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SUBMERGED SPLENDOUR
 Exceptional underwater visibility makes Shetland perfect scuba-diving
country. In addition to the profusion of historic wrecks, the submarine
scenery is a major attraction for sport divers. Some of the most spectacular
views are below the waves in the cliffs, stacks and caves of long-drowned
shorelines.
PREHISTORIC STEPPING STONES
On clear days you can see Orkney from Caithness, Fair Isle from Orkney and
Shetland from Fair Isle. Given time, the patience to wait for settled
weather, and the courage to venture on the ocean, prehistoric people could
have reached Shetland repeatedly. The first to discover Shetland, perhaps
7,000 years ago, may have been seasonal visitors, attracted by the vast
abundance of fish and seals. Their boats would have been similar to Irish
curraghs, made from animal skins stitched over frames of branches. The
islands were inviting because they had extensive scrub woodland and rich
pastures, probably ungrazed for thousands of years after the Ice Age.
A LIVING TRADITION
 Modern Shetland boatbuilders use similar designs and methods to their Viking
forebears - and identical technical terms. Hinnispot; kabe; humlibaand; taft;
tilfer: these old Norwegian dialect words continue in daily use for the
parts of Shetland boats, 1,200 years after the islands became part of the
Norse empire.
The distinctive, double-ended skiffs are still hand-built here for
rowing, sailing and sea-angling.
 You
can watch these beautiful craft racing at our many summer regattas, or take
a turn at the oar as a galley slave for the day aboard Shetland's replica
Norse war galley, Dim Riv. No flogging - we promise! |
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