Day 21: In which we arrive home

 Four in the morning is an ungodly hour.  Yet, that is the hour we had to be awake to get ready for our flight.  Up at 4.  Down for breakfast by 5.  Meet the OCS attendants at 5:45.  Be at the airport as quickly as OCS attendants can walk, which, for the record, is pretty darn fast.

I cannot say enough about OCS.  The attendants are polite and cheerful, even at 5:45 in the morning.  They are constantly checking in, seeing if we wanted to stop at cafes before checking in our luggage, and pointing out cafes, washrooms, and bar near our gate once through security.  Considering our later experience at Pearson, I've said it before and will say it again, Glasgow Airport can give lessons to Pearson in customer service.

With the help of OCS, we were through luggage check in, security, and at our gate by 6:30.  It gave us plenty of time for coffee, tea, and a comfort break before boarding.  

As we need special assistance, we get on first, and as we make Laura carry all our hand luggage, getting on first is rather handy.  Being in the first row is equally handy.

By some miracle, we took off exactly on time and then we had an uneventful flight.  When one is flying, one wants an uneventful flight.  A second miracle occurred and we landed 20 minutes early. As Laura had done our customs declaration while waiting for the flight to unload (as we need special assistance, we're the last ones off) customs was a breeze.  Denise has a history of customs being a problem, for reasons we've never understood, so the speed through customs was the third miracle for the day.  With so many miracles, we should qualify for sainthood.

What was not a breeze was the lack of attendants.  We had one for the two of us, and while he handled both chairs with aplomb and considerable speed, it highlighted the difference in service between Glasgow and Pearson.  

Our driver for our ride service home had kept up with the flight and thus knew it was early, so there he was waiting for us.  Just like our driver down to the airport, this one was affable and told terrible jokes.  As our family has an appreciation for terrible jokes and puns, it was an amusing ride.

I came home and promptly flooped.

The ladies headed off for the most important part of the day: picking up our dog.  

Thora literally jumped on Laura upon seeing her and we've been told our dog is a wonderful house guest welcome back any time.  Apparently, she also slept on the carer's bed, which we're sure Thora enjoyed.  She has a great appreciation for human beds.  Thora also became fast friends with her carer's dog.  She's friendly like that.

Thora and I were reunited once the ladies said hello to a half dozen neighbours on the way back.  We learned important dog information that a new dog will soon be joining our neighbourhood.

 As we've been up since 11pm Canadian time, we're off to bed early.  I'd love to say something greatly philosophical or meaningful about our trip, but there are no words for how spectacular everything and everyone was in Scotland.  I can only hope I'll be there again sooner rather than later.

Day 20: In which we pack up and prepare

 This was supposed to be a day of rest and relaxation and recouping from our journey to the Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland.  For the most part, we were successful but we did have a serious hiccup with our hotel room: our lock didn't work. 

One of the basic functions of a door is the ability to go in and out of it at will.  This did not happen with our hotel room last night, leaving Laura and Denise to go up and down to the front desk, first thinking our key cards demagnetized, then discovering the problem was with the equipment, not us.

Have you ever heard of a door lock's battery dying?  Well, that's what happened to us and we were so late in last night that no one in evening maintenance knew how to change it.  Thus, we were left with two options: 1) switch rooms, 2) have someone with a master key let us in our room every time we left it.   We went with option 2.  Since we were in for the night, we'd only need the front desk again after breakfast.

The morning came and Laura set her alarm but forgot to set a sound for it, so she was up much later than expected, but we made it down for breakfast just before 10.  Since the breakfast went until 10:30, we had time to spare.  Laura and I had omelets, while Denise had almost a full Scottish breakfast, but couldn't be convinced to have blood pudding or haggis.

The staff at the Marriott bent over backwards for us, and even let us check out at 1pm for all our troubles.  As for the lock, it did get fixed but they're aware something else is going wrong with it. It's a good thing one of concierges let us in after breakfast. 

At exactly five to one we left our hotel rooms and headed for checkout.  For a bit of interest, with the world cycling championships being held in Glasgow, our hotel had to deal with teams Canada, USA, France, Australia, and New Zealand.  There may have been more but those were the uniforms we saw wandering through the hotel.

