The Loch Ness Monster

Hello

I’m the Loch Ness Monster and I went on a boat adventure with Moira and Mike. Moira and Mike were excited to take me because the big Loch Ness Monster who lives in Loch Ness is a bit of a legend, which means no one really knows if it’s real or not. Well, I’m a Loch Ness monster and I exist! In fact, I managed to bump into a lot of my cousins!

And a more distant member of the family, an orange Nessie

Family reunion over, we decided we should head to the boat. Problem was, we’d forgotten where to go! Thankfully, an old and wise member of the Loch Ness clan was around to be able to give us directions

We eventually got to the boat, although we had to stop and ask a seagull which one was ours. But he was a bit rude and just laughed at us, and said we didn’t seem like the boating types and looked more like land lubbers instead.

Maybe he missed the fact that I’ve got the word ‘monster’ in my name so could eat him as a snack if I wanted to, but we decided to take the moral high ground, ignore him and climb on our boat.

We had a look around and found our cabin, or berth as it’s called on a boat

Usually I sleep *in* the water, so I wasn’t sure what to make of sleeping *on* the water. But the bed was pretty comfortable! I had a look at our itinerary…

… and then we had to go to a safety briefing so that we knew what to do if the boat started sinking.

Well, I knew what I would be doing, I’d be swimming! I don’t need a life jacket! Everyone else would though.

I tried to show how I was most definitely not a ‘land lubber’ by offering to drive the boat, since our captain hadn’t arrived yet. But as I was just trying to persuade people that it was a good idea, the captain and crew arrived!

We headed inside for a drink, which this barman made for us.

He told us all about the things we might see on our trip. He half suggested we might see the real Loch Ness monster but couldn’t guarantee it. Scottish people are very friendly, so friendly we made friends with everyone else on board!

And here’s mike and Moira!

Then a bloke in a skirt turned up.

I didn’t think men wore skirts?! He turned out to be a senior member of staff and said that a) anyone can wear a skirt and b) his skirt wasn’t called a skirt, it was a kilt, which is a traditional Scottish piece of clothing. He said maybe I’d seen it worn by people who played bagpipes. Ahhh yes, I remembered now. Those instruments tended to make me dive to the bottom of the lake to avoid the noise!

We spent a few days cruising on water before heading back to where we started. We saw lots of pretty scenery, but no sign of the real Loch Ness monster!

I had a great time meeting new friends (except the sea gull!) and being on the water rather than in it. Thank you very much to mike and Moira for taking me! I’m looking forward to sharing my adventure with my new friend.

Selby the Seal

Hello

My name is Selby the Seal and I’ve just returned from a Norwegian Fjord Cruise with the Welsh Woman, the Sax Man and Baby R. I wasn’t entirely sure where Norway was, or what a fjord is, so I checked it out on a map first.

It’s further north than the U.K., which means it’s a little bit colder than here. The Sax Man said I was lucky because seals are used to swimming in cold seas. I was confused- are the sea and a fjord the same thing? He said no but a fjord is a bit like a lake in size but is attached to the sea, meaning you can get boats in and out. This sounded exciting!

We got on the cruise ship and were greeted by a bright pink llama!

I asked the Welsh Woman if they had pink llamas in Norway and she said she didn’t think so. No one really knew why the llama was there but at least I had another animal friend to chat to!

On a cruise, you sleep and eat on the boat and get off in the different ports in the day to explore different towns. First things first, we had to do a safety drill in case of emergency.

I was allowed to assist because being a seal, I know all about swimming! Then we were allowed to do whatever we pleased as long as we were back before the boat needed to leave!

Look, there’s our boat!

We decided to explore the local town. I found another animal friend, a reindeer…

… who introduced us to a troll friend. Trolls are famous in Norway. They live in the mountains next to the fjords.

He introduced us to some polar bear friends…

… but they were all talking at once so I couldn’t quite hear all of their suggestions as to where we should go! Or where we shouldn’t go, which one bear kept growling about. They all went quiet when Baby R copied their growling back though!

We decided to ride a bike for a little while…

…and found some statues to look at.

This one was a big part of an old boat. I tried to lift it but it was too heavy!

The grumpy lion statue tried to eat me! Maybe I should have asked the bear to repeat his warnings about where to avoid!

Strike that, I definitely should have listened properly! We found a crocodile! The Welsh Woman said not to worry though because crocodiles don’t live in fjords and he was a bit out of place. Maybe he’s friends with the pink llama…!

This statue reminded me of how Eskimos rub noses as a greeting!

It was time to head back to the boat. We passed a guitar shop on the way but I wasn’t allowed to play- we might be late for the ship!

It turns out we were early though so we had to wait for it to let down the gangway. I sat on this huge metal thingy which the boat gets tied to when it’s docked.

Our cruise captain said we might be able to see the northern lights from it. I asked the Welsh Woman what they were and she said they were reflections from the snow in the north in the sky. Sometimes they’re just green, sometimes you get a whole range of colours.

You can’t see them in the photo but they were definitely there!

Thank you very much for allowing me to go on the Norwegian adventure. I’m looking forward to sharing my story with my new friend!

