Friday May 30th (evening post)

Well we have left St Kilda and are now in our way to the Faroe Islands. 

This distance is the biggest we have had so far between stops and we don't get in to Tvoroyri until early tomorrow afternoon so that means that I can have a sleep in in the morning and maybe catch up on washing etc in the morning – although there are a couple of lectures that I might attend.  The one on animal communications sounds somewhat interesting but I am not so sure about “the battle of the Atlantic 1939 – 1945”. Thinking about it though, maybe I should go to the second one because I know nothing about that! 

This afternoon we stopped at one of the other islands in the archipelago that makes up St Kilda 

to check out the world’s largest colony of Northern Gannets. 

 It really was bird city. If you look at the photos and zoom in on them, every white dot you can see is a bird. It would have been very uncomfortable for anyone who had a bird phobia.

 There were also seals on the rocks but we really weren't close enough to get good photos.

Friday May 30th

St Kilda today! The expedition staff have warned us that the strike rate for landings here is less than 50% but things are looking good for us.  The sea is quite calm with just a slight swell as I write this (5.30am) and there is not too much wind. I am sitting in the Observation Lounge watching the islands that make up St Kilda grow larger on the horizon. St Kilda is actually an archipelago owned by the National Trust of Scotland and it has a double listing as a World Hertiage Site for both its human culture and the significance of the nature found there.   We are landing on Hirta this morning which is the largest island in the group.  When we reach St Kilda we will take the long route to our landing site, cruising around the island which should provide good photo opportunities. We will be ashore for about 3 hours.  What happens in the afternoon depends on uweather conditions – perhaps zodiac trips to see bird nesting sites around the sea stacks?

Ok, back on the ship after my time ashore at St Kilda. I feel privileged to have been able to visit here. 

There are no permanent residents of St Kilda anymore – the last were evacuated some time in the 1930s when life just became too hard for ageing population. The cottages are still there and some are used by volunteers who spend time working here. 

The remains of old round stone houses (which date back to anything up to 4000 years ago) are still here and many are used as shelters for the wild sheep that live here.  

The sheep are an ancient breed which had only survived on the island of Soay (no idea where it is and not good enough internet access to look it up) and some were transferred to Hirta some time after the people were evacuated in the ‘30s. The sheep shelters have turf roofs as you can see from the photos. 

We did get to see puffins – it would have been a bit sad if we hadn't as 30% of the Puffins in the UK live at St Kilda (over 140,000 breeding pairs). We saw them from the zodiacs and they were all swimming around in the water and a bit difficult to photograph as they flew off if we got too close. 

 I did take a back up photo on arrival just in case we didn't see any “in person”. 

There were also seals (I think this is a grey seal with a Cormorant), 

Fulmers (related to albatross, which you will already know if you have been paying attention), 

Razor Bills, Cormorants, gannets, guillemots and gulls of course. 

This afternoon we are going to look at a gannet colony and sea stacks at Boreray one of the many islands that make up Dt Kilda.  The banned colony is evidently the largest in the UK. No zodiac trips, just viewing from the ship. It seems that conditions are so calm that the captain can get us in really close. Hopefully I get time for a bit of a nap before the cocktail party tonight. 

Wednesday May 28th - a bit about our ship Silver Explorer

Another lovely day here – you might all be getting tired of hearing that (assuming anyone is actually reading this!) 

Today we are scheduled to visit Iona in the morning and Tobermory in the afternoon. Because I spent a day here on Iona just under 4 weeks ago I decided to stay on board the ship and catch up on washing etc. If I get too bored I will jump on a zodiac and run to and from the island for a bit of excitement. 

In the meantime I thought I would give you a bit of info on our ship the Silver Explorer. There are 118 passengers on board and about 120 crew members who represent 25 different nationalities. 

The ship appears to be about 100m long and has 6 decks plus the boat deck on top where they store the zodiacs we use to get to and from the landings. 

My cabin is on deck 4 and pretty close to the middle of the ship although our weather has been so benign to date no part of the ship would be uncomfortable.  As cruise ships go, this is a small one which is what I like. 

My cabin

The observation lounge on deck 6 from where I am writing this

The theatre

the Panorama Lounge to which we adjourn after dinner

The restaurant

The pool deck (no pools, just a couple of jacuzzis)

 

And the library and Internet cafe.