A traditional black cab loaded most of our stuff in the area where most cars have the front passenger seat.  The cabbie was amused at our askance that a black cab could hold us and our stuff, but it did with room to spare.  A short cab ride later, we arrived at the Glasgow Airport Holiday Inn, checked in and flooped (again, with a complete lack of grace as we're all tired) in our rooms until dinner time.

Dinner was simple but yummy and yet a little sad as it's our last full day in Scotland.

 

We skipped desert in favour of hot chocolate in our rooms so this blog could be completed early.  Why so early?  Tomorrow we have to be up at 4am, have breakfast and cleared our rooms before 5:30, because at 5:30, OCS comes to pick us up to take us across the way for all the airport security.  I can't believe how nonplussed I am about it as OCS has just whisked us through everything before without one hassle and I expect the same thing tomorrow.

Stay tuned to see if Denise has trouble with Canadian Customs as she has for our last two trips.

Day 19: In which I would drive 500 miles...

 Actually, it was 540km but that doesn't fit with the song lyrics.  Also, I didn't drive, my tour guide, John, did.  Still, the title works.

We were early risers and somehow ready for our tour to start at 8:30.  This tour was to include a round trip into the highlands as gifted to us for our anniversary and birthday presents from Laura, who had arranged everything. 

We met our be-kilted guide outside our hotel and discovered our ride for the day was an Audi, how posh! Our tour guide was John Duthie and he was in full Scottish regalia so we were already amused.  Fortunately, John was a knowledgeable and affable guide, which is good as he had to spend 12 hours with us.  

Heading west, we passed Dumbarton Castle, Laura's white whale of places to visit in Scotland.  Every time she's here, it's closed. This time around she thought it would be different.  She had tickets and everything, when they suddenly closed and refunded them.  So the brief glimpse she had as we drove past had to suffice.

Our first stop of the day was Loch Lomond.  I honestly can't say if we took the high or low road there, but we still arrived.

We stopped to admire the view and Laura snapped a quick picture of Denise and our very Scottish guide before we moved on.

Today was much better weather than the last time Laura was at Loch Lomond.  This time she came away perfectly dry.  The weather was a bit overcast, but it was not the torrential rain of her day out here 24 years ago.  An interesting fact, Laura went to Loch Lomond the first time with Dana, who was featured on this blog previously.

We drove through some pretty Scottish villages, and Laura had to capture the garden of a house in Luss, as it exemplifies how some people in the UK take gardening very seriously.

John pointed out the exact moment we crossed over from the Lowlands to the Highlands while we were making our way up through to Glencoe. The scenery was spectacular.

While John was regaling us with stories about Glencoe, Laura and Denise had an interesting observation.  Two years ago they were in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia and found the history of the place overshadowed by the number of tourists and the way everyone there was trying to sell something.  They had the same impression of Glencoe.  It didn't help that the entire population of a small country picked today to visit Glencoe.  We were like salmon swimming upstream trying to get into the cafe, where hot chocolates and food were had.  Next came the time to learn about Glencoe itself.  

Honestly, we learned far more from John than we did the visitor centre but we did take a picture of the three of us as proof we were there.

We left and while I would post a picture of Ben Nevis, a cloud rudely hid it from us.

One other interesting stop was the memorial to the lost commandos of WWII.  Laura took picture to show Kevin at home as he has an encyclopedic knowledge of all things WWII.

Across from the memorial, we caught a glimpse of one of those Cold War bunkers, the ones people actually thought would protect them from the nuclear bomb.  Oh the naivete of people during the Cold War.

Did I mention we saw sheep?  We estimate we only saw a couple hundred thousand of them rather than the four million in Shetland.  On the way Laura was hoping to see a some Highland cattle while in the Highlands, but I will not leave anyone in any suspense.  All Highland cattle hid from Laura.  Instead, she had to be amused by the tour bus company called The Hairy Coo.  We saw plenty of those buses today.

The first part of our trip featured famous lochs, though there were a few lesser-known ones like Loch Oich and Loch Lochy.  Sadly the latter is not just called the Scottish version of "Lake Lake" but rather an English bastardization of a now lost word.

The second famous loch was Loch Ness.  We came to it through Fort Augustus, which was as tiny a town as Fort William was large, but as busy as Fort William seemed empty, some strange dichotomies there.

