Spirit of Discovery blog

It should have been a lie in this morning as the pilot was schedule for 0800 after a high speed run from Newhaven, Edinburgh, however the body clock was on auto and sure enough at 0500 I was awake. With the early start I took the opportunity to walk the decks before anyone else, well at least that it was I thought until I met the ORCA team who are on board voluntarily to observe, record and give talks on marine life. They had a great day in the North Sea before Newcastle but this morning was proving somewhat fruitless. It is always a pretty sail into the Orkney Islands and by 0745 we were all fast alongside. Our guests were greeted with two “pipers” and an exceptionally friendly cruise tourism team.

It was my birthday today, so after opening lots of cards I headed down to another plaque exchange. What a great bunch they were as we kicked off proceedings with a glass of champagne. This was going to be a great birthday!! One of the attendees was a local businessman who had a construction company and a Gin distillery – fortunately he bought a few bottles of his premium gin Kirkjuvagr, which has a real Viking influence. I decided to go ashore a few hours in the afternoon to watch the England vs New Zealand one day International Final. I was taken to the Orkney Hotel for a superb fish and chip lunch.

With everyone back on board by 1730 we sailed shortly thereafter and headed out to sea for a days close coasting through the Outer and Inner Hebrides.

Captain Julian Burgess