The Mousa Boat

27/10/2026

27th October 2026

Winter storms smash the pier at Mousa with the waves going completely over the top of the pier today on Mousa.

24/10/2026

24/10/2026

Colsa

Following on from yesterday’s post, I realised that a few of our followers might not know much about Colsa.

The island of Colsay lies off the west coast of Shetland’s South Mainland. The island is rented for summer grazing, and each year we transport sheep to and from the island using our Shetland-built “Voe boat”.

The boat was built by Malakoff here in Shetland and spent many years working in the salmon farming industry before the Mousa Boat bought her and gave her a new lease of life transporting sheep.

Colsa isn’t exactly the easiest place to land sheep, and by the time you consider all the work involved, you could argue it’s hardly worth the effort!

But for us, it’s about more than just grazing sheep.

It’s a fantastic experience for our Mousa Boat kids. Getting them involved, teaching them practical life skills, a bit of responsibility and, hopefully, instilling a good work ethic along the way.

There’s plenty of hard work, a few challenges and usually a good laugh thrown in too!

We enjoy our Colsa days, and hopefully the kids will look back on them with fond memories for years to come.

23/10/2026

A Different Kind of Day for The Mousa Boat!

Friday 23rd October 2026

A little glimpse of today’s activities as we take advantage of a break in the Shetland weather to get another job ticked off the list before winter sets in.

Today we’re towing the Colsa Boat from Scousburgh Sands to Cunningsburgh, as we begin preparing our boats and island operations for the winter months ahead.

With all the sheep now safely brought off the island of Colsa, the boat is no longer needed at Scousburgh, and the island will be left to rest over the winter months.

Meanwhile, the Solan IV will be coming out of the water for her annual inspections, checks and maintenance, ensuring she’s in good shape and ready to welcome passengers back for the 2027 summer season.

While Solan IV is ashore, the Colsa Boat will be stationed at Cunningsburgh, allowing us to continue our essential work on the island of Mousa throughout the winter.

There’s still plenty to keep us busy on Mousa, including taking the rams across, carrying out a little fencing work, and making regular visits to check on the sheep and ponies.

With the Shetland weather becoming increasingly unpredictable at this time of year, today has given us a welcome break between spells of poor weather, just the opportunity we needed to get the towing job done!

22/10/2026

Torrential rain and flooding in our little town today! 🌧️

19/10/2026

AEDs – A Lifesaving Investment ❤️

“Lucky 2B Here”

Back in September 2023, the Mousa Boat installed an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) through the fantastic Lucky 2B Here initiative.

The AED is kept onboard the Solan IV, ready for use either onboard the vessel or ashore on the Isle of Mousa, should the need ever arise.

We paid the full suggested donation of £1,500 to support the initiative and have ensured the AED has been regularly serviced and maintained, ready for use at a moment’s notice.

More recently, three of our regular crew members attended AED training in Sandwick, organised through the local Community Council. It’s great to see this kind of training being made available within our community.

On a personal note, through my work offshore, I have sadly been involved in several emergencies where we’ve had to use AEDs.

I cannot emphasise enough what an absolute game changer these machines are. In what can be an incredibly stressful situation, an AED guides the first aid team through the process, giving clear, step-by-step instructions and, perhaps most importantly, the confidence to keep going when every second counts.

You don’t need to be a medical professional to use one. These machines are designed to help ordinary people make an extraordinary difference.

If your business, organisation or local community doesn’t already have access to an AED, I’d strongly encourage you to give it some serious consideration.

Take a few minutes to visit the “Lucky 2B Here” website and see what they’re doing to make these lifesaving devices more accessible across our communities.

https://www.lucky2bhere.org/defibrillators/

It really could mean the difference between life and death.

Cheers,
Darron

17/10/2026

I thought I should introduce the Dad of the family, skipper and engineer extraordinaire Rodney. Here he is marvelling the iron in this old gate on Mousa and explaining how it’s probably at least 60-70 years old and nothing like the rubbish you buy now! 😬 Did I mention he’s an engineer?

14/10/2026

SAFETY FIRST AT THE MOUSA BOAT!

A big well done to Vika and Ava, two of our regular crew members, who have successfully completed their MCA-approved STCW Personal Survival Techniques (Sea Survival) course at UHI Shetland!

The course is an important part of maritime safety training, providing essential knowledge and practical experience in surviving emergencies at sea.

From donning immersion suits and life jackets to boarding and righting inflatable life rafts, the training puts participants through realistic survival exercises, preparing them for situations we all hope never to encounter.

Congratulations, Vika and Ava! We’re proud to have you both as part of

14/10/2026

14th October 2026

Shaetlan-

“braw lock o Swaabie abön da banks onda soothside o da wast ham”

Translation -

Quite a gathering of greater black-backed gulls resting atop the cliffs on the southern side of the West Ham.

The CCTV captured was run through a clean up tool so the post has a AI content label however the original photo will be posed in comments

12/10/2026

A pleasure to have you onboard, enjoy your break at home and we’ll maybe see you next year.