Puffins,Coos and Kelpies oh my! :16 day , photo travelogue on the Caribbean Princess to the UK, Ireland, and Iceland 7-12-24

[scubacruiserx2]

 The Drones in the audience

 

 

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 We had a second day at sea to relax after our morning Bible study and the clock had been moved forward an hour overnight so it was very quite in the morning  . Breakfast was at Sabatini's .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Back to the cabin to plan the day

 

 

 

 Pat wanted to go to the Spa so I caught up on my journal and took the camera for a food walk .

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  The weather was delightful and beginning to warm headed slowly to Kirkwall 

 

 

 

I decided to look for places that we had not tried for lunch

 

 

 

 A quick look at the pizza place next door before riding down to the International Cafe . It looked like the elevator was having someone for breakfast .

 

 

I'll never forget letting people out of stuck elevators and how grateful they usually were , when I still had a job . It was nice to have a happy ending sometimes after seeing so much tragedy 

 

 

 

 The bottom row of this case and I exchanged glances and something caught my eye

 

 

Edited August 18 by scubacruiserx2

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 About noon my tummy alarm went off , so off I went .

 

 

 

 Fresh Pizza 2 to go

 

 

 

 After lunch the door opened and guess who fell asleep on the tile loungers ?

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 As soon as I had finished Pat arrived and we went for a cup of soup  and a tuna sandwich to go from the IC . Dessert came with the lunch . There was a charge for the dessert . The chocolate looked good but the Black Forest taste better .

 

 

 

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We had a dinner at Steamers of the fried seafood tray .

 

 

 

 

 

The dissection set was next

 

 

 

And the tray

 

 

 

 

 

 The only difference  was a strawberry shortcake

 

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 We had had really enjoyed our visit to the Shetland Islands which is between the Faroe Islands and Orkney Island making it the northernmost region of the UK . Ferries run there from Kirkwall but with a short day , 0700 - 1730 , it was impossible to make the trip . We had met some people on the Princess Roll Call and decided to go with them around Kirkwall and Orkney . Some photos from Shetland on the previous trip .

 

  Shetland ponies near a crop house

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peat drying for fuel

 

 

 

Near the lighthouse was a cliff with Puffins

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 We were up early for the Omelet Station and the weather felt like a cool , sunny winter day in Florida @ 55 F .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A nice day for a walk to see how the forward half lived 

 

 

 

 

 No Chogs

 

 

 

 We sure missed the view from the forward Lido Deck

 

 

 

 

Edited August 19 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

A Dutch Tilt shot of Orkney

 

 

 

We met Pat and Chris on the ship and went off together

 

 

 

 We met our guide Marlene and with some maps on our laps of the island we were off

 

 

 

 

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We were told that the walls were made of paper and to not touch them

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 It was unusual to see an Icon in this church as they are usually found in a Greek or Russian Orthodox church .

 

Marlene , Pat ,Chris and Pat

 

 

 

 Marlene asked us what we thought that this Baptismal fount was made from and I said concrete . It was a large truck spring that bounces .

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Chapel

 

Edited August 19 by scubacruiserx2

[RNCheryl]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Thanks Cheryl . I guess my DSLR is a window to my past and like our cars , and our house they are paid for and they still work . And it's good exercise humping the camera and SCUBA gear .

 We were married and had our first house in Ft. Lauderdale . But the first 2 kids came from Hollywood Memorial before moving to Palm Beach County .

 Our next 2 scheduled cruises are from Port Everglades and we will have an RN for 15 years and a NP on a family cruise at Thanksgiving so the last 2 grandsons can be out of school for the cruise . Thanks for writing in . 🙂😊

 

 

 

Pat, I was an OB nurse at Memorial Regional for a few years.  Maybe I took care of you post partum!  Still loving your posts.  The Orkney Island tour we took was the highlight of our British Isles sailing last year!

[scubacruiserx2]

2 hours ago, RNCheryl said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Thanks Cheryl . I guess my DSLR is a window to my past and like our cars , and our house they are paid for and they still work . And it's good exercise humping the camera and SCUBA gear .

 We were married and had our first house in Ft. Lauderdale . But the first 2 kids came from Hollywood Memorial before moving to Palm Beach County .

 Our next 2 scheduled cruises are from Port Everglades and we will have an RN for 15 years and a NP on a family cruise at Thanksgiving so the last 2 grandsons can be out of school for the cruise . Thanks for writing in . 🙂😊

 

 

 

Pat, I was an OB nurse at Memorial Regional for a few years.  Maybe I took care of you post partum!  Still loving your posts.  The Orkney Island tour we took was the highlight of our British Isles sailing last year!

 

 Maybe , that was back in 1980 and 82 . I caught my daughter in 82 as the 1st baby that I delivered . She has been an RN for 15 years now and is currently working Post Partum on the day shift at Palms West . Joe

[scubacruiserx2]

 Our next stop was to check out some fine swine on the way to see the standing stones .

 

 

 

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stones_of_Stenness

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This was our next stop , a burial tomb . A little too little for me . But the Pats squeezed in .

 

 

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unstan_Chambered_Cairn

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 And there they were - our first Highland Coos

 

 

 

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Excavations at the Ness of Brodgar.

 

 

 

 

 

The dig was in it's last days when we were there and was to be covered up again to preserve the past

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ness_of_Brodgar

 

 

 The whole thing reminds me of the Moody Blues song , How is it we are here ?

 

 

 

Edited August 20 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 We broke for lunch at the Orkney Brewery where our guide said that they grew all of their own beef .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We each ordered a beer flight with a choice of 3 smaller pours

 

 

 Pat had the burger and I had the steak and ale pie which was better  but we both shared including their prize Haggis which was everything we thought it would be , and a bit more .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 We also took a bottle of Puffin and Skull Splitter from their shop for our friends .

Edited August 20 by scubacruiserx2

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 After lunch we went to Skara Brae a Neolithic Settlement that pre date the Pyramids and Stonehenge .

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skara_Brae

 

 

 

 

 

 A small boat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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  There is an area that has Puffins there but it was  high tide and we couldn't reach it so we went to an area of cliffs . It was shale covered so the footing could give way and it was windy and rough .

 

 

 

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 Our last stop would be at the Saint Magnus Cathedral were construction began in 1137 .

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Magnus_Cathedral

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The stonework and stained glass work was exquisite and hard to believe that some was almost a thousand years old !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 Earlier  we had seen the heather beginning to bloom and some Swans with an ugly ducking feeding .

 

 

 

 

 

 The CB in Orkney

 

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 The sail away from Orkney

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Up next was the Ultimate Balcony Dinner with our friends from home  .