The isle of Mousa is a small, uninhabited bit of land off the east coast of Shetland’s South Mainland. Most famous for its beautifully preserved broch (stone tower), a cruise to Scotland’s Mousa Island also offers its travelers the chance to view a myriad of seabirds and marine mammals.
The Shetlands boast about 120 brochs, which were built in the Iron Age (600 BC to 500 AD), during a period of increasing unrest. Brochs are round stone towers that were used to provide short-term defense against invaders—or neighbors holding grudges. After 100 AD, these structures were probably used less for defense and more as status symbols. Over the years, many brochs were dismantled so that their stones could be used for other buildings. Due to its remote location, the Mousa Broch remained safe from such dismantling, making it the best-preserved example of its kind.
Mousa Broch stands almost 44 feet high, and is built with local quarried stone formed into two concentric stone walls. During your trip, take the spiral staircase built between the walls. It allows visitors to reach the top of the broch and walk around the top of the tower. Hundreds of storm petrels make their homes within the broch’s walls in the summer months, and after spending the days feeding out at sea, they return to their nests under the cover of darkness. Midnight excursions to watch and hear the storm petrels is a thrilling experience for anyone on a Scotland cruise to the Shetland Islands.
Other seabirds that breed on Mousa include fulmars, black guillemots, red-throated divers, great skuas, Arctic skuas, and Arctic terns. Beware of Arctic terns—they fiercely guard their territory, often dive-bombing those who disturb their nesting sites. The sea mammals that swim around the isle are less threatening to those enjoying travel in the region; harbor porpoises are common in the Mousa Sound, and are especially exciting to see in the summer when the young are born. Common seals also give birth in the summer, and those wanting to see seal pups should walk around to Mousa’s East and West Pools. Since both common seals and grey seals have become accustomed to visitors, it is possible to have a great view of these animals, and they should not be missed.
Our agent Jessica was very helpful with the whole process and always responded in a timely way to all of our questions.
K Van
2 days ago
Chern was very patient snd helpful.
CaBaba
3 days ago
Cruse ship was great. Fantastic food and service. Cruise itinary got changed so not what we expected, but not an major issue. Japan portion was great. Drivers/guides arranged by 80 Days were great. Hotels were mostly ok. Did not know that most hotels outside of major cities do not allow shoes to be worn in the hotel. again a minor inconvenience. Overall a great trip. Adventure Life communications were timely and much appreciated as far as changes/requests.
Peter Goff
4 days ago
We were a group of three that initiated our research by independently searching for the best agency to help us in the somewhat complex experience of traveling to the Galapagos. We chose adventure life because they were the most responsive in the website provided the most comprehensive overview of the trip. Their reviews were also very good.
Adventure, life splits up its booking process in two parts. First Jeff, the booking agent helped us decide which experience best suited are interests. We chose a small 14 to 16 group sized yacht. Once the booking was made with Jeff, we were handed off to Coleene, who oversaw the complex process of assembling all of the necessary documents and making sure we had everything we needed to make the trip go smoothly. The adventure, life website, then becomes your personal place of reference for all things related to your trip from door to door. It’s a lot of information to assemble, especially for three travelers, but the website makes it easy and Colleen‘s gentle reminders kept us on track. In all, from the beginning, we had four months from the time we started our research till the time we departed. We felt that was, a good amount of preparation time and don’t think it would be wise to do it in less than four months. Mostly because I think you have more options with that amount of time. There were others on our trip that took six months and more from the time they started planning.
The trip itself was outstanding. We ended up on an excellent yacht (Galapagos Angel II) with a great group of guests that we were able to connect with and put together a really nice google photos album to share.
Jed
1 week ago
Mary was very helpful. Quick to reply with helpful information and closure on arrangements.
