St. Kilda

We had set our alarm for 6.15am, so that we would be up for the ship's circuit of St. Kilda before we dropped anchor off The Village.

It was overcast at our first sight of St. Kilda. First, we saw the northern tip of the archipelago - Stac an Armin, next to Boreray. The sea conditions and weather looked hopeful as I went up on deck to take photos on our approach to Hirta, the largest island. Several of the islands were giant stacks jutting out of the sea with thousands of gannets flying around them.

Arriving at our anchorage in the bay where the settlement is located on St. Kilda, we felt excited at the thought of actually landing there.

After an hour, we had our breakfast and then Paul, a local National Trust of Scotland guide, gave a talk on the history of St. Kilda and told us it is a World Heritage Site for both cultural and natural history reasons. Shortly after, we boarded the Zodiacs for the short ride to Village Bay on the Island of Hirta.  The sea was incredibly calm with no wind at all.

We felt really privileged to land here. We were told it is about a 1 in 10 chance of visitors being able to get on to Hirta, because of extreme weather conditions and heavy seas. On shore, we saw the ruins of the houses abandoned by the St. Kildans who left the island in the 1930's. We decided to walk part-way up the military road that wound its way uphill to the radar and communication aerials at the top. Paul, the NTS man, said it would take about 45 minutes to the top. We went about halfway up a quite steep concrete road, which had been built by the military. We took photos of the sheep, the plants, the lichen and the nesting birds. The sheep are brown Soay sheep, found nowhere else in the world.

On the way we met Bruno, the expedition photographer.

On the way back down, we walked past the stone walls and the ruins to Main Street. As we descended, the supply helicopter came in. It comes on Tuesdays and Fridays, weather permitting. Larger items are brought by sea. Wendy looked in the small museum and at the exteriors of the houses, but didn't go in, as some were occupied. Nobody lives permanently on St. Kilda any more, but volunteers and researchers come in the summer months. I walked to see the gun which was by the quay. It was installed in World War II, but was never needed.

We also looked at the church and the old schoolhouse, with its early 20th century maps on the wall. After buying a few items in the shop, we took a Zodiac back to the ship via some bird and seal colonies. Our driver, Marijke from Holland, was a good guide and talked about the puffins, common seals, kittiwakes and gannets that we saw. One or two seals followed us in the water. We were in the Zodiac with just Alice and Arlene, sisters from Australia, so it was good to have plenty of room to move around the boat and take photos. 

As we headed back to the ship, I couldn't resist taking yet another photo of Silver Explorer at anchor, this time in the bay at St. Kilda!

We had lunch back on the ship with Susan and Frank from Melbourne, then we sailed away from Hirta towards Stac Lee, Stac an Armin and Boreray, where the gannet colonies are located. The stacks and cliffs there are very dramatic.

The stack in the photo above was covered by nesting gannets and the top slope looked as though it was snow-covered when, in fact, it was tens of thousands of birds nesting. We both agreed that the huge number of birds was one of nature's marvels.

We spent about an hour going from one island to another, with the ship being positioned extremely close to the rock faces, giving us all great opportunities to photograph and film the birds. There was a 'cloud' of them flying around us, leaving and returning to their nesting places. We could see some of them trailing long strands of vegetation, probably seaweed, from their beaks. The threat from skuas was ever-present. It is one of the largest gannet colonies in the world with 60,000 pairs. We felt very privileged to see them so close, thanks to Captain Alexander's superb handling of the ship.

A typical view of gannets clinging to the sides of the stacks.

As a mist descended over the rocks, the ship set sail for the Faroe Islands. At 5pm, Victoria gave a lecture on the Vikings in Scotland, after which we had a much-needed cup of tea in our cabin, brought by our butler, Evelyn.

We had dinner with Barry, Michelle, Declan and Anne.  As we went to bed, the sea was like a millpond. No Stugeron required!