Approaching Shetland
Shetland is the most beautiful place in Britain.
An April storm. We had been at sea in winds of up to force 10 for a week, sitting on station 62 degrees north in the Norwegian Sector, unable to do any survey work due to the bad weather. It was my first trip offshore in my first proper job, and I had been seasick since leaving Aberdeen, getting by on water and plain toast. Everyone on the boat was at a low ebb. But the boat's video library included a Nicholas Cage film set in Las Vegas. I had heard of it, it had parachuting Elvises - just what was needed! "We are saving this for when we need it," I said two days into the storm, and insisted we put it aside. Now the time had come. But it wasn't Honeymoon in Vegas. It was Leaving Las Vegas, where Nicholas Cage drinks himself to death. The effect was the exact opposite of what I had promised. Did you know there is nowhere to go on a boat from people who hate you? Eventually one of the boat's engines broke down, and we ran for port. I wedged myself in my bunk and tried to sleep, rolling from side to side.
I woke just after dawn. The sea was blue emollient. A sun-bronzed moor and cliff rose, widened, filled the whole western horizon. Not a breath of wind, not a cloud in the sky. The hills of south Shetland were beautiful. Such colour, such variety! Did I not want to jump ship and stride out for a walk on those moors! The earthy smells of land were intoxicating after a week of diesel, brine and vomit. I began to wonder that perhaps the offshore life was not for me.
Shetland croft:
Now some people, who don't know better, think Shetland is bleak, barren, treeless, and storm-swept. But try a week at sea in a storm, and you won't see anywhere more beautiful than this sanctuary from the battering ocean.
An April storm. We had been at sea in winds of up to force 10 for a week, sitting on station 62 degrees north in the Norwegian Sector, unable to do any survey work due to the bad weather. It was my first trip offshore in my first proper job, and I had been seasick since leaving Aberdeen, getting by on water and plain toast. Everyone on the boat was at a low ebb. But the boat's video library included a Nicholas Cage film set in Las Vegas. I had heard of it, it had parachuting Elvises - just what was needed! "We are saving this for when we need it," I said two days into the storm, and insisted we put it aside. Now the time had come. But it wasn't Honeymoon in Vegas. It was Leaving Las Vegas, where Nicholas Cage drinks himself to death. The effect was the exact opposite of what I had promised. Did you know there is nowhere to go on a boat from people who hate you? Eventually one of the boat's engines broke down, and we ran for port. I wedged myself in my bunk and tried to sleep, rolling from side to side.
I woke just after dawn. The sea was blue emollient. A sun-bronzed moor and cliff rose, widened, filled the whole western horizon. Not a breath of wind, not a cloud in the sky. The hills of south Shetland were beautiful. Such colour, such variety! Did I not want to jump ship and stride out for a walk on those moors! The earthy smells of land were intoxicating after a week of diesel, brine and vomit. I began to wonder that perhaps the offshore life was not for me.
Shetland croft:
Now some people, who don't know better, think Shetland is bleak, barren, treeless, and storm-swept. But try a week at sea in a storm, and you won't see anywhere more beautiful than this sanctuary from the battering ocean.
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