Friday 12 August

This morning was very relaxed - not only because we had a later start to our sight seeing as we didn't dock until 12.30, but we also turned our clocks back and had an extra hour sleep. This was very welcome as it had been one of our rougher nights at sea.

During the morning we had a couple of lectures to attend if we wished & then soon after lunch we left the ship at the little fishing port of Lerwick in the Shetland Islands. This is a sweet little place with a long history going back at least to 1660 & other parts of the islands have settlements going back 4,000 years. The most interesting recent history of Lerwick is from WW11 when this port became a haven for Norwegians escaping the invasion of the Germans & also for the whole war, little trawlers looking like fishing boats, would take supples of radios, guns & other equipment to the resistance movement in Norway & continue to bring back refugees. There continues to be a strong bond between the Shetlands & Norway.

We drove across the island to visit an archeological sight of stone structures going back to the Stone Age & even though the icy wind chilled us somewhat as we wandered through the area, we had a brilliant guide who made it all very interesting. 

We finished the afternoon with a visit to the Shetland Museum.

We haven't seen any Orcas yet but saw an otter in the harbour having fun catching fish. He apparently later came up into the car park next to the ship. Our guide said several pods of Orcas circle the islands in early summer looking for seal pups. In fact, some had come into the harbour where our ship was just a few weeks before!