A Northern Summer(?) on Navigator

[labonnevie]

15 hours ago, flossie009 said:

Ours writes very well

Ditto

[royallondon]

Ours writes well but no spell check!

[Guerncruising]

14 minutes ago, royallondon said:

Ours writes well but no spell check!

Wouldn’t it be in American English anyway?

[flossie009]

Last night the after dinner show was a guest entertainer, pianist Tim Brumfield

 

 

Today is a sunny saturday sea day.

 

Officers Challenge this morning was won (again) by the officers; giving Captain Aris bragging rights for his noon announcement, which today he preceded with Greek music.

 

Tonight there is a 6pm “James Bond” show by the Production Company, which appropriately follows a Martini tasting.

Then after dinner one of the talented singers, Miles Obrey, is presenting a cabaret in Galileo’s

 

Passages today includes a short history of the ship:

 

 

 

 

[mrlevin]

Susan, Michael has a great early history of the Navigator which he will gladly copy for you.  He can also show you a neat picture from non-passenger space.  

 

I recommend watching After the Sunset if only to see the star of the show - Navigator.

[flossie009]

Today we are in the Shetland Islands.

 

 

Approaching Lerwick 

 

After a champagne & caviar breakfast it was off to see the pleasant Scottish lady from U.K. Border Force, who kindly approved us sassenachs landing in Scotland.

 

After lunch we are off to see some Shetland ponies.

 

 

 

[crusin7]

 

Giddyup we will see you there! 

[flossie009]

Shetland ponies near Scalloway

 

 

 

All the attention was too much for this little one, only 2-3 months old

 

 

[crusin7]

 

We have had the best internet connection here in the Shetland Islands.  We saw Scalloway Castle and the adorable Shetland Ponies. 

 

[cruisevirgin24]

Did you manage to sneak a cute pony back to your suite?

[flossie009]

3 hours ago, cruisevirgin24 said:

Did you manage to sneak a cute pony back to your suite?

 

 

[labonnevie]

9 hours ago, flossie009 said:

Shetland ponies near Scalloway

 

 

Any puffins? My favorite birds, only ever saw them on that island. 

[Techno123]

10 hours ago, labonnevie said:

Any puffins? My favorite birds, only ever saw them on that island. 

Not on this board, of course, but for everyone who takes the mick out of stopping at Holyhead (Anglesey in North Wales) on a round the UK tour, Puffin Island has many of these lovely birds during the breeding season. You can't go onto the island but boat trips take you very close 😁

 

I live where the blue dot is so have a lovely view of the island but too far away to see the puffins 😜

 

[crusin7]

We skipped our early morning excursion and took the shuttle to Kirkwall, the capital of Orkney.  Everyone we met was very welcoming.  It’s a very charming town. 
St Magnus Cathedral 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2023 by crusin7
Duplicate photo

[flossie009]

12 hours ago, labonnevie said:

Any puffins? My favorite birds, only ever saw them on that island. 

No not on Shetland or on the Orkneys, but we did see many Greylag geese on their way south.

 

We encountered hundreds of puffins while in Honningsvaag, Norway (post #34) - on the water fishing and being harried by other seabirds for their catch; too small and fast for any pictures. The boat crew shared this picture of a puffin in one of the thousands of nesting burrows on the island we circled during our tour.

 

 

[flossie009]

An early start this morning for our tour around the southern Orkney Islands.

The furthest south we went was to a small coastal village on South Ronaldsay - remarkably quiet & peaceful before 9am on a Monday morning

 

 

 

[flossie009]

During our tour we passed Scapa Flow and our local guide gave us the very interesting history of the area during the two world wars.

 

This included the fascinating story of the 1200 Italian POWs who were taken to the Orkneys during WW2 to help construct the blocking causeways used to protect the British naval fleet from enemy submarine attack.

 

 

 

One of the causeways, with some of the earlier block ships used to protect Scapa Flow previously

 

 

[flossie009]

During their work in the Orkneys the Italians built a chapel using materials they were given or acquired

 

 

The interior decoration is fabulous; mostly painted onto the plasterboard lining of the corrugated iron hut

The 3D effect achieved by the artists is truly amazing

The chapel was restored in the 1960s, under the supervision of one of the Italians who had done much of the work during the war

 

The column of the font was formed from a wagon spring coated with cement.

 

 

 

 

After our very short time in the Orkneys we are now heading towards Leith, where we will spend 2 days exploring Edinburgh and the surrounding area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gilly]

Thanks for showing us what we missed @flossie009 !   Splendor had to miss Kirkwall this time because of a heavy swell and we'd booked that very same excursion.  I'm glad you were able to do it for us 😉   Have fun in Edinburgh.

[mrlevin]

6 hours ago, flossie009 said:

 

After our very short time in the Orkneys we are now heading towards Leith, where we will spend 2 days exploring Edinburgh and the surrounding area.

Susan, are you going to the Tattoo whilst in Edinburgh?  Been twice and both times fantastic.  Last year Luke was able to arrange for some tickets.

[crusin7]

Good morning Edinburgh!

 

[Parapara]

Except that we seem to be sailing away from it.

[Guerncruising]

Perhaps he’s reversing in?

[Parapara]

We have been in and are now going out and no announcement. Supposed to have berthed over an hour ago.

[flossie009]

7 hours ago, mrlevin said:

Susan, are you going to the Tattoo whilst in Edinburgh?  Been twice and both times fantastic.  Last year Luke was able to arrange for some tickets.

No - we considered getting tickets earlier this year but with the vagaries of cruising and Scottish weather decided against.

Also the pipes are not our favourite! (weren’t they invented by the Irish and given to the Scots as a joke?)

 

btw, Luke sends his best regards. He and is team are doing a good job. Looks like they will be under pressure with changes again today as we should have docked in Leith at 06:45; it is now 08:30 and we are still sculling around off North Berwick.

 

As I write this Captain Aris has just announced that we cannot dock today (due to wind????). So a day at sea then he will try again tomorrow 🤨