We have a Butler called Voijtech and our suite attendant is Haryanti. Obviously there are usually people in all of these spaces but because I have taken some of the photos today when most people are ashore, the ship appears deserted. 

The food is really good and I can choose to eat in the restaurant, at the grill bar on the pool deck or have room service and I can have a really early breakfast in the observation lounge which means I can check out the view as we are approaching each landing site.  The evening meal consists of 5 courses but they are sensible and give small servings. Big eaters can, I guess, order seconds.  All the food that you could need or want is provided and all alcohol is included unless you want something from their "special" range. I can request as much wine, whisky or whatever as I want to be in my cabin for me to drink at my leisure should I want it (not that I am sitting in my cabin drinking anything). 

Each morning we have a news sheet delivered to the cabin which is specific to the passenger's nationality. So I get "Australia Today" but I have seen a British and American one too and assume they have one for all of the others too.  

Tuesday May 27th

What a beautiful day it is outside. I have decided I will try to write a few notes several times throughout the day and add photos in the evening. That way I might not miss recording highlights of the day. 

We have an early start today and have to be at the mud room at 7.45am to board the zodiacs. I can see what I imagine is Rathlin Island out the window of my cabin. 

Well the day just kept getting better.  We had a lovely walk on Rathlin with a local guide who explained some of the history as well as identifying birds, mammals and plants for us.  

According to our guide there was once some discussion as to whether the island should be part of Ireland or Scotland. They applied the “snake test”. Ireland has no snakes but Scotland does have them. There are no snakes on Rathlin therefore it is part of Ireland. 

Our afternoon stop was a coastal resort town on the north coast of Northern Ireland called Portrush. From here we went by bus to visit Dunluce Castle and the Giant’s Causeway. 

Dunluce Castle was built on a rocky outcrop overlooking the sea which was almost an island and would have required invaders to have extremely good claiming skills if the drawbridge was not lowered for them. 

The giant’s causeway is an area of basalt columns which appear as tessellated pentagons, hexagons and maybe octagons (I didn't actually count the sides but am just going on what our guide told us).  In some cases all you see is the top making them look like large tiles but in other places the whole columns are exposed so you see them as columns.  

Folklore has it that there was originally a causeway that stretched from here on the coast or Northern Ireland to Staffa Island near Mull on the west coast of Scotland. Two giants were having a bit of a disagreement and I think one destroyed the causeway to stop the other from getting to him. Geologically the place was very interesting but (as with Edinburgh Cadtle) there were a few too many tourists for me to really enjoy it. 

Sunday May 25th & Monday 26th

I am writing this as quickly as I can as I am worried that I will run out of of internet access and have to resort to using that provided by the ship at an exorbitant cost.

Just trying to remember what actually happened yesterday.  That's right - we went to a highland gathering at Blair Atholl in the highlands (where else would it be). We visited Blair Castle first and the Duke was in residence - we knew that because his black and gold flag was flying from the roof. 

The castle was impressive, maybe not as much as Culzean Castle in Ayrshire but not so bad and the grounds were good.  The duke has his own private army called The Highlanders, an army of 100 men. I think it is rare for anyone to have their own private army these days so that was special.

I really enjoyed the games.  There was caber throwing, 

shot put, 

hammer throwing, an event in which they tossed a 25 kg wt over a bar, wrestlong and the highlanders dash where men in kilts raced across  the field.  

We were also entertained by highland dancing and pipers.

All in all a good day.

Today we headed in to Edinburgh where our first stop was Mary King's Close - a narrow laneway under the Royal Mile in the old town of Edinburgh.  No photos sorry as we were not allowed to take photos because the area is owned by the town council.  After this we walked up the Royal Mile 

then explored the Castle 

when the heavens opened and spoiled my photos do the view from the battlements.  

Back on the bus again, we headed west towards Glasgow and arrived at the docks at Greenock at 5.02pm - a little late for the prescribed boarding time but they got us through security and all the other procedures in record time and the ship left right on time.  

We were far welled by a pipe band and someone dressed in a strange costume dancing around on the wharf.

Food and drink here is not going to be a problem as both are available in plentiful supplies and my cabin is comfortable.  Will post photos of the ship tomorrow but here are a few I took tonight. 

As you can see the day ended up not too badly.