Papa Stour and Foula

The ship sailed overnight and we arrived at the north end of the island of Papa Stour at 7am.

Papa Stour is the most westerly island of the main Shetland group, and has a small permanent population of approximately 15. It's coastline has a wide variety of caves, stacks, blowholes, arches and cliffs. It is among these features we spent to morning cruising in zodiacs and spotting bird and seals.

Our zodiac driver for the morning was Falcon Scott, grandson of Robert Falcon Scott (of the Antarctic), who is the resident historian on our cruise. When we visited Antarctica a few years ago the resident historian was Jonathan Shackleton (cousin of Ernest), so all we needed on our next trip is a relative of Roald Amundsen and we have the Antarctic explorers trifecta!

We returned to the ship for lunch as the ship relocated to Foula Island, 28km west of the main group of Shetland Islands. It is privately owned and has a population of 30.

We anchored off shore and used zodiacs to ferry us to the main harbour, Ham Voe. When we arrived the island was under heavy cloud, but as the afternoon went on, the sun came out and we stripped off layers of clothes until we were down to t-shirts... and wishing we had worn shorts!

We walked around the coastal path as far as the airport , and returned via the main road to the school where the children were selling items to support the school of 5 students.

The swell began to rise as we returned to the ship and we had a particularly hairy (and wet) transfer from the zodiac to the ship.

We set sail just after 5pm for our journey to The Faroes.Read more