The 75 miles across the Moray Firth from Peterhead to Wick was a reminder of how long the North Sea has been a source of energy wealth. We passed close to a huge deep-water wind farm and near another big one under construction. Close by there was an old oilfield from 1980, called Beatrice, which was exhausted and shut down 7 years ago. Nearby Captain, a small field discovered in 1977, is still operating.
Some new oilfields are still being developed, but north sea oil seems to be following the coal industry it replaced into oblivion, as the old giant fields run down. Jobs are already being lost in Scotland.
The wind turbines we saw are mounted on steel structures a bit like oil platforms, and are in 150 feet of water, very different from those perched on sandbanks in the south. As it happened, we only glimpsed the vanes in the murk as we passed, because it was a windy, rainy day.
The wind was mainly west so we scooted along on a broad reach, working hard, with the main double-reefed, and arrived in a wet Wick in late afternoon.
Wick is just south of John O’Groats and Duncansby Head – not quite the most northerly mainland town, which is nearby Thurso. There is an excellent small marina, where a staff member was waiting on a finger pontoon to welcome us, after we called the harbour master as we approached.
The marina is very sheltered, approached through the outer breakwater into the main harbour, then through a narrow entrance to an inner harbour, and through an even narrower entrance to the innermost harbour – no swell can get at you there.
There’s a good shower block, supermarkets in town and an excellent Maltese restaurant called the Printers’ Rest run by a Scottish-Maltese family.
tide by tide 