Ana and I are keen sea kayaker living in lovely but land-locked Munich. We are members of the Tayside Sea Kayak Club (http://tskclub.ning.com/) and together with almost 20 club members we went to Shetland to the 2018 Shetland Sea Kayak Symposium (http://www.shetlandcanoeclub.co.uk/2018-symposium-20-to-22-july-plus-extras/) to meet friends and to sea kayak until our arms fall off.
I flew to Edinburgh and then joined Italo-Scottish Giulio and Germano-Scottish Bettina which kindly took me to the Shetland ferry in Aberdeen. Here is Giulio.
I have lived for a decade in Aberdeen but never made it to the Shetland ferry. On deck, I was surprised to see the German Kuestenwache, which seemed to enjoy the sunny weather in Aberdeen harbour.
We left the harbour...
... to pass the Aberdeem armada of oil ships...
... and the windfarm that Donald Trump really hates because the wind turbines can be seen from the Trump golf course. If you want to know where that golf course is then watch out for the Mexican flag (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/21/trump-golf-course-scotland-mexican-flag). Anyway it is a long story.
It was great to be out at sea.
We also celebrated Pam's birthday with an appropriate cake.
When we landed at Lerwick it was driech. We managed to do an easy no photo paddle on day one and during the paddle I met Jon from the English South coast. The next day Jon, Dave and myself agreed to paddle around Muckle Roe, an island in the Shetland archipelago. There are tons of caves under Muckle Roe. Here is one with a foggy lens...
... and here is strong Jon.
At lunchtime, the participants of the sea kayak symposium caught up with us whilst I was on top of the cliff...
... and when they landed we left as we had finished our lunch.
The caves under Muckle Roe are second to none. Often small entries lead to cathedral-like chambers. Nothing for claustrophobics.
After 2 days of intense kayaking with 4 x 2 min intervals I decided to take the Sunday off to go for a run around Muckle Roe. Here is the cemetery sign...
... and here is the mini lighthouse.
Some heather in bloom...
... some heather as a close-up,
... an angry arctic tern...
... and the flower of Scotland.
For the next day Sheilagh had booked Angus from sea kayak Shetland (http://www.seakayakshetland.co.uk/) and his very capable daughters and wife to guide us to the bird island of Noss. If you want to see Shetland and try sea kayaking then e-mail Angus. He is more Shetland than the ponies!
Here we load up the trailer...
... and here we start.
In the fog, we crossed a bay to sea the cliffs. Guillemots, razor bills, puffins (everyone's favourites, German: Papageientaucher) and gannets (German Toelpel) use every bit of horizontal rock.
Here is an exhausted gannet with its rather well fed chick.
We landed below the huge cliffs for lunch.
Here, a puffin. Unfortunately, I did not bring the best list.
Lots of sea kayak stuff.
We explored some caves...
... crossed the sea against a stiff breeze (a mild breeze for Shetland),
saw some Orca-traumatised seals...
... and paddled home in the sunshine under a larger Northern Atlantic sky.
We returned to our house on Muckle Roe...
... which overlooks the bay to Brae...
... seen here more zoomed in.
The next day we met at Hillswick to paddle around the peninsula. Here is Gordon, who is one of the strongest paddles in the club even though he is not the youngest!
Our first target were the Drongs, a group of granite spires roughly 1 km out at sea.
Here there are closer...
... and here is a photo of the most Easterly Drong taken with the SLR.
From there we paddled back...
... to find a sunny beach...
... to have our lunch...
... a group photo...
... and I had a lovely snooze.
Soon after our lunch, Gordon spotted some Orcas!
Here is Gordon trying to get closer which is brave given that orcas are hunting for seals!
It was a pod of probably 4 with one large Orca dominating the group. That fin is enormous!
Orcas! It is every sea kayakers dream to see them (whilst avoiding ending up in their digestive tract) and so everyone was hyper afterwards. Here, we regroup.
Some more rock hopping by the coast under gorgeous skies.
A club passage through a narrow channel...
... and a return...
... to the Western side of Hillswick.
HW
Great report, Henning :)
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