While Fort Augustus was yet another Lunenburg, the Loch itself reminded us of home on Georgian Bay.  It was windy and the water was choppy.  It was also distinctly lacking in monsters.

This is where our guide had a stroke of absolute genius. He took us for tea and sweets to the Glengarry Castle Hotel in Invergarry, which was a little off the beaten path, but well-worth the visit.  Not only was it a beautiful building:

But also had a beautiful outlook:

We sat in their lounge, looked out over Loch Oich, and ate delicious food.  

I had coffee and a fruitcake that reminded me of my mother's.  Denise had tea with a lemon honey cake and John and Laura both had a scone with cream and jam.  Laura forgot to take a picture of it before we all tucked in, but if you're imagining a beautiful tea service with perfect-sized cakes, you might be close to understanding how wonderful it was.

The hotel even comes with its own castle on the grounds, the ruins of Glengarry Castle.

I have now found a place I definitely want to stay on my next trip to Scotland.  It's a little Highland gem that everyone should know about.

This was really our turnaround point to returning to Glasgow.  Sure we took the extended scenic route and saw the River Tay, and Pitlochry (where the entire small country that went to Glencoe had moved to for the early evening), and John was both informative and entertaining, but nothing can live up to that lounge in the Glengarry Castle Hotel.

I would like to add that every mile or so we had some point of interest along the way to look at: like Denise saw the house used in Monarch of the Glen, and we saw a monument to some Canadian war engineers who died saving the lives of others, but to list them all would make this blog have more words than Shetland has sheep.

On our way back to Glasgow, Denise learned about the Antonine Wall and we caught a glimpse of Stirling Castle, which we first visited 24 years ago.

Upon arriving back at the hotel, we said goodbye to John, who did an exemplary job, and we told him so.  

Dinner was organized in the hotel restaurant, who expected us at 8:30 and we walked in at 8:33 (thanks John).  It was delicious and the staff and chef couldn't be more attentive and we closed the place down and headed for bed thinking our day was done.

Plot twist! It wasn't.  Stay tuned for that story tomorrow.

Day 18: In which we exchange Shetland for Glasgow

 This morning had a sad view outside our window as they were dismantling the tents from the Tall Ships, as we were dismantling our Shetland home.  Packing, eating, worrying about time, and trying to down as much caffeine as possible were the main points of the morning.

Our taxi was booked for 9:45, and when that came and went we were very concerned.  It turned out that even though Laura emailed the council and received assurances Commercial Street would be open by the time we came to leave, the council steered us wrong.  The poor taxi driver had to hustle from the Victoria Pier taxi stand to our flat's door to tell us so.  Thank heavens the driver, John, was able to help us with our baggage as that is not something Denise and I can handle any more.

One bonus about having to hobble our way to the taxi stand is that I got to wave goodbye to the webcam in Market Cross.

 From the taxi stand, we got one last view of our window.

 

The drive down to Sumburgh was lovely and Laura counted 32 Shetland ponies on the way.  The driver helped by pointing them out along the fence line.  We were all very sad to be leaving wishing we could stay longer.

Check in at Sumburgh Airport was easy enough and we were assured there would be a ramp for us to get on the plane.  We downed more coffee in the cafe then came to a hiccup in the security line.  There wasn't a problem with our luggage, or going through the scanner, no, it was that Denise found another relative in the person who scanned us.  We wound up being the last people on the flight in the departure lounge.  By the time we got there, we were being called to board the flight.  Yes, there was the ramp which made things easy.

Unlike our flight to Shetland, our flight back to the mainland wasn't so smooth.  Turbulance wasn't the problem but it was more Loganair.  First, we were instructed to go into the wrong seats by the flight attendant.  While it didn't affect Denise and me, Laura, as she tried to get into her proper window seat, got shunted to the aisle seat by a one of those overly polite but totally obstinate people who refused to move.  When Laura pointed this out to the flight attendant she was condescendingly told "it's all right dearie," as if she was the one causing the problem. Laura was not amused as one of the basic rules of flying in today's world is not to argue with the flight attendant.  

