My Right Sided Brain...: I went sailing on one of the Seven Seas...

This is me in our local paper, which was a great surprise when I got back from my adventure!

For my 21st birthday my Gran gave me a trip of a lifetime; to sail in the Tall Ships race from Greenock near Glasgow to Lerwick in the Shetland Islands. I have always wanted to go to Shetland because of it's natural beauty- it's rugged coastline and it's incredible array of wildlife. I saw this as a great opportunity to make the most of this trip; and of course to sail one of the Tall Ships from around the world would be an unbeatable experience. My Grandad had a fascation with these ships with tall sails. They looked like they were from Pirates of the Carribbean! When he lived in Durban in South Africa he commissioned someone to build and paint tiny models of these ships. They were pretty impressive, the detail on the tiny tiny boats was incredible. These boats are in the Durban library, and way after my grandad passed away, these models are still there, and so living on in his name, I was to embark on a mighty voyage in one of these boats along the Irish Sea.
I started off at Greenock, got friendly with the crew, and then got taught how to actually sail. I was the only one who had never sailed before, so I had some catching up to do! We did lots of dancing when our boat came out of port and waved everyone goodbye. There were so many people! We sailed up and around the west Scottish coast; the Outer Hebrides. It really was a stunning sight, we saw scenery people couldn't see on foot, which made it seem more special. We did port at a few islands on the way as a stop over and enjoy the local culture and kailies, Orkney being one of them! It was interesting learning about the history and even from the Stone Age, seeing standing stones similar to Stone Henge, still untouched.
While we were sailing we took it in turn on watch. These were so that if we saw any obstruction, we could warn the person on the helm. There were 3 watches which all lasted 3 hours. So at night you probably got a complete maximum of 6 hours sleep which didn't bother me that much, it was the cold that kept me awake at night, not the insane rocking of the boat when the weather was bad. There were a few people being sick around me which wasn't pleasant, but I stuck it out! Lets just say the rocking on the boat is extremely hard to deal with when you are trying to do the cooking for 20 people, and your cooking partner is being sick elsewhere, and everything keeps flying everywhere; draws keep opening, cutlery nearly chopping off toes, you know the usual.... :P The late night watches on the helm were the hardest as you couldn't see anything but the moon to guide your way. We had a compass to follow, but sometimes when the weather was terrible it was really hard to keep on track, felt like a proper sailor with the moon to guide the way! The best of the watches was early in morning. This is the time we saw most of the wildlife: I spotted seals, and so had a look through the binoculars, and I swear one of them looked directly at me! We saw porpoises which are a kind of dolphin. We saw dolphins too, and in one of the watches before us, they saw whales while we were asleep. A great skewer, which is a massive brown bird also decided to join us with the ride. It was literally flying next to the boat with us for ages, so close we could look it in the eye. Our watch leader Bill would throw bread in the water, it would dive for it, and then join us again by flying next to the boat. We decided to call him Cyril. Live on Cyril! My favourite moment was when I saw puffins for the first time. I have always wanted to see them, and when I did, I literally jumped up and punched the air! They were diving for their breakfast at 5am, and at first I didn't even notice them because they are so small. They remind me so much of penguins, they really do have big personalities. When we got to Shetland in our little 'John Laing' ketch, I was the one to steer us into port! ( With only a little bit of help!) I was the last one to drive on the boat which I was quite happy about! We had a big bbq on the pier and later as all the other boats arrived, we joined in on some of the celebrations with the other boats, which involved a procession through the streets and a big party with a hog roast and free drinks! And can I say, there ain't no party quite like a Columbian party! They really are massive flirts, even a few of the girls from our boat ended up with them! I suppose being on the seas that long, you will go a bit crazy without female company!! When we were at the party, I stole one of their sailor hats and wore it for a bit. They said to me that because I was wearing one of their hats, it meant I had to marry one of them. I gave it back after that! We also went on some tours which were arranged for us by the tour operators of the island which was a great opportunity as they were all free! The first one we went on was to visit the Shetland ponies!, and some old Viking castle. It was great to travel by bus too as we could see the beautiful landscape of the islands, and we got a chance to watch massive seals lounging on the beach and swimming in the clear waters. It was pretty funny as when I took a photo, they just looked like poos on a beach! My favourite tour we did was to see the special area where the puffins hang out in Sumburgh Head. All along the coast climbing up this hill there were puffins chilling out in grass and on the rocky cliffs. I've never seen so many seabirds in my life! It really does make you realise how beautiful our world is. Especially so close to home.
When 3 days of partying and touring was over, I officially left the Tall Ships boats as Shetland was my stopping point. They would next go to Stavanger in Norway for the proper leg of the race. I was just there for the scenic route. So this was when my own adventure began...
I stayed in 'The best hostel in the world' while in Lerwick. The receptionist was one of the loveliest people I've ever met. The Shetlanders are known for their hospitality! I was put in a room with 2 other girls who 1 of them was exceptionally moody and would not talk to me! The other girl I met in the morning was lovely. She was called Vaila and she had relatives in Shetland, so we got very friendly and I met her family on a drunken night in their house with lots of Kailie dancing. It was a lot of fun!! She also took me to this incredible beach called St.Ninians which was linked to an island. The beach was surrounded by water on both sides, and was a pretty amazing sight. I loved walking round the top of the cliffs, as you could see how the cliffs had been weathered away by the insanely strong wind. There were so many cliff bunnies darting about the whole way too! I had got told that because of the wind in Shetland, there were no trees! I did see a few, but I imagine they were sheltered more. It was a shame the weather wasn't better also, as I believe the sea is an actual bright blue colour when the sun comes out, as it just reflects of the water. Such a beautiful natural place. I just hope it stays that way.
On the last day I got the ferry to one of the smaller islands, and walked for about 3 hours until I got to this natural arch sculpted into the cliff by the wind, that was literally holding up the lighthouse that was there. I thought it was amazing. Being in Shetland really gave me an opportunity to try out some of my own wildlife photography. Anything I could catch a photo of, I would try it out. I only wish I had a telephoto lens, as that way I could have caught some of the wildlife we saw in the sea, but it was normally to far away for my camera to catch. Still, it's all up in my mind, and nothing can replace that!
After the last day, I got the train down to Glasgow and checked out the art gallery that was there, and their special exhibition was the wildlife photographer of the year. Something to aspire to. It really was one of the best exhibtions I've been to because every single photo drew me in, until I had to catch the train down to Edinburgh to meet Tim. We had a lot of fun exploring Edinburgh, and it was such a beautiful city. We stayed in a Wigwam just outside of Edinburgh which I fell in love with! We did check out a couple of the art galleries around, but I wasn't that impressed with what was on display really, I thought the outside sculptures were better than anything inside! The Camera Obscura exhibtion was heaps of fun to play with, and visiting the castle was ace. However, my favourite part was being next to the beach in this lovely B&B. It really was bliss. Swimming in the sea, getting fish and chips and making sandcastles. That's how I want to live, next to the beach, easy living.
So without a further ado after my blog entry about my Scottish adventure, I hand you over to a narration of photos....
P.s try to ignore the little black dust marks on a lot of the earlier photos! I managed to shift it in the end, but was very frustrating when I couldn't get rid of it! But anyway, enjoy!