Børøya and Sandøya

Anchored in the Langøysundet strait, almost equidistant from both islands, the activity today centres on Børøya, with only a short cruise (by Zodiac) around Sandøya later this afternoon.

A "level 4" hike (!), a walk and talk about goats and sheep, how to track animals in the snow, and another Polar Plunge (!!!) are all on offer today, with all the tendering going to the beach, since there is no jetty.

So we'll be spending another day on board, waiting for the Astronomy lecture to start and also looking forward to a talk on shifting ocean currents and their likely future effects on the climate.

Through The Porthole - Day 12

The second sailing day, and today's anchorage is close to a small island in the Langøysundet strait.

Owned by the man who lives and farms there, this is the first time Hurtigruten has been able to obtain permission to land, so the expedition teams - especially the geology experts - are very keen on the day's activities.

We'll just be waving at the guy from our ship.

Our New Favourite Gin

Turns out, the Norwegians distil a lot more spirits than only aquavit.

And since we're inveterate gin drinkers, it would've been impolite not to try this.

Well, it was a revelation. Still junipery, but with added notes of Arctic berries and, as their blurb states, made with purified melting glacier water. Get it while you can in that case, would be my advice!

Passing the Arctic Circle Globe

Ironically, when the day's schedule had little to interest us, the latter half of the afternoon was crammed.

After our talk on Whale Motherhood, we stepped out onto Deck 6 hoping to see the ship sail past the Arctic Circle Globe, which we'd missed on the way up as it was pitch dark (and we were in bed ;o))

It was worth standing in the cold just to get a better sight of views like this, as the ship passed several small islands, some dotted with a few lonely huts glowing with their friendly lit windows.

Svartisen

Much of the morning's activities today involve those dread words tendering, Zodiac, rubber, and life jackets. It's also -2°C on the jetty, so spikes are recommended. 

We could go on a kayak adventure, a photo stroll, choose one of three underwater drone sessions, join in with beach cleaning activities, or take part in the Polar Plunge (are you MAD??). 

We could also walk to the base of this real glacier, to get up close and personal with the ice.

But every one of those activities involves cold, or wet, or rubber, or all three.

So we'll be staying in the warm and dry thank you very much, and looking forward to this afternoon's Astronomy lecture ("The Moon And You"), one on the Motherhood of Whales, and sailing back past the Arctic Circle Globe sometime between 5-5.30pm.

Through The Porthole - Day 11

We're heading south, and for the next two days - today and tomorrow - there are no formal "ports of call." But that doesn't mean there's nothing to do. 

Today, we arrived early at an anchorage at Svartisen. 

The view from our cabin was nice, but the view from the library, where we'll be spending most of the morning, was spectacular. 

Light Watch #3

The call came tonight not more than five minutes after we'd returned to our cabin. 

I tugged on snow boots, grabbed a warm jacket, and joined around 80 other passengers on the top deck.

I don't know how long I'd have to do this before recognising the Aurora at first glance, but my first reaction after emerging into the bitter cold of night was that it was too cloudy to see anything.

But if that were true, why was everyone pointing their phones and cameras at the sky? No John, those aren't clouds. It's the faint trail of the Aurora. 

I didn't stay out long. It soon became obvious that any photos I took tonight would be no better than those I'd already taken. 

My equipment isn't really up to the task. Yes, a tripod would help, but on this occasion the ship was underway, and there was quite a bit of rocking. But the main problem is really the speed of the camera lens.

I'm hoping we'll have some of the best photos shared among the group. But for now these are what I have, and better than nothing. A memento of a memorable trip.

Narvik

I intended to fall back on a stock shot of the Narvik War Museum for today's post, but in the end I have to shy away from such deceit and simply admit we didn't go. Forgive me for admitting, a war museum is not something I would normally choose to visit, and I didn't feel obliged to go on this occasion simply because it was the only thing on the "excursion" agenda that's included.

We didn't fancy the Arctic Train either.

So the morning's activities were restricted to a circumnavigation of the ship, taking a few shots of Narvik.

It has to be the most dour of all our stops on this trip, even under a relatively bright sky, and on a warmer than usual day.

Much of the harbour area is taken up with industrial structures, and the shipping of iron ore still dominates the activity here.

Away from the rust-red buildings and tortured gantries there are still pretty sights to see. 

