SV Ostinato: Always look both ways at the Airplane Crossing

July 20 - 59.30 N 1.39 W -
Winds have calmed down to 20 K this morning with expectations that they will continue to drop throughout the day so we're off to Fair Isle, 70 miles to the North. To time the tides for crossing several areas of races, cast off was way too early. Coffee had yet to penetrate my senses when the engines roared to life. Way too loud for 6 a.m. Boats tied up in front of us were rafted 2 out and the one behind was snuggled up to our stern. Getting off the dock had potential to be interesting but King rigged a spring line on the bow and backed her out quite nicely. The sun is shinning brightly and, per usual, there is a bit of nip in the air. Speaking of which, we had thought it was just us, with our thin Florida blood, that are in a continued state of deep freeze but we met a couple from Norway /Denmark that confirmed that they also live in their long underwear and fleece. They, like us, are amazed at the Brits propensity to don shorts and t-shirts the minute the sun comes out, regardless of the temp.....saying something about "mad dogs and Englishmen".

The winds died just off the Orkney's and what began as a nice sail turned into a motor slog to Fair Isle. The anchorage in Fair Isle is tiny with only room for 2 boats at the dock and they were already stacked 2 deep when we arrived. I have no doubt the British crew that was sitting in their cockpit enjoying their cocktails were saying quietly...."please don't let them come here...pleeeeeze". But they were jolly good sports when I asked if we could tie on to them. We quickly changed to our "street clothes" and scrambled over the two boats to reach the dock. Destination: The Fair Island Bird Observatory that was just up the hill. Besides having great views, there is a small hotel that caters to bird watchers. We stopped in and had a very expensive beer and while we nosed around the facility discovered there was a Puffin walk later at 7:30....all invited! Woohoo! During this time, Touché the Norway/Danish boat we had met in Kirkwall had arrived and tied up on the outside of Ostinato....now there were four.

Four deep raft up in Fair Isle.

News of the bird walk spread quickly across the raft up. Besides the group leader, there was only one actual "birder" in the group. Apparently the fog had been so bad over the last few weeks all flights to and from the tiny island had been canceled. But tonight was crystal clear! Were there Puffins? Oh my, there were hundreds of Puffins! We watched the funny little bird until our bodies were frozen to the core and then reluctantly made our way back down the hillside, dodging the sheep poo, to the boats.

After we had settled into bed, we heard someone tiptoe across our boat. We thought maybe our neighbours had decided to go back up the hill to get another Puffins fix....but no. In the morning we found another boat had tied up to the raft that was now extending halfway out into the bay......and now there were five.

The raft up was disassembled around 10:00 and Ostinato departed Fair Isle in the kind of thick fog my mom used to call "Pea Soup". The Brit yacht followed us out of the anchorage so I decided to take a picture of her but in the minute it took me to picked up my camera, she had been swallowed by the fog. Again, no wind. The entire trip to Lerwick was done in fog. Radar and AIS thank you. We have been surprised by the number of times that commercial boats have not had AIS operating so without the radar the crossing would of been a lot less happy.

July 21 - 27 60.09N 01.08 W

Ostinato tied up at Victoria Harbour - Lerwick, Shetland Islands

Always look both ways at the plane crossing!

Ostinato arrived in Victoria Harbour in Lerwick, the largest town in the Shetland Islands, to find boats rafted 2 and 3 deep. We opted to tie up on the ferry side for the first night but moved back around early the next morning as boats began to vacate their spots. By the end of the day everyone was rafted 3 deep again. We have enjoyed a great week of pretty decent weather that included one full day of glorious sunshine. Ostinato joined in with crews from Touché and China Moon, a yacht from Canada, to rent a very large van (actually, I think bus is a better description) to tour the island. King still has no license (and won't until we get back to the states) but thankfully the guys were kind enough not to make me take a turn at driving so there are no legal disputes pending. Anyway, we found more Puffins, Fulmars and a Golden Eagle's nest. One of the more interesting sites was driving on the road that crossed the airport runway. When a plane departs or lands a little man zips down the runway in his car and closes gates on each side to halt traffic. Kinda like a train....but different.

The end of the week we had a great surprise, the family from Inverness, who's son helped us pull Ostinato from the lock, knocked on the boat to say "hello". They are visiting relatives in Lerwick and saw us sail in....says something about the number of catamarans there are in these waters.

July 29

It looks like the weather window has finally opened long enough for the jump across the North Sea to our next destination Bergen, Norway. We spent the day doing last minute shopping to prepare. While the UK has been a bit more expensive than expected, the word is that we will gasp at the prices in Norway so a provisioning run is on the agenda. What appears to be the big item to take back by Norwegian yachts is beer/wine. Both can apparently cost as much as your main course if having dinner out.....which you can't afford to do either over there. In between grocery shopping and putting on fuel, we stopped by the local Heath Center to check out a large red rash that had appeared on my arm about a week ago and refused to depart. With the help of "Dr. Google", I had diagnosed it as a spider bite . King was not so easily convinced and decided that communicating with a doctor in English, even in Scotland, would be easier than in Norwegian....so off we went. After waiting 1 1/2 hours I sat in front of the Doc displaying for him the inflamed itchy arm and gave him my diagnosis. He agreed "yes, may be a spider bite...looks like its getting better...nothing to worry about....and charged me £50. Ouch. The Marina fees ended up being only £11 a nigh, including power, so that took a bit of the sting out of the Health Clinic visit.

July 30

Off the dock at 8:00 a.m. The fog is hanging over the harbour and everything is dripping wet so we donned fowl weather gear and boots. Since we got fuel yesterday we are on the outside of the raft up so departure is easy. Exodus, the Norwegian boat we are tied to, help with our lines and have invited us to visit them in southern Norway. John on China Moon with coffee cup in hand also popped out onto the dock to see us off. They are heading to Scotland. Touché left for Bergen yesterday so we may yet catch up with them again. We always have mixed emotions when leaving a place, hating to say goodbye to new friends but excited about the next adventure.