The fourth day of the North Atlantic Odyssey saw us approaching the Shetland Islands. The original plan was to visit Fair Isle. I was looking forward to finally setting foot on this hallowed turf. Sadly it wasn't to be, as the harbour was being renovated and was closed to landings. Plan B was to visit Foula in West Shetland, but again that wasn't possible as the locals were advising it might be too rough to land there, due to a high Atlantic swell. Plan C was viable and it was to land on the island of Noss: one of the East Shetland Islands. Landing wasn't a problem as being on the East side of the islands, Noss was sheltered from the Atlantic swell. But it was further to sail from Aberdeen and we wouldn't arrive until late morning. This allowed time for some Seabird and Cetacean watching from one of the bridge wings.
Gannet: This looks like a First Summer individual, as the black of the wings extends all the way to the mantle, there is a lot of black in the rump and it has a pale head. A Second Winter individual will look similar, but Second Summers will have white inner wing coverts and there will be more white feathers in the rump
Bonxie: As we got closer to the Shetland Islands, we started to encounter Bonxies flying past the ship, but none were close
The distinctive shape of Noss appeared on the horizon: Noss has high cliffs on its East side which drop down to a low height to the West
There was a large feeding flock of Gannets at the base of the sea cliffs: Sadly, we couldn't see any Cetaceans with them
Finally, we were entering the bay by Noss and dropping anchor. During this final approach, I briefly saw some distant Dolphins, but I wasn't able to figure out what they were as I quickly lost them and we carried on sailing past them.
We sailed past the cliffs on the East side of Noss before swinging into the bay on the North side: Just to the West of the final position of the Plancius is the larger island of Bressay
This building is the office for the NatureScot team who manage Noss: Visitors can visit in the Summer by taking a short boat ride from neighbouring Bressay. We were to doing a zodiac landing on the rocky landing site
The zodiacs were dropped into the water
Looking across to neighbouring Bressay
Bonxie: This Bonxie was sitting on the water as we prepared to drop anchor
At the last minute, I decided to stay on the Plancius, when the call to go ashore came. I wasn't too bothered about landing on Noss, whereas I would have definitely gone ashore on Fair Isle or Foula. I grabbed the scope and a hot drink and went back on the top deck for a few hours to try relocating the unidentified Dolphins. But they were too far away from our anchorage and I couldn't find them. After a bit of searching, I did find a few distant Harbour Porpoises between Noss and the neighbouring island of Bressay: another Cetacean for my trip list. There were a few Arctic Terns flying by, but always a bit too far for reasonable photos.
With everybody back on board, it was time to head North. Jan decided we would have a pre-dinner cruise past the Eastern cliffs of Noss, before turning North. About ten minutes after we left the anchorage, we encountered a pod of four Risso's Dolphins. Presumably, this was the unidentified Dolphins we had briefly seen as we arrived. Risso's Dolphins generally don't interact with ships, unlike Bottlenose Dolphins, which are also likely to be in these waters.
Risso's Dolphin: This looks to be a large, bulky Dolphin with a large dorsal fin
Risso's Dolphin: It also looks typically broad-bodied in this photo. However, it's also looks quite dark, but immature Risso's Dolphins are much darker than the adults
Risso's Dolphin: This is obviously a Risso's Dolphin with the pale markings and the scarring on the body
Risso's Dolphin: Starting to dive
Risso's Dolphin: Finally, the tail appeared
Risso's Dolphin: The front part of the body looks bulky
Risso's Dolphin: This individual has a distinctive scar just ahead and below the dorsal fin. It was partly visible in the earlier photos
Risso's Dolphin: They have a high swept-backed dorsal fin
After about ten minutes with the Risso's Dolphins, we carried on towards the Gannet cliffs.
This is just part of Gannet colony on the East Cliffs
A closer photo of part of the Gannet colony: I'm glad I don't have to count the nesting Gannets. It should be possible to photograph the colony and to try to merge the photos to allow the Gannets to be counted. However, ignoring the second individual when both of a pair of Gannets are present in the photo and the non-breeding near Adult Gannets hanging around the colony, will be trickier
It was impossible to count the numbers of Gannets pairs in the Gannet colony on the Eastern cliffs of Noss. My guestimate was ten thousand, which was surprisingly close and just one hundred and eighty-six pairs short of the 2025 count. It was an impressive colony.
Gannet: This looks like another First Summer individual
Just after we turned North, we received the call to dinner. After dinner I returned to the one of the bridge wings. On most days, we had a few Fulmars enjoying the slipstream of the Plancius. I'm assuming they enjoy the same effect that professional cyclists get by staying in the slipstream and it saves they flying energy. Every now and then, one would cruise along the length of the ship and appear very close to the bridge wing. As I was generally looking forward, I wouldn't spot the close approach of the Fulmars until it was too late to react to get some photos. Finally, I managed to get some photos of one individual coming past.
Fulmar enjoying the slipstream
Fulmar: A close crop from the last photo, showing why they are part of the Seabird group called Tubenoses
The evening was fairly quiet as we sailed up the East side of the Shetland Islands. The highlights were another pod of three Risso's Dolphins and a Minke Whale, as well as, small numbers of the same Seabirds we had already seen.
Minke Whale: A typical Minke Whale that I picked up at long range, which showed again as we got closer to it, before quickly disappearing
The Out Skerries Lighthouse on the island of Bound Skerry: Afterwards we passed Yell and Unst, but they were too far away for any reasonable photos
When I got back into the Observation Lounge, I found that the Assistant Expedition Leader Chloe, has set up a microscope and was introducing the passengers to her new find, a Water Bear or Tardigrade. Chloe's real passion is plankton and other micro-organisms. Water Bears are not the smallest of in this diverse group of organisms, but are surprisingly fascinating. They occur in diverse habitats including: the deep sea, fresh water, Tropical rainforests, mountain tops and Antarctica. Depending on the species, they can vary in size from 0.05 to 0.5 mm. This was the smallest organism I saw on the expedition.
Water Bear: Chloe found this Water Bear in a very small sample of weed she found on Noss and it was fun to watch it moving around as it headed for a small bit of weed to feed on
They are among the most resilient Animals known. Scientists have shown they can survive severe conditions including exposure to extreme temperatures, extreme high or low pressures, air deprivation, dehydration, radiation and starvation. They have even survived exposure to outer space. Chloe said she had a pet Water Bear at home and typically allowed it to dry out when she was going away and would rehydrate it again when she got home after a few weeks at sea. Clearly, when a large asteroid eventually hits the Earth and we have another Dinosaur-like mass extinction, the Water Bears will just shrug their shoulders and carry on surviving, as they have done for the last five hundred million years.
Water Bear: A chart showing an artistic impression of a Water Bear. She was the only person on board who maintained the Polar Bears we saw later in Svalbard, were only the second best Bears of the trip
It was time for bed, so I could enjoy an early start in the seas as we sailed North from the Shetland Islands to Jan Mayen Island.