This afternoon we have a couple of interesting lectures to look forward to - the underwater search for Magnus' grandfather's ship; and how whales engineer their ecosystems.

Contemplating these intriguing talks, we completed our turn around the deck to be greeted with a sight that summed up our feelings towards today's port of call.

Through The Porthole - Day 10

Another early arrival today at Narvik, docking at 8am and starting a full program of extreme yomping with a dog sledding excursion, cable car, and a hike over Øvre Fjellheisstasjon, all leaving the ship in the first half hour.

Breakfast was deserted!

Tromsø

Our lovely tour guide persuaded this morning's coach driver to take a route to the Planetarium that utilised the city's tunnel network. First time I've ever seen a tunnel with a roundabout in the middle!

At least one of these tunnels is carved into the mountain. They're very impressive.

The view from the Planetarium was bleak this morning as the snowstorms came and went. At one point the skylift, which the cross-country skiers had taken to reach the mountain top they planned to "cross", became visible, but at no point did we wish we'd taken it.

After two very interesting Planetarium presentations ("Northern stars" and "the Northern Lights", the latter narrated and photographed by Ole Salomonsen, who has spent years searching for the perfect aurora) we had time to explore the Science Centre, with its wealth of kid-friendly experiments about energy, climate, waste, carbon footprints, and all that good stuff. We just messed about with the infrared camera :o)

After returning to the ship for lunch, we set off on a hunt for wool and souvenirs. Sadly the wool hunt proved fruitless, but we successfully tracked down, stalked, and caught some elusive Norwegian souvenirs so the afternoon wasn't without its highlights.

We also caught sight of "the other" Tromsø cathedral while we were out. Something we wouldn't have made a separate trip to see, but were happy to snap when we saw it. A Catholic denomination (there are roughly 500 left-footers in Tromsø apparently), and the only wooden cathedral in the country.

Through The Porthole - Day 9

Arrived in Tromsø while we were sat at breakfast. Our porthole view this morning includes the famous "Arctic Cathedral" (actually a Lutheran church) and the Tromsøbrua Bridge which crosses from Tromsøy island to the mainland across what is essentially an inlet of the Norwegian Sea.

It was an early start for the yompers this morning. Both the snowshoers and the cross-country skiers were off the ship and queuing for the bus as soon as the gangplank deployed at 9am.

We had a slightly more leisurely start. The Astronomy group were off the Planetarium at 10.15.

Nordkapp - the North Cape

I think it's safe to say today didn't quite go as planned.

First off, Nikki wasn't feeling too good. Perhaps a bit of dodgy sushi yesterday, but whatever it was she didn't fancy the trip North, so I got suited and booted and set off on my own, arriving on the pier early enough to grab a seat on Bus #1. Oh, I thought I'd been so clever...

Until this point, where a snow plow barrelling along in the opposite direction forced Bus #1 to pull over to the right to let him pass, causing his rear wheels to leave the road and bury themselves in the soft snow of the verge.

A bit of reversing, another try to drive off, a metre or two of buttock-clenching backsliding, and the driver confirmed we were stuck. "Don't worry. I will try to fit the chains, and if that doesn't work, the snow plow will come and pull us out."

Fitting the chains and trying again resulted in a deeper rut. Here is a photo taken inside the bus "with a level horizon for reference" as our resident astronomer, who also happened to be on Bus 1, put it.

We sat patiently, awaiting rescue. In the end it wasn't the snow plow but a recovery vehicle, which pulled over in front of us, deployed his stabilisers, and unreeled his winch cable. But not before the remaining coaches (#2 to #6), which had been waiting behind to see if it was safe to continue, were allowed past, with everyone waving from the windows. At that point the tour guide declared there was a better chance of pulling the bus out of the ditch if we lightened the load.

We got out, and trudged a few hundred metres further along the road to a place of relative safety, and waited. And waited.

I would include a photo of the bleak surroundings, but honestly it was nigh on impossible to tell the land from the sky from the road. White on white. A biting wind blew up. I raised my gaiter, grateful for its warmth and my wonderful wife who had thought to kit us out with them. "Good these, aren't they?" a fellow sufferer intrepid explorer said. They are indeed.

