Diary of a Deckhand

The end is in sight, just poking its head over the horizon like a ship fast approaching home.  It has been an intense season so far, with two months in Shetland and some cracking diving to be had.  Four weeks to go and then we can rest for a while. 

I have been busy with my camera, and actually have a new one with several new lenses.  Here are some of the results:

Lyness Chains

Torpedo at Lyness museum.

Bond Helicopters Winchman

Puffin at Sumburgh

Puffin Looking Up

Feathered Sky

Conning tower of the E49, Unst, Shetland

Bit in Mouth

We stand with our hands pressed against the cold damp concrete and stone of the wall, glancing around in the dark of the unlit street waiting for the merest hint of the beginnings.  A low gradual increase the amount of noise signals that beyond our sight something is happening and almost immediately the sky turns blood red, as if the arteries of Lerwick had been opened and allowed to bleed into the black of the sky.  Soon flames spread, sphere to flaming sphere all moving by some invisible shrouded Brownian motion.  The parade of Up Helly Aa made its triumphant way through the sodden streets, the river of flame marching past us, the clank of armour, the flash of flame reflected on steel. 

Soon the Longship is pushed past, the Guizer Jarl aboard, his armour and sheepskin cloak shielding him from the weather and foes long forgotten.

The Longship is delivered by willing hands to the centre of the park and gradually the thousand flames form a surging circle around the central pivot of the intricately painted and doomed vessel.  Speeches are said, their words carried away on the wind and as one the flaming torches are cast into the ship which is soon roaring and crackling, sending showers of sparks far into the night.

Smoke issues from the mouth of the dragon figurehead as slowly the flames lick the silver paint and eventually with a cheer from the crowd, the dragon collapses into the embers.

Photographs of Up Helly Aa 2010 can be found here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/helenfh/sets/72157623303725110/

Another cracking year for us.  Here are some photographs from our travels.

The first snows of 2009 in February.

A suffolk cross sheep in the snow

Wooooooonk

Stenness in the snow

A frozen sea

We went to Fraserburgh for refitting the boat.

Fraserburgh fishing boats

Sleeping boats

We went diving.

Inside the Tabarka

A cycle ride to remember Paul

We met some interesting people…..

Hairy Fairy

We had weird weather….

Tornado over Flotta

We enjoyed the summer days….

Pier jumping

Nazi plate from Gutter Sound

We met new friends…

Dolphins in Scapa Flow

We visited Shetland….

Sumburgh puffin

The bell from the Leonatus

We played with the coastguard….

Oscar Charlie coming to pick up his winchman.

We dived Scapa Flow some more…

The boys in Scapa

Gravestone in Lyness Cemetary, Hoy

We drove a very long way…..

Hoy High from the ferry

The river at Invermorrison

Beech wood in the Great Glen

Taken near Tongue looking up the Kyle of Tongue towards Mealain Liath

We learned new skills

A Neil Robertson Stretcher aka the Straightjacket

Clickimin Broch, Lerwick

And now at the close of the year, we finally rest, taking our time over everything as for a lot of the year, time is something we have so precious little of. 

I hope 2009 was good for you.  I hope 2010 is even better.

Helen

 

Ok, firstly let me explain about quantities.  I tend to use amounts such as “a bit” “a load”, a “smidge”.  This is not cookery for people who feel the need to weigh out everything to the perfect gram, follow the recipe like they are walking along a tightrope terrified to fall or follow a diving computer convinced that if they do what the numbers tell them they will never get bent…..

All my meals can be buggered about with. 

All my meals cheat whenever possible. 

All my meals tend to leave out salt and pepper unless totally essential – you can add it, I cannot take it out. 

I am also paranoid about cleanliness, so if you want to follow my little weirdnesses too, feel free, I promise the skin will grow back on your hands in a few days…. 

All quantities are for 12 meat eating non allergic to anything divers who tend to eat a little more than they would normally do.

Soups.

Brilliant for a diving holiday, it will keep for several days if kept in a clean container in the fridge.  Make sure your Tupperware is totally clean, any dirt lurking in the lid will make your soup off far quicker than you think.  If in doubt, run boiling water round the lid – it makes the sodding thing easier to get on and off too.

Tomato and anything you fancy soup.

5 tins of plum tomatoes

4-6 stock cubes.  Chicken is best.

Fresh basil.

Lentils or butternut squash or potato or rice.

2 big onions

A bit of garlic

Cream if you want.

