After spending many weeks sailing the coastline and fjords of Norway, it was a great change of venue to experience Scotland and their northern outpost – the Shetland Islands. Closer to the mainland of Scotland is another island group – the Orkney Islands – which is conveniently on the southbound path that we had spec’ed out in our planning over the winter. The two island groups are about 40 nautical miles apart, making the passage easy to do in one day. However, half way in between is a small but tantalizingly named spot called Fair Isle. It is known for its teeming birdlife and rugged angular cliffs with a background that is so typical here in Scotland – wide open, green pasture accented by tiny white dots. These dots, as you get closer, transform into casually grazing flocks of sheep. A small supply ship makes runs from Shetland to Fair Isle’s only protected harbor, North Haven, where individuals from a substantial bird observatory reside. Well, that is until the structure suffered damage from a fire and has been undergoing reconstruction for several years, surely on a slower timetable than on the mainland due to the challenge of ferrying supplies out to this remote location.
