Bod Voe, Bruray Island, Out Skerries. 60:25.350N 000:45.077W

Pelagia
Frans & Sarah Toonen
Wed 21 Aug 2013 18:00
Wednesday 21st August. Wind NE 3 to 4. Occasional sunshine. Almost flat sea.

Left Lerwick on the turn of the tide after 11 days in this very pleasant village where the people couldn't be nicer.  We had left Pelagia alone for 6 nights but the wedding of Lloyd and Jess in Cardiff was definitely worth the ferry to Aberdeen and the 1100 (land) mile round trip. We were able to visit Mum and Dad Norton which was nice and even spent one night at home to break the journey back and found that our neighbour the farmer managed to not only get planning permission to put up a new shed but even had it build in the 7 weeks that we have been away! Wish we had used those builders for our extension.

Plan for today was to reach the Out Skerries (the most easterly point in the Shetlands) a mere 20 miles away but as the wind was perfectly on the nose the actual distance traveled was 32 miles as a result of having to tack into wind. A lovely sail nonetheless between various little islands but also keeping us on our toes because of the numerous submerged rocks. The weather is definitely turning colder and Frans was forced to wear 2 layers but Sarah's usual 4 layers still did the trick.

The Out Skerries entry into the harbour is not for the faint hearted with sharp rocks mere yards away either side of the boat. We had obviously been spotted by one of the 60 inhabitants who arrived to greet us by car as soon as we had moored on the pier for no particular reason other than a chat. Another resident then arrived by car to give us a visitor survey and induction (again) about the shops (yes 2 shops on this tiny island) and toilets. Charming friendly people. We're the only boat in town.

2 weeks ago a fishing boat struck a charted rock and sunk at the entrance to Lerwick harbour, you can see the partly submerged orange balloons used the refloat her:

Rocks at entry into Out Skerries harbour… the ones we can see anyway:

Bride and Groom