highplanesdrifters

So true, EL can make or break it. That along with the Captian and how well they work together. Yesterdays parking job was amazing. Lucqui is one of the greats for sure. The team seems quite lite both in quantity and depth so he has his work cut out for him on this leg. I do however like the fresh faces. Lots of eager youngsters with happy attitudes.

You did such a great job of taking us with you and we're a big help for our upcoming one in September. Would love it if you posted a few pics on your thread. You also gave us a heads up on the Seabourn expedition issues and price gouging for excursions. We were on the Quest Holiday Antarctica/South Georgia 2017/2018. Iggy was the EL but Lucqui may have been on the ship. Small world if our paths did cross.😄

Great info, and it doesn't cost $375.

Shopping tip - PSA. Tired of all the scratchy things? Looking for fine woolen products? RAM uses fine Merino wool mixed with silk and other wools. She combines traditional with modern designs. They hold up nicely with no pilling. My first stop in town.

Oh Greenland, yes please! Can't wait to return. Which itinerary are you doing? Can't wait to hear your stories.

Oh @galeforce9 that sounds incredible. Could you hijack and tell us more? We have been here a number of times and are planning at some point to return with a more extensive Faroe Islands visit.

The wind died down and the clouds scattered. Off we went. A relatively easy landing with a box walk to shore. No wet toes although we were advised to wear our Bogs. 20240530_100443.mp4 A few rocks but not bad at all. Welcome committee. Round trip 5km to the community center. With so much to see and limited time we hitched a ride with a local. Treats and charming locals. We spent some time with the John Best. At 88 he is the oldest resident. He spun a few yarns and we listened with delight. The museum and church did not disappoint. Quite a few shipwrecks. I'm glad we were not one of them. The famous jumpers. A church for all denominations. Must hurry now, off to see the puffins. A bit of a hill to climb. A few feathered friends along the way. How's this for an erratic? Lets pause to talk about the amazing job the Captian and Lucqui did getting us on land. Look at that parking job. Crazy he pulled that off. Locals said they had never seen anything like it. We were not anchored, dynamic positioning kept her in place. Wowza! We plopped ourselves down next to Brent at the top of the hill. The wind stopped and sun kept us warm. He told us stories. Happy place. Bring on the Puffin show. We spent the next hour plus lazing in the grass watching these fun creatures come and go from their burrows. The weather and excursion God's smiled upon us today. Due to the late start our time on Fair Isle was extended. We were all grateful. It did cause our afternoon landing to be canceled. It was the smart move. Glad they went with the bird in the hand...or should I say Puffin in the burrow.😄

The Expedition excursion waiting game - play by play Fair Isle Home to Jimmy Perez's father. In the real world it is home to some famous knitters that will be hosting us at their Community Center with teas, cakes and jumpers for purchase. We have two possible landing sites for the morning landing near the Community Center. Dry landing on a concrete jetty near the center, but subject to tides and swells. Or a protected wet beach landing further from the community center. Picture postcard day, so perfect it feels like a CGI production. We are in the first group so pressure is on to be ready. Zodiacs launched, yay. Even better, they are now unloading the blue barrels for life vests. Landing party is climbing hills and marking paths. Don't want to crush the Puffin nests.Time to gear up all systems go. Fifteen minutes later....zodiacs hanging by the jetty, red jackets still climbing up the hill. Another fifteen minutes later, uh oh, blue barrel being moved down the hill. But just one barrel, maybe they want it closer to the zodiacs. Pause. Never mind landing doomed here come the rest of the blue barrels. Delaminate. Off to try the next landing site. In the meantime the scenery is soothing the soul. Craggy cliffs with caves, moody clouds, and yellow nose gannets zipping by are keeping us entertained. The zodiacs have zipped ahead to the next landing site. Remember that cloud bank off in the distance. Well it's here as is the wind and swells are increasing. Can the Captian give us a lee? We will now have a wet landing, but how wet? Will we able to box walk to shore or are Bogs necessary? Never a good sign, Zodiac hauling lines being dropped. Wait, EL Lucqui just jumped in a zodiac. Nevermind they hooked up and are lifting zodiacs. Lucqui is back and has advised us to go enjoy ourselves and enjoy the scenery on Bow or Constellation Lounge. How's this for a slice of heaven? 20240530_091105.mp4 What what? Hold on to your horses and suit up. All systems go. YAY! Stay tuned for an amazing excursion.

Yikes, that is painful.

Ditto. There is so much around Shetland really worth exploring. We were there just after Covid and had our minds blown. I'll see if I can dig up that trip report. A proper expedition.

After our trip to Chippy land dinner would have been overkill. A few cocktails at the Constellation Lounge and the off for a few sushi bites. Sushi was quite yummy and the Club was empty! Nick Martland our cruise director was having a little practice. What a voice. Watch out Ross!

Sorry, I don't know what'd going on with the font size and I dare not try and fix it.

