Lerwick, Shetland Islands
I had an early breakfast and thus was able to witness the tender boats (aka lifeboats) being launched from their resting spots on the ship. First they were pivoted outward on one cable system then the pilot had to board the boat from the ship's deck. Next the pilot adjusted the pulley system so that the cables now lowered the boats to the water. Very efficient. I learned from a crew member later that MANY crew members are taught how to launch the boats AND how to pilot the boats once they are in the water. Thus in an emergency, people do not have to depend on only a handful of experienced pilots.
Today's excursion was to Scalloway Castle and to see the Shetland Ponies. The first thing I learned about the Shetland Islands from our guide was the close connection to Norway. The islands were actually originally Scadanavian but given as part of a dowry when Margaret of Denmark (daughter of king of Norway and Denmark) was betrothed to James III. Our first stop was at a viewpoint overlooking Scalloway.
We then drove to the castle which was built by Patrick Stewart, 2nd Earl of Orkney, effective ruler of the island during the 1500's and a very greedy therefore much unliked man.
In the Scalloway Museum, the "Shetland Bus", an undercover operation ongoing during World War II, was one part of the displays. Norwegian boats and fishermen helped the resistance by bringing intelligence to Great Britain and military supplies to the resistance in Norway. Evidently they also laid sea mines to damage German ships.
Beside the museum and castle was an enclosure housing two sweet Shetland ponies. They were quite adorable. Across the street from the castle were docks housing many fishing boats. Some lay at dry dock as well. There was a pile of fishing nets on the dock taller than I was. Behind the castle there were commercial shipping buildings and (I think) a fish packing plant.
Our next stop was at the Ramnaberg Stud Farm. The owner was Carol and she had a half dozen ponies of varying colours out in an enclosure adjacent to a pasture where you could see other ponies grazing in the distance. Definitely the cutest one had to be the baby. Small horses are cute but teeny ones are adorable. The friendliest horse's name was Big Mama (?). Many people were able to get a nice picture with her as long as you gave her nose a nice scratch.
We continued down the road that the horse farm was on. We passed Tingwall Loch. Between the road and the loch was a golf course at the south end of the lake and across from the lake on the top of the hills was a wind farm. At the northern end of the lake there was a distinctive house and a church. We travelled a bit further north and west to get to another viewpoint. This viewpoint overlooked Whiteness, a small community nestled at the end of another "finger" of water.
On our way back, we passed another golf course (I didn't have a good view of it... wrong side of the bus... but it was the point at which we turned back towards Lerwick. We passed a lot of farmland and many of the farms had large flocks of sheep. Interesting to note that the population of sheep on the island greatly outnumbers the number of people.
When we were left off at Victoria Pier, I crossed the street, took a narrow alleyway uphill, and ended up on Commercial Street. That's the name of the street and that's what the street is for. Most interesting store to me was the Pet Store. Why? I found that cats AND dogs get a lot of fish in the form of kibble and treats. Makes sense... but interestingly, not as much food made with lamb.
When I finally returned to the pier, I admired the many yachts lined up in two rows along the pier. It was interesting to see that at LEAST half of them sported Norwegian flags. I saw several men come off one of the yachts. They had to climb off their vessel and across another boat to step onto shore. I engaged them in conversation. They were from Stavanger and they were on a sailing vacation. I was interested in knowing what kind of weather they would or would not sail in. A couple of days before, our ship had run into waves so extreme that the boat visibly pitched up and down despite being such a large ship and despite it having stabilization features. Waves as high as we had experienced would engulf boats like the one they were on. Also, the WIND was very vigorous that particular day. One excursion was changed (Jada & Nikki took it) from a boat tour to a land tour visiting the same things but now by bus. The men said that 5 metre waves would be definitely rough but they'd do it. The waves had been higher the other day so they did not venture out. A wind too strong prevailing in the direction opposite to where they'd be travelling would cause delays but wouldn't stop them from sailing.
It was time to go back to the boat. After dinner, I went (as usual) to the 7:30 show in the Stardust. As I went to sit, I ran into Nikki and Jade so I ended up sitting with them and their friends. "Elements" was an AWSOME show. The singers and dancers we'd seen on previous days as well as the magic act were all an integral part of the elements of wind, water, fire, etc. Also included were acrobats and aerial acrobats. The costumes were stunning, the music catchy, and the visuals terrific. Well done!
At the end of the show, Francesco (as usual) came on the stage but there was one last act! Marching to a catchy tune, many crew members representing all jobs on board came on stage to wish the passengers adieu. Chefs, stewards, navigators, officers... all were represented. Among them was Milos! Once they were all on stage, the captain made a speech. We learned that he was new to the ship and he'd been cautious about all the 180 degree turns that he'd had to make in the narrow fjords. He also laughed about the fact that many of the crew had been seasick from the wild pitching of the boat the night before and congratulated those of us who soldiered through it. Of course he invited us all to sail with Norwegian again. How did they finish off... "OH! We've missed one part of the crew! We must not forget the "washy, washy" crew!" For the uninformed: as you'd walk into the Garden Cafe, a couple of really cute little girls who would giggle and say "washy, washy" - they would make you use hand sanitizer before eating!
Before I left the show, I said goodbye to Nikki and Jada... I figured that I might not see them. Nikki laughed and said that since we'd first met, we'd seen each other all the time and they were sure that would continue. (They were right!) After the show, I returned to my room, told Milos I'd seen him in the show and that I'd gotten his picture. He told me that I had to look for tonight's towel animal... "For Jake!", he said. A cute little mouse was nestled between the pillows!