Caitlin: Gallivanting in Germany

Hello

Bit of a short post from me today because we weren’t on land for very long. We had a couple of stops in Germany, the first being Bremerhaven. But we only managed to get off for half an hour in between rehearsals.

It was Sunday so most things were shut but we had a nice walk around the marina where there were lots of old sailboats.

The second stop was in Wismar, where Nosforstu was filmed.

We don’t have any short cruises left now, which means we’ll be travelling further and further from the UK. We’ll be having some more sea days as we’ve got to go back to Southampton to change passengers and then we’re sailing to Canada!

Orla the Octopus

Story by Dini

Hello

My name is Orla the Octopus and I have been on a cruise adventure. I’m the first of the animals to be a passenger on a cruise so I was looking forward to the new experience! Plus octopuses love water.

Our first stop was Montenegro and I climbed to the top of an old fortress to look at this amazing view. Luckily I have 8 legs so I didn’t get too tired! We then went to a museum and I learnt about some of the history of the country.The language was a bit hard to read because it looks nothing like English. I decided I needed to find some local animals to help me learn more so I didn’t miss out! Here’s the first one- I made a friend with a turtle on the cruise boat and even gave me a ride around. He said that there are actually lots of languages spoken in Montenegro so I didn’t stand much chance! We had a day at sea while we sailed to our next country and I went in the pool and spent some time on a sun lounger soaking up the sun.Our next stop was Athens and I visited all the sites from the Ancient Greece times.You can only just about see me having a rest on these steps. The monuments were huge! I honestly don’t know how the people managed to build them without all the equipment we have nowadays- it must have been super heavy lugging all the rock around!Here’s another one of my animals friends. He’s wearing glasses because he’s a bit old and would trip over his flippers while waddling around the boat otherwise.Next we went to Santorini-a Greek island. All the buildings are white to help reflect the heat and keep the inside of the houses cool. I was a little bit surprised when I found a monkey in my room on the last day! We had fun swinging and monkeying around.I liked exploring the different places on the cruise and meeting my animal friends. Thank you very much to Dini for showing me around- I’m looking forward to my next adventure!

Caitlin: Iceland

Hello

After leaving the Orkneys, we had a bit of time at sea when we sailed to Iceland. Two things I’ve learned about Iceland are:

1) The words are really long and hard to spell. Apologies if I make any errors!

2) It’s nowhere near as icy as I thought! It’s actually got quite a lot of greenery, which is weird because according to my musician friend, Greenland is more icy than green! 

Anyway, our first port was in Seydisfjordur. I was really excited to get off the boat and explore. We climbed up a waterfall and got pretty wet and muddy, but that’s ok because British cats are used to rain and mud. 

Although it was really sunny which was nice.

We also had a brilliant view of our ship. It’s actually pretty huge! 

Next up, we visited Myvatn Nature Bath. The water is supposed to be warm but I wasn’t a big fan of getting my fur wet so I watched the others.

The water was a similar colour to my fur! I had the opportunity to try some Icelandic meat in Reykjavik. It was a bit more chewy than I’m used to but tasted nice.

We had a look around some shops and found this yarn shop…

… and also a Viking tourist photo opportunity!

I’m not sure I’m cut out to be a Viking! This was our last port in Iceland so we boarded the boat again ready for some more sea days before our next destination. 

Because we were so far north, Iceland and other countries nearby don’t have the same length days as in the UK. So in the Summer, the sun doesn’t fully set, called the midnight sun. This is half sunset half sunrise I guess.

It was past my bedtime and I was already cat napping so the musician took a photo to show me. The disadvantage of having really long days in the Summer is they barely get any sunlight in the Winter!

I’ll be back soon when we’ve been to another port. Bless í bili! (I think that means goodbye for now in Icelandic!)

Caitlin: Finding My Sea Legs

Hello

This is Caitlin the Cat with my first blog post about my time sailing the seven seas (or at least a few of them anyway) with a musician working on a cruise ship. 

It’s a pretty exciting but also terrifying thing having to pack for months away at a time. Especially when you’re going to hot and cold countries, so you have to make sure you have clothes for *every* eventuality. Oh and clothes to work in too! 

It’s a good job she had me to help carry her bags for her! The cabins for the guests are quite big and comfortable, depending on the type and price you book of course. The crew quarters are comfortable enough, but tend to be bunk beds. 

I’d never slept in a bunk bed before, but now I find it quite cosy being rocked to sleep by the waves and closing my curtain to sleep. There’s no window in our cabin so it’s really dark! 

My room mates are nice, which is really good. Before welcoming any passengers on board, we had to make sure the ship was ready and we’d completed some training and drills to keep everyone safe.

We made a good team. I managed to sneak into Dover for the afternoon for a last day in England and found some beautiful flowers.

Soon we cast away! We set sail from the south of England (Dover) and headed to our first destination, the Orkneys. 

I was glad for sunny weather because it meant I could say goodbye to England properly.

Soon we were out at sea and it was time to go inside and do some work!

We had a brief stop in the Orkneys and popped onto shore to look at St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall. It was built in 1137 and is owned by the people of Orkney. The people here are super friendly so I think I’m going to try to come back soon. 

That’s all from me for now. We’re currently sailing to Seydisfjordur in Iceland. I will update you in my travels once I’ve had some more adventures!