Chop up your onions and bung them in the pan with a dob of oil, fry until they start to turn transparent, then add some garlic (add it earlier than this and it risks burning).  Cook for another 30 seconds or so, then add your tins of tomatoes.  Chuck in the stock cubes, basil which can be torn up, don’t bother to chop it totally, but if you want it to look posh save a bit back and finely chop to sprinkle on the top. 

Now, you can bung lots of other things in with this to make it yummy.  What you need to think about is thickening it, because without anything else it will be a bit runny so….

Butternut squash

Brilliant veggie.  If you are worried about having an undeclared vegetarian in a group get one of these in.  Substitute it for meat and it picks up the flavour of whatever you are cooking so well.  Anyhoo, peel it, chop it up and chuck it in.  Chop the bits into ½ inch thick chunks, throw away the seeds.

Lentils

Lentils are great.  When you buy them, check they don’t need soaking overnight or anything daft like that (beware of dried peas – they do need soaking).  Chuck them in the pan with the tomatoes etc and add at least 2 litres of water.  It is essential you go back and stir lentils about 5-10 minutes after they have been added.  They do this weird thing when they look uncooked, uncooked, uncooked and FOOM they expand, cook, stick to the bottom of the pan and boil over all over your cooker.  So ignore them at your peril!  They are cooked when they no longer look like small hard orange disks and start going all mushy.

Rice. 

Rice?  What are you on about woman?  Yes, you can bung rice in with this soup.  Its nice and starchy and will thicken it up nicely.  Can act similarly to lentils, so never trust it and give it a stir fairly often.

Potato. 

Works the same way as butternut squash, cut it into smallish cubes and bung it in.

Once the soup is cooked, give it a whizz with a blender or beat the hell out of it with a potato masher.  Add your cream if you want and sprinkle the saved basil over the top.

Leek and potato soup.

A classic soup with a clear stock, very easy to make and wonderfully filling.

1kg potatoes, washed but not peeled, chopped into small chunks around 1cm square.  You can cheat by using a mandolin or JML Nicer Dicer (about £30 from JML, do a google search - I love mine to bits)

1kg leeks, chopped and washed

Butter for frying

Chicken stock cubes - 6 is probably about right.

A little bit of lemon thyme if you can get it.  If not normal thyme will do, or parsley or chives or whatever you can lay your hands on.

A small amount of garlic

Cream if you like.

Fry the leeks and garlic in the butter until they are soft but not soggy and then add the stock up to around the 2 litre mark, also adding the herbs to your taste.  Chuck in the spud cubes and this will give you an idea of the consisteny and quantity of soup you will be making.  Add more water until it looks right and then simmer slowly for about 45 minutes.

Add the cream last and remove the soup from the heat.  If you have good heavy pans then it will stay hot for a long time for serving.

Shepherds Pie

2kg Minced lamb, beef or Venison

3- 4kg spuds

Oxo cubes (three or four)

Worcestershire sauce (as much as you like – to taste)

Onion (one big one or a couple of small ones)

Garlic (fresh or dried)

Something to thicken it with.

Brown off the mince, bung in at least two oxo cubes, chop up the onion and chuck that in too.  Add about a mug full of water and allow the mince to simmer on a low heat for about 45 minutes to an hour to allow the onion etc to cook.  If you are doing venison or fancy poshing up the beef, I found that the following added makes a really good stock:

Red wine.

Shallots

Fresh rosemary

Balsamic vinegar

Caramelised onions

Mushroom ketchup (if you can find it)

While the mince is simmering you can peel and cook the spuds.  Cut them up small so they cook quickly, it will take around 45 minutes for the water to come to the boil and for that quantity of spuds to cook, so don’t forget to factor this in.

Once the mince is cooked and the spuds are soft it is up to you how you do it from here.  You can if you like use a cream cheese to thicken the spuds instead of butter and milk, or cream if you have some too although milk and butter are fine too.  Whatever you use, you don’t want them really thick otherwise it is a pain to spoon over the mince – too runny and it is yuck.

Make sure the mince is simmering and thicken it using either bisto powder (make it up in a mug with a little bit of cold water first and stir like hell when you pour it in to prevent lumps), cornflower, bisto granules or best is a coleman sauce mix for shepherds pie or similar – it thickens it and adds flavour too.  You need your mince to be nice and thick or the potato will sink into it and it will be a nightmare to do!

Pour the mince into the bottom of two large oven proof dishes so it is halved between them, ideally at least an inch from the top of the dish.

Once the spud is mashed up, spoon it over the top and even it out.  Start in the middle and work your way out, being careful not to dollop too much on at once or it will push the mince out of the way.

