One of the things I look forward to every trip to Lerwick is to see what cruise ships might be in the harbour. It is exciting to see those beautiful vessels. The Shetland Islands are a popular destination for cruise ships all over the world. You usually tell where the ships are from by the accents you hear in the shops but sometimes they fool you so I always to see what flag the ship is flying.

Even if I do not get into town buses bring people from the ships out to Eshaness to see the cliffs and the lighthouse. I can usually tell by the number on the bus that a ship is visiting the harbour.

Lerwick Harbour Cruise Ships 2003

Date           Time          Name                                       Ship Length                  From                Destination

April 2004

22-Apr-04 08:00         VAN GOGH                           157                              Bergen             Dundee

27-Apr-04 08:00         VAN GOGH                           157                              Bergen             Dundee

May 2004

09-May-04 10:23        BLACK PRINCE                    142                              Olden               East Dover

13-May-04 07:16        DELPHIN                                157                              Bergen             Oban

21-May-04 08:25        FUNCHAL                              153                              Bergen             Dundee

26-May-04 19:55        ORIGO                                      40                              Fraserburgh      Hebrides

30-May-04 07:30        POLAR STAR                           87                              Kirkwall           Bergen

June 2004

10-Jun-04 07:01          BLACK PRINCE                    142                              Greenock         Bergen

10-Jun-04 06:46          ARION                                    117                              Tilbury Gravdal

11-Jun-04 14:30          PROFESSOR MOLCHANOV            72                              Fair Isle            Mousa

15-Jun-04 09:00          THE WORLD                         197                              Oban                Flam

19-Jun-04 06:50          INSIGNIA                               181                              Invergordon      Kirkwall

20-Jun-04 07:40          FUNCHAL                              153                              Sea                  Dundee

22-Jun-04 06:40          ARION                                    117                              Tilbury             Gravdal

23-Jun-04 08:25          C.COLUMBUS                       145                              Kiel                  Reykjavik

28-Jun-04 07:00          OCEAN MONARCH             163                              Cuxhaven         Reykjavik

29-Jun-04 07:00          ROTTERDAM                        238                              Stornoway        Torshavn

July 2004

01-Jul-04 08:30           KRISTINA REGINA              100                              Copenhagen     Torshavn

01-Jul-04 07:15           DELPHIN                                157                              Kiel                  Reykjavik

04-Jul-04 06:45           DELPHIN RENAISSANCE                 181                              Bremerhaven    Reykjavik

09-Jul-04 07:03           MONA LISA                          202                              Bergen             Leith

09-Jul-04 11:00           PRINCESS DANAE               163                              Invergordon      Torshavn

10-Jul-04 11:00           BLACK PRINCE                    142                              Leith                 Bergen

11-Jul-04 07:01           C.COLUMBUS                       145                              Cuxhaven         Reykjavik

12-Jul-04 11:00           KRISTINA REGINA              100                              Torshavn          Copenhagen

13-Jul-04 09:00           CRYSTAL SYMPHONY       238                              Leith                 South Dublin

14-Jul-04 07:00           INSIGNIA                               181                              Bergen             Invergordon

15-Jul-04 05:58           OCEAN MONARCH             163                              Cuxhaven         Madrid

16-Jul-04 07:00           BLACK WATCH                    206                              Dover               Torshavn

18-Jul-04 08:45           COSTA ALLEGRA                 188                              Reykjavik         Invergordon

23-Jul-04 09:25           CLIPPER ADVENTURER      100                              Stornoway        Kirkwall

23-Jul-04 05:55           COSTA ALLEGRA                 188                              Amsterdam       Iceland

30-Jul-04 06:58           EUROPA                                 199                              Invergordon      Stornoway

August 2004

06-Aug-04 07:30         PRINSENDAM                       204                              Akureyri           Stavanger

07-Aug-04 06:30         FUNCHAL                              153                              Torshavn          Rosyth

12-Aug-04 07:30         ADRIANA                              104                              Torshavn          Bergen

16-Aug-04 07:50         HEBRIDEAN PRINCESS        72                               Lunna               Orkney

16-Aug-04 06:55         C.COLUMBUS                       145                              Cuxhaven         Torshavn

19-Aug-04 11:45         LE DIAMANT                        125                              Torshavn          Orkney

21-Aug-04 06:50         FUNCHAL                              153                              Torshavn          Rosyth

25-Aug-04 09:55         BERLIN                                  140                              Balestrand        Kirkwall

30-Aug-04 06:50         CRYSTAL SYMPHONY       238                              Invergordon      Dublin

September 2004

01-Sep-04 07:50         COSTA ALLEGRA                 188                              Bergen             Invergordon

02-Sep-04 07:05         MONA LISA                          202                              Kirkwall           Ullapool

07-Sep-04 07:18         MINERVA 2                           181                              Scrabster          Invergordon

25-Sep-04 06:30         NORDNORGE                       124                              Bergen             Bergen

26-Sep-04 07:45         BREMEN                                112                              Bergen             Ullapool

47 Cruise Ships called at Lerwick during 2004 and they weighted 859237 Gross Tonnes all together. The statistics came from the Lerwick Port Authority

Sincerely,

I love to hear from you so contact me by Email at sharma@sharmakrauskopf.com

You can find more articles in the archive under Island Miniatures/Lighthouse Letters.

I have three books which are directly related to this column. The Last Lighthouse tells how we bought our lighthouse, the day by day journal of a year at Eshaness entitled A Year in the Lighthouse and in Scottish Lighthouses our lighthouse is featured in the 31 lighthouses presented. You can find out more about these books and others I have written at my official author web site.