June 8 Fishguard UK

We missed a few ports due to bad weather and the necessity for tendering before we got to Fishguard. A storm has passed through the Irish Sea, leading to rough seas and high waves -- a recipe for a tough tender ride. It's calmed down now, but even this tender ride from ship to shore was just a little rough.

This is a delightful little town, well kept and pretty. 

Everybody know where we're going?

Crocheted flowers. Crocheting must be the town industry, as you'll see in a moment, although the artisan craft shop didn't have any.

It's a small town -- this is High Street, the shopping street.

This mural depicts the "Red Cloak" women who defeated the invading French in 1797. From a distance the red cloaks looked like British regulars so the French assumed they were outnumbered and either surrendered or retreated, depending on who's telling the story.

Every bollard in the city had a crocheted cover, and there were quite a few. And they all looked fresh and clean.

This pub didn't plan well for the appearance of a 1200 passenger cruise ship in the harbor. They ran out of food shortly after noon.

St. Mary's Church

 

 

 

June 7 Production Company Broadway in Concert

 I attended but didn't take pictures of "Rockin Soul" because I had to hustle from dinner to the show and didn't have time to pick up the camera. For the Broadway show they use only the singers, with no dance numbers. The singers were excellent and even had moments of gentle choreography.

Broadway Opening           

Popular

You're the Top

Gimme, Gimme

You'll Be Back

Everybody now "Da-da-da, dat-da..."

Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand

Closing

 

 

June 4 Production Company Headliners

The "big' Oceania ships have a production company of 12 singers and dancers. They prepare 4 shows, each providing 45 minutes of song and dance. I took my camera to three of them and took a few photos. The pictures will be noisy since I used the highest ISO available and a point and shoot camera with a small sensor. I like these pictures because I can remember their excellent performances.

The first show was "Headliners" which featured the songs of singers who were at the top of the bill.

 

 

 

 

I always leave these shows worn out, and that's just from watching.

 

 

June 4 Ullapool

Ullapool is a tiny Scottish town not normally visited by cruise ships. The excursions left for other places in Scotland. We didn't choose any of those excursions, and woke up to a cloudy, rainy day. We tendered into town just to walk around and were lucky to avoid any showers while we were there.

Ullapool has no scenic wonders or impressive buildings. It's just a fishing town. Here are some photos from our brief walk through town.

We were piped into town from the tender. There were 6 of us on the tender. 

Shore Street

The highlands above the harbor

Topiary

The museum in an old church

 

 

 

June 2 Edinburgh - Scragster

 On to Scotland, home of the summer mist. And misty it was for both days. Edinburgh is a tender location for our ship (previous visits on R-class ships have allowed us to dock). We were greeted on the dock with pipe and drum.

We tendered to the dock, the shuttle bussed into the city -- took about an hour total to get here (15 minutes of which was spent cramming as many people as possible into the tender). This is New College.

Scott Monument over Princes Street Gardens

Royal Mile

Back at the tender, this is the railway bridge framing Marina

The high point of the visit -- we returned to the ship on this tour boat rather than a lifeboat/tender. We sat on the top deck and had a great view of the harbor as we sailed back to the ship.

June 3  Scrabster

Our excursion was a Panoramic Tour of the Scottish North Coast. Unfortunately, the Scottish mist pretty much killed the panorama. The is the Dunnet Head lighthouse. 

and the famous northern cliffs of Scotland.

It is the northenmost point of mainland Britain -- the Orkney islands are to the north.

Next stop if John O'Groats. We approached on a long narrow road and found lots of tourist shops and eating places and a hotel. I'm told this is the starting/ending point for a hike from Lands End at the southwest corner of Britain. Otherwise it's just a bunch of tourist shops -- half of which were closed.

The Inn at John O'Groats with art

The light at Duncansby Head, the northeasternmost point in Britain.

And the cliffs -- I think those are gulls nesting, but your guess is as good as mine.

Finally, on our return to the Scrabster harbor, the lighthouse visible without the mist.