It was later discovered the woman who took Laura's seat was a headliner at one of the Tall Ships concerts.  We can't help but be suspicious as to why no one in authority was willing to let Laura have the seat she paid extra for.

At Glasgow, the ramp malfunctioned but the OCS attendants were very helpful getting us down the stairs of the plane.  We were zipped through the airport, zipped through getting our luggage, and zipped over to the airport taxi.  I have never gone through an airport that quickly in my life.  Pearson Airport really needs to take lessons.

Our drive to the Marriott was quick and we all flooped (that's like flopped but the lack of grace of it requires an extra o) in our rooms for a few hours.

To my surprise, the ladies had already organized with the hotel's restaurant a meal that I could eat.  We owe a great thanks to Lauren and Destiny for not only getting our specialized meal, but also for not rushing us as I ate.  Tonight's desert was sticky toffee pudding.  I made sure I had room for all of it, and two cups of coffee.

The ladies had petit fours for desert and didn't share any chocolate with me, while they stole bites of my pudding.  I know better than to stop them.

It's off to bed early tonight as tomorrow is the grand tour of mainland Scotland, featuring the two most famous lochs, Lomond and Ness.

Day 17: In which we prepare to say goodbye to Shetland

 Today started with the fact we had to pack everything for our flight out tomorrow.  Laundry and packing is hardly how one wants to spend the last full day in Shetland but as everything ever in Lerwick shuts down on Sunday, there was nothing to distract us.

Except the Tall Ships, we watched as the rest of them left throughout the day again to the familiar tune of the foghorn.  The harbour looks very empty now.

It seems that packing up and leaving is a theme for the day.

In later afternoon, a blessed distraction arrived in the form of Helena and Nigel.  They'd been down to prepare their AirBNB and stopped in for coffee, sweets, and a chat.  Conversation was not lacking for topics, and it was almost a whole hour before Denise brought up something genealogical.  I think that's a record for this trip.  They are an easy couple to spend time with as they're so affable and fun to talk with.  Sadly, they had to go as they still had to make their way to Walls, which is 35 minutes away.  Then again, it might only be 20 minutes away considering how people here drive.

Laura had to run out for a few errands and found a shocking sight: all of the half of Commercial Street we are on, as well as Market Square, were totally empty.

Shetlanders, if the past few days have proved anything, know how to throw a party, but they also know how not to overstay their welcome.  Lerwick was empty!

As we have to be up early, we have to close down early so goodnight.

Day 16: In which we find more family

 Today was supposed to be a day to reorganize ourselves for our departure on Monday, but we had a surprise visitor, directed to us by Elizabeth Angus.  He was inquiring about how we were connected in the Bairnson family.  His name is Raymond Irvine and Elizabeth Angus was sure we related somehow.

At first we thought it would only be a phone call but then he volunteered to come over and bring some research, of course, Denise was thrilled by this. We didn't think we would ever entertain visitors here in our little flat, but now we've had two: both Elizabeth and Raymond.

What was only supposed to be a 45 minute visit stretched into two hours.  Raymond is a font of information.  His organizational system impressed me (and that's a hard thing to do) and the sheer amount  of data amazed Denise.  

 There was a lot of to-and-froing of names and dates when finally the connection was found.  Raymond is another fifth cousin, like Betsy, Marina, and so many others here in Shetland. Denise and Raymond share fourth great-grandparents: Thomas Bairnson and Ann Aitken.  Denise just wishes she could have gone through all of Raymond's research but he only brought over two rather full binders.

As Raymond had guests from mainland Scotland, the genealogical meeting had to come to an end but information was exchanged to keep in contact.  

About the time we broke up the conversation, due to fog and dangerous conditions, the parade of sail was cancelled and the Tall Ships race postponed to tomorrow.  Thus, we have watched the Tall Ships leave the harbour, alerted by the foghorn every time one left.  

 

It hasn't dampened the party though on Victoria pier!

Next, the ladies headed out to mail a very large box of books and knitted items.  Thank heavens the UK has Saturday Post.

Now on a bit of a side trip.  There is a pretty famous cat in Lerwick by the name of Tommy.  He's sort of an unofficial mascot who is welcome anywhere in Lerwick.  He's even interrupted and been recognized at town hall meetings. Laura has been determined to find him, but as a cat's going to cat, he's been equally determined to be elusive.  Considering Laura brought him presents, (two bandanas, one featuring the Beautiful Joe Heritage Society) she was very disappointed in not finding him.