Ullapool Coming from an arid climate at 7,200 feet Scotland is a feast of the senses. Sea level moist air, forests of green and fields as far as the eye can see. I am happy to just absorb the moisture and breathe. Every human we have come in contact with should be a model for civilized society. OK, maybe there were a few unruly punters on holiday in Edinburgh that could have had one less pint. They did provide entertainment though. 😄 On to the excursion of the day. Singleton Distillery in Glen Ord. Yes it was a bit commercial and for the holiday makers. I am a sucker for "how it's made". A quick and dry zodiac ride to Ullapool. Seabourn Venture has some competition. What a greeting! We started with a scenic drive through the countryside and highlands. A quick stop in Beauly. Sadly no time for a kilt fitting at a Royal Warrent shop. The Flora here takes my breath away. This is a "small" beech. Look at the size of this baby! This Singleton Distillery dates to the 1800s. Look at the bark on this birch. I know little about the brand but enjoyed the tour. I suspect it's a mass market name. Historic meets modern. The original office of the taskmaster before bar codes took over. What will all the candle makers do? - Ayn Rand Thirty foot tall casks going down to a lower level. They said we could take pictures, honest. Yes this is Scotland. The weather God's were with us. Tours are dependent on guides. We hit the jackpot. Our amateur historian put award winning documentaries to shame. There are issues with the tours, like no food all day. No worries we found a chippy in Ullapool. Thanks Ullapool for a beautiful day.

Thanks for the compliment. I wasn't sure how live I would make this thread and didn't want to make promises to folks on the internet that I don't know.😁

So pleased you had a good and knowledgeable driver. It can make or break a zodiac ride. Luck of the draw. Was it Brent or Brandon, fabulous drivers and so knowledgeable . Sorry you were offended by the death march comment, just being cheeky as is my style. As mentioned, we are also having a great time. It's just not the expedition we paid for and are used to.

Back to Stroma for the rock geeks. As many may know, Scotland is a Geologist delight. Too late to edit addition. Stroma is bisected by a fault which runs in a north-south direction through its centre, intersected by another fault running in an east-northeast direction across the north of the island.The soil on either side of the fault line is significantly different; the eastern and southern parts of Stroma are covered by fertile clay. fed by bedrock minerals, while less fertile boggy ground predominates on the west side. Stroma is separated from the mainland by swift and treacherous cureents and tides. There is an underwater tidal project of note. Gee, they wouldn't let us take the Submarine there.🤣

Ullapool We have done the kayak here on a previous trip. It was an easy paddle with great scenery. Highly recommend. We signed up for the Geo park but learned yesterday that it was a death march on slippery rocks. With everything else sold out we opted to spend some OBC and head to Singleton..mind you, not because we need to taste any more whisky. It does go to the "charming" village of Beauly.

In the afternoon we did a whiskey and Whisky tasting. Good fun and nice variety.

We had a nice zodiac cruise yesterday at Stroma. Interesting geology and a few birds. When I say a few, I mean a few. Nothing of the nearby flocks and nesting sites chock full of seabird colonies Lucky with the weather. Stunning day. Happy to be on the water. King of the hill. Shag and razorbills Razorbills. I was able to get this shot because our driver was stuck on the rocks. We played bummper cars with the rocks all morning. She was as bad as the legendary Hanna on our PNG trip who stranded us on a sandbar with crocs approaching...more than once. 😁 When about the interesting geologic faults that intersect on the island on Stroma she said there are none. We joked that we needed the Geologist. She said I am the Geologist. Sums it up. Again, just a stunning day. A great example of the geologic upthrust. Stroma is currently empty of humans except for the owner and his sheep. It is dotted with the remains of homes from another era. Very eerie. Sad we couldn't take a stroll about. Our fist Puffin of the trip...maybe our only.🤣

We depart in Tromso so I can't speak to the excursions and have never had crab there. It's a bit of an industrial town, but trying to come of age. I'd be in your camp. Ditch the tour find a good crab restaurant.

Yes, very disappointing. Sorry to hear about Eclipse. I guess we'll take it off our list. We are looking to try other lines and have Ponant Japan booked in March 25. We did a similar itinerary on Silversea Cloud in 23. It was Fabulous! A true expedition. Excursions for all shapes and sizes. Granted Cloud is a but long in the tooth, but I'd rather have an old ship and good excursions. I'll write more extensively later.

That's insane. @koalabear6314 you win!!! It is at the point where it's insulting. I would recommend going to the Polar Museum. Small but lots of information and artifacts. It's walking distance from where you should be docked. The church is OK, but I wouldn't spend a lot of time or money on it unless you're in to churches. Please give us a report when you board. 😃

@galeforce9 Let me know if you would like full descriptions. Happy to screenshot them for you. This is our third time in Shetland. What a missed opportunity for amazing expedition excursions.

We had a delightful 3 days in Edinburgh despite rain, crowds from a marathon and bank holiday. Will share tidbits on a sea day. Also happy to be once again in Scotland and back on Venture. In spite of the issues below we all look forward to having a great time. Now on to this Expedition Nonsense. Had I known what I know now I would have never booked this trip. Although billed as an Expedition Voyage, it looks to be 60-70% ocean cruise. Excursions are a mixed bag of eye watering priced ones, some included, some expedition. A beach trek for $350 wins the price for absurdly overpriced. Some of this echos the recent excellent trip report from @kej1. Had I known what was ahead I could have canceled the trip and booked a proper expedition or made private arrangements for excursions. FYI, this was priced as an Expedition, not an Ocean Voyage or Reposition. Information about excursions was dribbled out in the last few months. It begs the questions: What is Seabourn trying to be or do they even know? What "Expeditions" will actuall bey hybred expedition/ocean cruises. How will we know which is which? Happy to field any queries about this trip. Here are screenshots of the Aberdeen excursions and itinerary.

It really depends on the port. Based on our experience last November, In Greece prices were crazy and $1,100 would be a bargin. Turkey not so much. We got a luxury tricked out Mercedes van for $750 through Seabourn. Another factor is traffic. How much do you want to risk using another vendor and returning to the ship on time? In general were are DIY but sometimes it's not worth the risk if you're doing a full day.