While we stood there in the snow, several vehicles came and went. Others came and stayed, their drivers stepping out onto the now slippery road surface to confer with the rescue crew. The expedition leader appeared to say that another bus would be sent back from the Cape to pick us up, if Bus #1 proved irretrievable. Then our recovery vehicle, winch and stabilising feet fully retracted, appeared over the brow of the hill and parked in front of the line of other vehicles on the opposite side of the road. Inexplicably, it was not followed by our coach. Nothing happened. Was it out of the ditch? Was it damaged? Was the other bus on its way? No-one knew anything. No-one said anything. 

And then, to loud cheers, it chugged up the hill and parked next to us. I found out later the extended interval was due to the driver having to back gingerly down the hill far enough to give him sufficient "run up" to be able to crest the rise.

All this delay meant we only had 45 minutes (of the intended two hours) at Nordkapp. Long enough to whizz around the gift shop (the usual crap), whizz around somewhere else (the usual... er... yeah) and take that mandatory photo beside the Nordkapp Globe. It was far too murky to see anything of the Barent Sea, views, stunning cliffs, or any of that. In fact with ice crystals blowing horizontally into faces it was next to impossible to see the steps up to the globe. But I did it.

My claim to fame is that this photo is taken by none other than Tom Kerss himself (we're best buds now, of course) as payback for me taking his. Nice one, mate.

Through The Porthole - Day 8

Not a lot to see through this morning's porthole as we made our approach to Honningsvåg ("Honnings-vorg"). A small place of barely 2,500 people (rising by about another thousand during the summer season), that nevertheless boasts an airport, and provides a gateway to the North Cape for many thousands of tourists each year.

This will be the furthest North Maud will sail during this expedition, but for us there is still a little further to go.

Light Watch #2

After an hour spent in the library cuddling a warming glass of something naughty, I decided to risk one more venture up to the top deck. Whatever Nikki had been drinking was not warming enough to convince her to join me, so it was a solo expedition. 

One thing no-one tells you, until you set off on an Aurora watch, is how boring they are to the naked eye. Everyone's familiar with the stunning green curtains hanging over snowy mountains, sometimes with stars peeking through, sometimes hinting at pinks and purples along with the green. But - unless the display is really strong and dense - these colours are only visible with a camera. To the naked eye they're just grey. Almost indistinguishable from wispy clouds or mist.

So when I first set foot back on the Observation Deck, I thought it was still cloudy. Until I noticed around a dozen people all pointing their cameras and phones at the sky. And this is why.

This is the best of the dozen or so shots I took. I haven't cropped it or post-processed it in any way. I used the phone camera's "PRO" settings, as advised by the on-board experts. Minimum White Balance 2300K, maximum ISO 1600, manual focus set just one pip short of infinity. The only change I made was to pull the shutter speed back to 4s from the recommended 10. Ten seconds just gave me a uniform bright blue, and was in any case totally beyond the camera's antishake processing to make any sense out of the blur.

Even 4 seconds is a stretch, as you can see, but it is at least recognisable, and I'm happy with it. We didn't invest in any new photographic tech for this trip, but in hindsight, since my Galaxy S10 Lite is knocking on 3 years old, maybe it would have been sensible to use the excuse to buy a new one.

But better, and cheaper, would've been to bring along a decent tripod. That would be my #1 tip for anyone thinking of doing a trip like this.

Light Watch #1

Having missed last night's deckwatch, we were determined to see something tonight, if there was going to be something to see.

In the end, this brief session proved to be nothing more than a good test of "Night Mode" on our cameras which was, as it turned out, almost as much of a revelation as seeing the Lights.

Moored offshore at Alta owing to the earlier arrival of other ships, gave us wonderful views over the harbour, breathtakingly captured by night mode.

But as you can see, the deck was covered in ice, the wind was blowing, and the cloud cover was dense. No lights were to be seen. Even sitting under a blanket was not comfort enough. We beat a hasty retreat to the lower decks. 

Through The Porthole - Day 7 (bonus hole)

Now arrived at Alta and here, we believe, is the reason we can't use the pier. The Viking Venus beat us to it.

Was that a cock-up on the part of Hurtigruten's port booking operative, as one of our fellow passengers has suggested? Makes little difference now. But we'll have the Observation Deck to ourselves tonight. The rest of the Astronomy group are off chasing rainbows auroras.

Whale Watching

Well they called it Wildlife Watch, to be entirely accurate, but everyone knew we were there to see whales.