Once it is nice and even, sprinkle on the top any of the following:

Cheese

Fresh rosemary

Fried leek shreds

Red onion slivers

Bung the lot in a medium hot oven for about 20 minutes to heat it all through and melt any cheese.

My backside is numb, my legs are dead and I am bored bored bored.  Alone in the wheelhouse except for the music which I seem to have heard a thousand times before and the occasional fulmar who choose to ride the air currents swirling around our decks.  Swells from the south east roll us 15 degrees, powerful but slow and the dark shape of Fair Isle is off our port beam.  Ahead of us in the slowly darkening sky a shape appears, almost obscured by the misty low cloud on the horizon.  Sumburgh head becomes discernable and the important milestone is reached.  We are getting there.

West of Orkney heading to Kirkwall

Pulling into dock in the silent stillness of 3am, the sky already as light as day our ropes are made fast on the stout black bollards of the pier.  Now comes the deep and welcome sleep of the journey, catching up on what was overdue, stressing about the open sea, the distance from our comfort zones having robbed us of rest for some time previous.

Lerwick is a lovely town, its long and winding street with a plethora of different shops, the industrial side  spread away to the north where all manner of buildings stand harsh against the blue of the sea and the dark green of the land.  The harbour has so many small basins, piers and wharfs that it is almost fractal in its appearance.  Seagulls perch around, lazily watching for anything edible and calling with their screaming cries when there is.

Rocks above, jellyfish below

Monday comes along and we depart to dive the Pionersk, a Latvian Klondiker which is very broken up along the shore just south of Lerwick.  The visibility was comparatively low for the site, at around 6m, but still a very nice dive.  I jump in for a snorkel in the surface interval and get some photographs of the million jellyfish which seem to slowly pulsate their way around the oceans.

The rest of the week goes smoothly, only hampered by thick rolling fog which in some cases made the water clearer than the air! 

The draw to go diving is very strong, the clear water, the blue skies and sun all making it look so perfect. 

I guess we will see what the next few weeks bring.

There is something magical about dolphins.  Ask any diver and most of them will say they are at the top of their favourite marine animals, so many people seem to want to come back as a cetacean of some kind the queue must be huge.  Me personally would settle for being a seal, sitting on a rock all day eating fish, farting and the only thing to worry about is remembering to keep your bum shut when the tide comes in or you will fill up with water and drown backwards…..

All this said and done, having a pod of dolphins actually choose to come and see us as we float around takes some beating.  Sighting the dolphins some 500 meters from us, we came to a halt and watched the grey fins break the surface, the huff of blowholes taking another gasp of the summer air.  Slowly they came closer and suddenly they were so close, only feet below me.

Dolphins in Clestrain Sound

Right beside the boat

Beneath the lift

I seem to be so madly busy to not blog a whole lot these days.  Maybe this will change when I find this mysterious beast “spare time” which seems to happen to other people and not to me. 

My lack of diving has continued, with the grand total of three and a half dives this year.  The half comes from aborting a dive because the one thing I really wanted to do with my camera was never going to happen unless I developed the dexterity of an octopus at the bottom of the shotline to set my white balance with the new housing.

Today was spent up at the Stromness Academy doing the first half of my community first responder course, the second half being tomorrow.  All very good, learned a lot especially about airways, suction and defibs.  So dont keel over in Stromness from now on, because it could be my ugly mug you wake up to.

Here are some pics taken last week at Lyness Museum.

A macro of some of the markings on the HMS Hampshire propeller at Lyness

More propeller markings

Looking up at the prop

More markings and an adjustment screw

Close up of a gas mask

HMS Royal Oak brass lettering

Porthole from HMS Vanguard

 

Well, it seems to have been a month of political upheaval, with many MP’s having their spending habits laid bare for the nation to see.  Indignant cries of “it was within the limits allowed” echo around Westminster and fall on deaf ears when the public is having to cut back on all manner of things due to the recession, we have members of parliament spending £5000 on swimming pools and automatic gates to their mansions.  One of the leading parties has 17 millionaires on its front bench.  Hardly representative of the general populace of the UK.  Ho hum. 

All this said and done, I will be voting in the next election as when I was younger I used to pass the grave of Emily Davison, the Suffragette who threw herself in front of the King‘s horse to try to win the vote for women.  None of the main parties are worth my time as they are simply so far removed from anything that I recognise as being worthy of steering this country.  Maybe some of the politicians should take heed from Emily’s headstone - “Deeds not Words”.