With some messages back and forth with Tommy's servants, it was arranged to drop the bandanas off at the Thule Bar: a favourite haunt of Tommy's and where his best friend, Maureen, works.  Maureen could not have been more pleased with the bandanas and promised to pass them on as soon as possible.  She even took a picture of herself, Laura, and Denise, but as it was on Maureen's phone, I cannot post it here.  When it eventually goes up on Tommy's Facebook page, I will edit this post to include it.

Finally, one last trip to Blyde Welcome for some coffee and sweets.  Much to our disappointment, the coffee shop is not open on the Monday we leave.  As a thank you for their great treatment of us, we left a card with a Canadian pin for the owner, Celia.  This afternoon, I had two cups of coffee, because we had a free drink, and watched one by one as the boats left Lerwick Harbour.  We're still watching now, and listening to the concert going on.

What was supposed to be a rather quiet day turned into one of surprises, that's for sure.

Day 15: In which we go visiting and have tea and sweets

 Today Lerwick was quieter than we expected.  The initial crowds from the Tall Ships have thinned somewhat but they're going to increase again tomorrow for the ship parade and leaving dock.

The ladies went out for important reasons (shopping) and to pick up some presents for people at home.  They saw something very entertaining on the way to the shops.

I missed a puffin in downtown Lerwick!

First, they went across to Jamieson's where Laura had to resist buying some yarn of each colour.  Instead, she bought some mementos for people at home and a grand total of two balls of wool.  Denise bought some gloves.

Next, they were off to the post office to post 24 postcards.  Watch your mail, people who wanted one!

On to The Chocolate Box, where Denise indulged in some rhubarb chocolate; Laura bought some presents, and a few goodies for herself. They had to go today as the shop (as well as a few others in Lerwick) are going to be shut to watch the parade of ships tomorrow.

In the afternoon, we were off for a visit with a friend I first met online in 2009, member number 3 of the Shetland Family History Society, Elizabeth Angus.  We were catching a taxi to her house, but the roads are closed where we are so we had to walk to the Queen's Hotel for pickup.  Laura got another picture of the boats and Jimmy Perez's house on the way.

As Elizabeth arranged the taxi, she came with it, which was a nice way to ride back to her house. On a side note, I would like to mention she doesn't look like she's aged a day in nine years.  If only we were all so lucky.  Also, she's a former home economics teacher at Anderson High School so we were assured some good lemon cake, chocolate cake, and shortbread!  It was as good as we expected.

 I was at Elizabeth's house nine years ago and met her husband, Gussie, who has since passed.  Somewhere in the old posts of this blog from our last Shetland trip, is a picture of me dressed up as a viking in Gussie's guizer costume.  As a couple, they were very involved in the life of Lerwick, Gussie being a local councillor and piper, and the pair of them deeply involved in family history.  Elizabeth is still here, there, and everywhere, sharing her expertise in all thing genealogical and historical.  Amazingly, she walks to all her volunteering, even if it's on the other side of Lerwick.

One thing I remember about Elizabeth's house is the amazing view.  It looks out over the water and gets the best view of ships coming and going.  To make sure the ships are correctly identified, she has binoculars on the sill of her living room window.  We even caught one of the cruise ships leaving harbour.

Elizabeth and Denise talked up a storm trying to figure out who was who in old photographs, family lineage, and trying to learn if they're related.  Current research says no, but there's always more genealogical research to do!

I was served some delicious Norwegian coffee, and Elizabeth is the consummate hostess. Anyone would be fortunate to be a guest in her home.

I'm a thorn between two roses in this picture. 

As it was time for us to depart to avoid the dinner rush and traffic in what few streets were open in Lerwick, I refused to say goodbye.  I just said farewell.  Like the pickup, Elizabeth rode in the cab with us and walked us to our door.  She is a charming and lovable friend and we will be chatting through email soon.

A wonderful afternoon was had by all.

