Time Further Out

08Jun13

Wow! The North Haven here on Fair Isle is absolutely idyllic and we feel totally privileged to be here.

F3/F4 all the way up had given us a splendid sail and apart from the uncomfortable tide rips at the south of the island just the occasional cargo ship to dodge. We moored up on the wall just in front of the ferry and were awe struck at the beauty of the place, home to a myriad of birds nestling in the rocky crevices we felt the need to whisper as we quickly tied up and silenced the engine.

The following day, accompanied by fine sunny weather, we walked the length of the island taking in the rugged beauty all around. For all you twitchers out there we've seen puffins, fulmars, oyster catchers, guillemots, black guillemots, razor bills, snipe, gannets, shags, cormorants, lapwings, great skuas, great and lesser black-backed gulls, terns a plenty (they all look the same to us) and lots of smaller stuff we can't identify. Before this trip we had never seen a puffin, here we were sat on the cliffs watching them in and out of their burrows from only 10ft away, an amazing experience. The bird sanctuary here on Fair Isle is recognised worldwide and the specialist observatory offers food and accommodation for visiting ornithologists with a very long waiting list.
Fine weather means we can clearly see Shetland and it is now calling to us. Top of a spring tide is not the ideal time to go but the fine weather should help, we may have to turn round and come back if we cannot make reasonable progress but we shall try.