Diary of a Deckhand

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.