Tonight is a night in, but as Elizabeth is always thoughtful and genealogically-minded, we received a message about a Bairnson relative who lives in Lerwick.  Denise will call them tomorrow.  We also look forward to the music and fireworks tonight that we should be able to hear and see from our window.  One slight problem: the fog has rolled in so thick, we cannot even see Bressay anymore.

Somewhere behind that boat in the picture should be the island where they're setting off fireworks tonight.

One last thing, Laura received an email from our neighbour showing us how not worried our dog, Thora, is about where we are.  I thought I'd share.

Day 14: in which the day revolves around food and sleep

 This was a sloooooow day today after yesterday's excitement.  All three of us were quite exhausted, so there was much lounging and some napping happened.  At one point, Denise went out to pick up a few things, and even came back with chocolate but I've been told none of it is for me.

Our big outing was at 5pm for an early dinner at No 88.  Again, the amazing manager, Karen, organized a meal I could eat.  It was very tasty but if I have to pick a meal, I would have last week's again, and again, and again.  It's too bad I'm not here another Thursday to go back!

To further extol on the virtues of Karen, she kept stopping to check in or to talk with us, despite having a full house and an anniversary party in the upstairs event room.  I'm not sure how the woman does it all, but she does it all very well. We never once had the feeling we were being rushed, or taking up her precious time.  She's just a friendly, lovely person, in exactly the right job.  Kuddos to Karen, staff, and the kitchen!

I had beef this week, as opposed to last week's lamb, ice cream, and, of course, really good coffee.

Denise had lamb, but Laura had the beef like I did.  Desert was the same poached pear and passion fruit sorbet the ladies had last week.  The desert lasted all of about five minutes.  Denise also discovered rhubarb and ginger gin, which sent Laura down the rabbit hole of where we can get in once back in Canada.  We found out the LCBO in Collingwood carries it!

 Laura had an espresso martini.  It's coffee in a new way for her.  In case we forgot for a moment where we were, there was a huge map behind Laura to remind us.

We toodled home and noticed a few stores staying open late to take advantage of the crowds from the Tall Ships. Some of the crew members have to wear their dress uniforms when on shore, so we could always tell who was on leave.

Tonight there will be music from Victoria Pier, which we will listen to with our windows open.

Day 13: in which Laura and I go on a boat and Denise stays on dry land

 For the record, I have to say "boat" quietly around Denise because the sailing gene that both her parents had did not reach her.

Since arriving in Shetland, we have received numerous recommendations to go on a Noss boat tour.  What we did not realize is that there are several options for Noss boat tours, but we settled on the longest running one, Seabirds-and-Seals.  The company lived up to its name as we saw a multitude of seabirds, and a few seals up close.

Lerwick is very crowded with all the foot traffic from the Tall Ships, so we weren't sure about how long it would take to get to our boat.  The email said to be there by 12:15.  All our worries were for naught as we just had to go down the walkway set aside for those getting on boats on Victoria Pier, down a gangway, and step right on.  I didn't have any difficulty getting on and off the boat, much to my relief and being there early meant I got my choice of seats!

Denise came with us and was comforted by my ease on the boat, and stayed to see us off.

The first part of the tour would be of interest to those who watch Shetland.  We sailed right past the Lodberrie, which is better known as D.I. Jimmy Perez's house. 

Off to the high seas, which were really not that high.  We got a lovely sea view of Lerwick out of the harbour.  We also got a good view of the Island of Bressay, whose ferry we've been watching from our window.  We get a small view of Bressay from our flat but this was much better.  Also, we saw the Bressay lighthouse up close. It was another one designed by Robert Louis Stevenson's father, and the one he built right after completing Muckle Flugga on Unst.

The Seabird (capitalized as that was the name of the boat) experience started with some seagulls on the rocks.  As we live in Thornbury, we're no strangers to the calls of seagulls.  Soon we saw the first of many Shetland Shags who actually glow an odd green though Laura failed to capture that in the picture below.

Next we passed Orkney Man's Cave, which we were supposed to go into on the way out but someone beat us there.

I should mention, we were advised when we boarded where to sit if we didn't want to get soaked.  The spray was constant!  I'm glad I sat where I did and avoided coming home covered in salt water.

The seabirds in Shetland are pretty clever, as they must've recognized the boat.  Our host was throwing special bird biscuits up in the air to convince them to come closer.  The bravest birds were the great skuas who came rather close to the Seabird, but failed at catching a biscuit.

