Today has been about quality over quantity. When it comes to the lighthouse on North Havra, many would argue that quality is not quite the right term for it, but I would disagree.

The lighthouse on North Havra is particularly difficult to see and not easy to get to either. Many of the lighthouses in Shetland can at least be seen from somewhere, but this one is different. It’s position on the island means that there is only one place that you can see its light (not the tower) from and that’s only on a clear night.

North Havra was one of eleven islands to be visited by the boat that had been chartered, the Silver Swift, operated by Shetland Sea Adventures based at Hamnavoe. Hamnavoe was a fantastic place to sail from, mainly because we could gaze across at the beautiful Fugla Ness lighthouse. What a wonderful lighthouse that one is. We didn’t quite sail right past it on the way out, but it was still nice to see it from the sea.

After a couple of other islands we arrived at North Havra. Thankfully the sea was calm today and the boat was well set up for getting into (and out of) the tender. So it was a relatively easy hop onto the rocks to get onto the island. As soon as we were off of the rocks we were heading up a particularly steep slope. For an island that’s fairly small it’s rather hilly. I was, of course, on bonxie alert and sure enough there were a couple circling – although Bob initially tried to tell me that they were gulls. It wasn’t long before we arrived at the lighthouse. As expected, the structure is very similar to that at Point of the Pund. It’s a fairly basic GRP tower with a light on top. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the rest of the group had decided to make the effort to go and see it too.

It turns out that the lighthouse really is hard to see from many angles. Even as we sailed around the island we couldn’t see if for quite a while. Once we were to the south of the island we could see it, but only until it disappeared behind another island.

A bit later, as the others were about to go onto another island, Bob pointed out Point of the Pund lighthouse, which we’d been to earlier in the week. On the way back into Hamnavoe Marina we got a closer view of Fugla Ness. It really is a beauty that one.

So, the elusive North Havra was achieved and I am very pleased. Another success story from our Shetland Adventure. 🙂