Quite enough of that.

The diving season is marching on, with the rest of the Scapa Flow boats joining us this week, it has been awfully quiet this year so far.  The Folk Festival is in full swing, with bands playing on the street and the hair/beards/tie-dye quotient of Stromness having increased exponentially overnight. 

Fugro Seacore Deep Diver Jack-Up Barge at the Pole Star Pier

Busy Stromness

Liner "Expedition" in Scapa Flow

Diving the Dresden on Thursday and I look up to be faced with a tornado.  Not the airborne military type thing, but the airborne windy type thing.  I did wonder if I had been too close to the exhaust funnel, but it hung around from its parent cloud for over 10 minutes - plenty of time for me to get my camera out and take a few pics.  If you do not believe it was in Orkney, you can see the oil terminal on Flotta in one of them!

Tornado over Hoy

Tornado with Flotta in the foreground

Stromness was busy on Thursday too, with two cruise liners taking up the back of the old Ola pier and the Ice Plant pier.  This plus the Fugro Seacore jack-up barge at the Pole Star pier means that Stromness is really rather full and we are evicted to the Marina Pier, slick with a patina of salmon fish oil from the processing boats which moor there overnight. 

Pier jumping in Stromness

The silvery head silently emerges from the rippled water, huge black eyes follow me as I make my way along the bumpy path.  The selkie slips from view, back to its other world of fish, kelp and bubbles and I pass from the land of people to one of the things Orkney does best - silence.

Ochre rocks with their tiny puddles of pristine sand jut out into the surging water, no waves stir its surface; it is merely in a hurry to exit Scapa Flow and rejoin the Atlantic as the tide pushes and pulls the cold liquid up and down the shore.

Birds and the gentle sound of the tide are the only sounds out here, the sun making its lazy way to the west, the light fading gradually and the shadows elongate and join to one.

Wreckage from various boats lies strewn amongst the pebbles at the high tide mark, its rusting forms sculpted and polished by the winter storms which change this place utterly.

I sit alone on the shingle beach facing the west, and watch the sun slowly, inevitably, slip from the sky.  Then make my way back, racing the darkness which unfurls across the landscape like a velvet sheet.

Hoy Sound with the Hamnavoe coming in

Hamnavoe just off the Kirk Rocks

From the shore

Wreckage on the beach

Polished by the weather

A curl of seaweed

A net bag on the beach

Long forgotten brass

Wreckage being reclaimed by nature

Sunset over the Atlantic

Ok, so we probably knew sheep couldn’t count anyway,  and they probably can’t spell either.  But you would hope that they could remember the number of offspring they had produced less than 24 hours previously.  Alas, this seems not to be the case, as the sad little speckled body half covered in straw was found to be utterly lifeless.  Sat on by your mum – what a way to go. 
This left two, one which was shy and retiring, and the other whose philosophy seemed to be like those people who elbow past you at the bar when you have stood for 20 minutes for a pint.  None of this is the glass half empty or half full.  Its way is more like “that’s not my glass.  My glass was full.  And bigger.”  So off went the second lamb to be hand reared and no doubt confused in life (they tend to think they are people after a while).  The mother isn’t a bad animal; there is no malice in her actions, although there was considerable ill feeling towards me when I attempted to get some milk from her to feed her offspring.  Whoever bred flighty animals with horns needs a good talking to. 

And talking of horns, Rowans antlers have fallen off, as per nature’s cycle.  I always wonder if it hurts, and quite what it feels like to have all that weight off the top of your head.  You know the trick where you push up on a doorframe for 2 minutes and then step out, only to find your arms mysteriously rising of their own accord?  I often find myself pondering if he spends a lot of time looking up at seagulls bottoms.  It also means that the girls are back in charge.  No longer able to chase them with the large coat racks attached to his skull, Lydia the head hind is firmly in the herd driving seat. 

The season fast approaching and I flit between nervous and excited.  Nervous that it all goes to plan, that everything I needed to paint is painted, that everything that has been buggered about with is working.  And excited because it is what I came up here to do, it is, I suppose, a dream job.  Working to pay for diving, or working in the diving industry – I know which I would rather be doing, and since I said I would never teach diving, this is possibly the next best thing.

Seven days to go.

Oh yes, and we have been diving.  A lovely day was had on the Jean Elaine courtesy of Andy.  His new diver lift is brilliant, not to quick and nice and wide.  We dived the Tabarka and the Seydlitz scrap site – here are some pics from it.