Behind the great skuas came the gannets.  We were lucky to see as many was we did as they were the opposite of decimated (9 out of 10 rather than 1 out of ten) were killed last year by the avian flu.  Gannets can have a wingspan of up to 6 feet, and dive very gracefully into the water.

Despite the loss of so many gannets, I think every single one of them who survived came back to nest on Bressay and Noss.  They were everywhere on the cliffs.  The most interesting fact about the gannets is their blue eyes, but, according to our host, if they survived the avian flu the eyes go black.

Guillemots also made an appearance but they were camera shy.

Baby guillemots are called jumplings, because they literally jump out of the nest when they're ready to leave.  It's like, "I'm outta here mum!  Hasta la vista!"

Back to the open water, more gannets came looking for a snack.

Here's where I learned we picked the best possible boat tour for Laura and me.  Halfway through the trip, we stopped in an inlet and had a coffee break.  The wind was chilly so even though I am always happy to see coffee, I was even happier this time.  It was good coffee too!

The Island of Noss, which is on the far side of Bressay to Lerwick, is a nature reserve and has been since 1935.  The last permanent resident on Noss left in 1939 but for 6 months of the year, when the birds return and nest, there are two wardens who live on the island.  

Previously, residents of the island and the house in the above picture, bred Shetland ponies.  Sadly, there was not a one on the tour today, though there were some very brave sheep standing right on the edge of many of the cliffs.

Something I learned today is that a group of shags is called a flight or gulp.  I choose to use gulp because it's more amusing.  Here's a gulp of shags hanging out for us to admire.

The gannets and skuas were rewarded for following us because our host, and the young girl on the trip, threw fish for them to catch.  They were much more adept at catching and diving for the fish than they were at catching the biscuits.  Laura would like to apologize for there not being any pictures as it was far too entertaining to watch live to pull out her phone.  Here are some shags and seagulls to make up for it.

On the way back, we sailed through Giant's Leg.  It is an archway where I think sailors go to prove how close they can get to rocks without actually hitting them.  I could've reached out and touched the walls on the way by.  I didn't though, because I couldn't believe how sharp-edged those rocks were.  I would've thought they'd be worn down by the sea, but no, they were as sharp as ever.

We also made it into Orkney Man's Cave, so called as a man from Orkney tried to hide from press gangs there long ago, or so the legend says.

Supposedly, shags live there but we didn't see any.  On the way in, we did briefly see a seal but it was camera shy like the guillemots.  

It was time to head back into Lerwick where we got a sea-view of the Tall Ships currently overtaking every single free berth in all of east coast of Shetland Mainland.

One slip not available was where the ferry to mainland Scotland was.  We've only briefly seen the ferry, so it was interesting to see another view of it.

Like the viking on the ferry indicates, mainland Scotland is that way.

Now it is time for the second part of the name of the tour.  Already having seen plenty of seabirds, it was time to see some seals.  While there weren't many, the few there were put on a good show, coming right up to the Seabird to say hello.

Finally, it was back to our dock, where Denise was waiting for us.  After she did some shopping on Commercial Street, while we were at sea, she talked her way past security so she could come and greet the Seabird.  For everyone who knows Denise, this is not a surprise.

Once we disembarked, we heard a familiar voice behind us; it was our fifth cousin Marina!  She came to Lerwick for the Tall Ships celebration and we were very excited to see her.  In the middle of some genealogical conversation, Betsy and Arthur arrived!  It was another family reunion on Victoria Pier!  Much chatting happened.

When everyone went their separate ways, we went to get some coffee from Blyde Welcome and when Laura came out of the coffee shop, there was a woman ringing the doorbell of our flat.  Low and behold, member number 3 of the Shetland Family History Society, Elizabeth Angus, had taken the chance to stop by and see if we were in.  She came in for a visit and watched some of the parade down the Esplanade from our window.  There have been arrangements made for us to go visit her for coffee and sweets on Friday.

Overall, a busy, educational, familial, and friendly day.

For the record, I am still having eye trouble, so Laura is typing.  She added in her own comments throughout.  Not being the one typing, I cannot stop her.