9am, Deck 6, last night's snow frozen into crunchy clumps underfoot, wind whistling past your lugholes, all very bracing.

Some hardy souls stayed out for two hours, staring at the rolling sea and the steel-grey skies. We managed maybe fifteen minutes before slinking back inside and grabbing a much more comfortable viewing station indoors on Deck 9.

Irrespective of location, none of us saw anything. Much later in the day the call came that there were dolphins bow riding off the port side, but again, we didn't see any. 

Through The Porthole - Day 7

On our way to Alta today, but we won't arrive until 3pm, so this morning's view is of the mountainous coastline somewhere close to Tromsø (where we'll be calling in on our way back down).

Although Alta has a pier, for some undisclosed reason we're not using it, so it's another day of tendering and, for us, another day of nope.

The late arrival makes for a very shifted day. The visit to the Northern Lights Cathedral (which we would have done) doesn't start until 5pm, and the "Northern Lights Chase" (which we wouldn't, lol), where intrepid chasers move from place to place seeking out the best location from which to view the Aurora, leaves at 6.45pm and doesn't get back until 15 minutes before midnight.

Those mad enough to sign up to both the Chase and the dog sledding don't even have time for dinner. They jump straight out of the dog sleds and into the Chase vehicles. Some people have way too much energy.

First Light

Blurry, cloudy, but last night provided the first opportunity for the Astronomy group to capture the Lights.

We're hoping for clearer skies and stronger (and longer!) displays as we head further north. Long enough, at least, for us to make it out of bed and onto the deck before they disappear. 

Through The Porthole - Day 6 (2nd stop)

Today's second stop is Svolvær ("S-vol-var" where the vol syllable sounds like the lady saying "Volvo - sponsors Sky Atlantic"). This shot was taken shortly after we docked at 4pm.

We're only here for 2h15m. The main thing to see is a war museum, but as we've got the Narvik to look forward to later in the trip, we elected to stay on board and grab a quick shower before dinner.

Although it's been raining since we left Reine, the skies are clearing and there's a fair chance we'll see the Lights tonight. As a test, I took this porthole shot using "Night" mode. Long exposure with ten separate shots which are then stacked by the camera's processor to eliminate noise and shake. Despite picking up a reflection from one of the cabin's indicator lights, I think it turned out pretty well. 

Å

Being the type of people to ignore rules, we took an earlier bus to Å ("Or"). With the ship moored at Reine, close to the southern tip of the Lofoten Islands, reaching Å, even further south and almost at the end of Lofoten, meant a short bus ride along a windy, mainly single-track road past gaily coloured wooden huts and a picturesque rocky coastline.

The journey was also littered with extensive farms of drying racks where, from next month until June, tons of cod will be hung out to dry, to make the famous local product of stockfish.

The village itself was quiet. Our driver said we'd done well to visit in the winter. By the time summer rolls around the village will play host to half a million visitors. 

There's plenty to see here. A boat museum, a bakery, a café, but we were happy just to walk about, soaking in the solitude, the remoteness, the crash of the waves, and being thankful that the rain held off. It started drizzling as we were making our way back to the bus.

We had time to ask one of the tour guides for a photo, and also to pay a visit to "Hut No. 3" where an elderly Norwegian lady sat knitting, ready to tell us the tale of the young man who originally built his hut in a much more populous and prosperous town, but after visiting Å and falling in love with a local girl, he returned home, dismantled his hut, numbered the pieces, shipped it to the village, and reassembled it, adding a kitchen and upper storey sleeping area, to make a suitable home for his lady love.

Through The Porthole - Day 6

Bonus shot for you today, as for once the entire porthole was filled with interesting stuff. After a slightly rocky overnight voyage, we docked here in Reine (pronunciations seem to differ depending which expedition team member you speak to, between "Ray-ner" and "Rhine-er"). So here is the view to the left...

...while this is the view to the right. 

We'll be here until lunchtime, and other than kayaking and walking, the main event of the morning is a bus ride to the charming old fishing village of Å. As part of the "Foxes" group, our bus isn't scheduled to leave until 10.30, which we initially thought was a bit of a rip, since the last bus back is at 12.00.

Then we realised this was in fact a benefit. The sun doesn't rise here until 9.45am, and sets again at 14.35! So those on the earlier buses will be going to Å in the dark.