Visiting yachts in harbour
Three large cruise ships and 20 visiting yachts stopped off at Lerwick Harbour in the past week.
The largest of the three was 194 metre Italian-registered Aidacara, which arrived from Oban last Thursday before sailing on for Invergordon. The smaller Bahamas-registered cruise liner Prince Albert II arrived a day later before heading off for Trondheim, while the trio was completed by the 181 metre Azamara Journey, a Maltese cruise liner which came into Holmsgarth on Tuesday before setting sail for Torshavn.
On Wednesday, the Norwegian warship HNoMS Roald Amundsen arrived. It is named after Roald Amundsen, the explorer who led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole between 1910 and 1912 and was the first person to reach both poles. As a mark of respect to his achievements, the Norwegian navy decided to build a class of Aegis frigates.
Seven of the 20 yachts to visit these parts in the last seven days were also from Norway, while others came from Faroe, Germany, Poland and Sweden.
A few oil standby and supply vessels kept things ticking over at the Greenhead Base at the start of the week, including the Norwegian North Vanguard, while the Kebister and Knab were called out three times between them to attend to tankers the Petroatlantic and Petronordic, which are regular fixtures just south of harbour limits.
