and this sounded similar a truly amusive adventure.

"It combined a large swim, exploring an land we've swam past countless times but ne'er gone excessively close, and of people a ngo to cod a hopefully magical stone for Uri's museum.

"As we swam into a tiny inlet connected the island, watched lone by seabirds, it felt precise calm and serene. It truly is simply a breathtaking spot."

Speaking from his location successful Tel Aviv, Geller said helium was delighted by the swimmers' achievements.

The 76-year-old said: "I americium precise blessed they did specified an bonzer feat for maine to person a portion of my land present successful Jaffa.

"I consciousness portion of Scotland and volition travel backmost to sojourn my land again."

Geller said determination was "an invisible force... an energy" connected the island, and that helium planned to measure the "mystical powers" of the stone.

He stayed connected Lamb for 1 nighttime successful 2010 with his brother-in-law Shipi Shtrang and Yorkshireman Andy Strangeway, an adventurer who has slept connected each of Scotland's 162 islands.

Geller spent the nighttime connected the lump of basalt stone with conscionable a sleeping bag. He described his acquisition arsenic "hard, freezing and uncomfortable - but good worthy each of the aches and pains".

He said: "It's worse than Alcatraz to get connected to it. The motorboat was lifted up by a question - that's erstwhile we had to leap off.

"It was a precise hard ascent excessively arsenic it was precise steep."

Geller said helium had been truthful excited to beryllium connected the land that helium forgot to instrumentality a stone with him.

"When I work astir the Salty Selkies swimming past my land successful 2021, I recovered it amazingly courageous. I was truly taken aback.

"So I Tweeted them to accidental I was looking for a chromatic to show successful my museum.

"It is precise unsafe and you person to cognize what you are doing, the h2o is besides not warm."

The Salty Selkies decided to crook the situation into a foundation lawsuit to rise wealth for the Beach Wheelchairs charity.

It hires retired formation wheelchairs for escaped from the Beach Hut successful North Berwick Harbour, and astatine Portobello and Seton Sands.

They privation to rise £18,500 for different motorized seat for their North Berwick hut owed to the overwhelming demand.

So far, they person raised much than £3,400, with Geller donating £1,000.

Since buying Lamb Island, Geller has elevated its presumption to a micronation and has a flag, constitution and anthem.