Mr. FRAS

Today we had confirmation that our resident astronomer on this expedition will be Tom Kerss.

His first trip for Hurtigruten was due to be in October, but we recently had an email update to tell us that it will actually now be with us. Hopefully that will mean his energy levels are high, and he'll be every bit as excited to be there as we will :o)

He'll be giving the astronomy lectures, joining passengers on the observation deck to answer questions and point out interesting heavenly bodies, and also leading the more science-y excursions, such as the one to the planetarium at the Science Centre in Tromsø.

Just in case...

The other thing that arrived yesterday, along with the tealights, was a pair of Syncwire waterproof phone cases. Just possibly the last of the enormous pile of "stuff" that we've been assembling for this expedition.

Yes, we have those clever sticky gloves. But we're both a bit paranoid about fumbling the phone while we're anywhere near the water (i.e. all the time), especially when "near" means sitting on a Zodiac being bounced around during a transfer to somewhere that doesn't have a proper landing, and seeing "that spectacular view" that absolutely has to be captured in the moment.

So, these. Handsfree availability at all times with no risk of a fumble. We haven't yet tested whether the screens will respond while inside the pouch and we're wearing gloves. I suspect not, but the gloves are more for cold, while these are for wet. If it's cold and wet, we're in trouble, at least as far as taking photos is concerned.

Twinkle, twinkle...

I'm sure, if you're "of a certain age", you're familiar with visiting the loo during the night. Let's not get into too much detail, suffice to say it's a regular feature more reliable than the phases of the moon.

Now I've never been one for turning on the light during these short excursions. Except where it's unavoidable because the lights turn themselves on. Yes, I'm looking at you, with your posh motion-sensing bathroom lights. The darkness is never an issue where we live because... well... it's never dark. What with the street lights and next door's driveway searchlight, there's always enough ambient light to see by with dark-adapted eyes.

Not always the case in other places though. When we honeymooned in Carpenter's Cottage there was no ambient light at all. The cottage was in the middle of nowhere, and the master bedroom didn't even boast a bedside clock to illuminate the route to the en-suite loo with little glowy numerals. There was a lot of groping about that week, I can tell you (stop tittering at the back, there!).

So with her early warning systems operating at full tilt, Nikki had a slight concern (mainly on my behalf, it has to be said) about the bathroom in our cabin, or "the head" as I believe it's called when aboard (look, I've told you once about that tittering). I mean, it's gonna be dark, right? That's the whole point. It needs to be, for the best star-gazing and Northern Lighting experience. So no light coming in through the porthole, plus the head is on the inside of the cabin, in its own windowless cubby-hole. 

The solution? Battery-operated tealights. They arrived today. Slight overkill, you might think - the best deal was for a box of 12 - and they really didn't need to flicker or pretend to have wicks, but hey, they'll do the job. With their nice, warm, friendly yellow glow we're pretty sure we'll only need one to light up the whole head (a head light! LMAO), but as you can see they pack neatly into a small box, so if the active one gets tipped down the toilet in rough seas at least we'll have eleven backups.