June 27th - A perfect day - Andenes & the midnight sun

The cliffs of Senja in the sun - rather less forbidding!

Lunch with the Fulmars

As we left Mefjord this morning we found we had a perfect wind force 3 to 4 and a gentle ocean swell which enabled us to sail on a broad reach  at 5 to 6 knots out to the edge of the continental shelf where we hoped to see whales. When we got there there was a local fishing boat nearby which was an indication we might be in the right place so we hove to to have lunch.

Unfortunately no whales appeared but around 150 fulmars sat on the sea all round us grunting quietly! After lunch we took down the main as the next leg was down-wind. In fact the wind had lessened considerably so we motorsailed with the jib to Andenes(69⁰19.5N 16⁰08.2E). Soon after we left the lunch spot with many fulmars still around us 2 greater black backed gulls suddenly started chasing each other in tight circles round Larry going very low at the front so they were almost flying under the bowsprit and higher over the stern - they made about 30 or 40 circuits changing direction once or twice and then suddenly dived into the water and clearly caught some fish about 10 yards from the boat -  the nearby fulmars quickly joined the gulls for a quick and noisy feast.

The clouds gradually cleared and it was a wonderfully sunny afternoon.  The only slight problem was negotiating the narrow rock- strewn harbour entrance looking directly into the sun. When we came here last year it was to seek refuge from a gale; the contrast could not be greater. This time we are well-placed to really see the midnight sun for the first time. It is 10.30 pm and the sun is just past the North at 010 and is still quite high in the sky and giving appreciable warmth.

June 27th - Senje-Hopen - the open sea & the hidden harbour

a selection of navigational aids

Typical of many little lighthouses this is shown on our charts as a small black blob

The original old-fashioned channel markers shown on our charts as a yellow rectangle

Slender poles or sticks these are usually the all important red and green channel markers although it is unusual to have a seagull sitting on top!

approach to the island of Senja

approaching Senje-Hopen

Larry on the pontoon

Views of the harbour

Today we had a relatively short passage of 20 miles which took us into the open ocean off the north coast of the large island of Senja. One of the aims for this summer was to go round the outside of Senja and Andoya where there is a good chance of seeing whales but of course we knew it would be very weather dependent. It is disappointing to be doing so much motoring but the plus side of this lack of wind is that there is no problem in making this outside passage. Tomorrow we intend to make our own ‘whale-watching safari’ to a place about 30 miles off-shore where the ocean suddenly gets shallower and where there is said to be a good chance of seeing whales.

As we emerged from the rocks around Sommaroy we encountered a gentle ocean swell and our first sight this year of Fulmars. They are lovely birds whose swooping seemingly effortless flight makes seagulls look rather over energetic and flappy. The cliffs around the north of Senja are magnificent – very steep, bleak and forbidding particularly as it was overcast and several of the peaks were shrouded in clouds. We passed a couple of fjords and then came into Mefjord. We are now tied up at a pontoon in Senje-Hopen (69⁰30’N 17⁰30’E) – an amazing hidden harbour – very sheltered with lots of fishing boats of all sizes including next to our pontoon several large whaling boats and facilities for them to land their catch. It is almost like a volcano pool and we have magnificent views of the surrounding mountains with snow nearly down to the waterline. Presumably the Germans used this as a base for attacking the arctic convoys.

Ragner told us that when he was growing up in the 50s on SE Senja there were no roads to the north side of the island. The people there spoke a different dialect and were considered rather rustic!

We went for a walk and discovered that there are a lot of houses here and several large very modern/new fish processing plants and other industrial plants grouped round the harbour. There is also a 2.2 km tunnel through the mountain!

June 25th- Rock- hopping passage to Someroy

Hurtigruten cruise ship

Islands around Sommaroy

Views around Sommeroy

Unusually there was another sailing boat on the pontoon in Tromso – a Westerley ocean voyager en route for North Cape and  owned by a couple from Yorkshire – they had been very helpful when we berthed yesterday so we invited them and their crew over for coffee. Like us they had been put off going to Spizbergen by the necessity to be armed and the prospect of a long drive caused by lack of wind.

 We set off rather hastily about 1pm when we remembered that we had to go back through the narrows south of Tromso where the current runs fast. We calculated we just had time to get there before the tide changed but all calculations are based on estimates of high and low tide using our excellent tide clock. As usual no wind but occasional breezes on the nose, calm and overcast. We got there to find the tide still running in our favour and inevitably met the virtually the only boat we saw all day in the middle of the narrowest bit – it was the Hurtgruten (pronounced hootierooter) the daily cruise ship that goes from Bergen to the Russian Border each boat taking 5 days.

At the end of Malangen sound which is overlooked by German second world war fortifications, we turned north for Sommaroy (69⁰38’N 18⁰00’.2E) The book says  ‘in settled weather a delightful detour can be made’ to the islands on the NW corner of Kvaloy. We got to this beautiful sheltered little harbour after some intricate rock hopping – the sort of challenge Christopher really enjoys! The friendly fisherman on the pontoon had just got back from a fishing expedition and showed us their catch – several  enormous halibut - about 130 cms!

June 24th Midsummer's Day - sailing at last!

Views of the Lingen Alps

Sailing at last!

The Bridge at Tromso

Tromso - an oil rig destined for the Arctic?

We woke to a wonderful blue cloudless sky and a gentle southerly breeze. Motored out of Sorlenangen fjord and at long last where able to put up our sails for the first time this summer! We set off down Grotsund towards Tromso – firstly on a very broad reach and then gently tacking down wind. Wind about force 3 and calm sea  - what could be more perfect?  After 6 hours we were approaching Tromso when we saw the 3^rd small motor boat of the day - No bigger boats and one yacht. A few more boats as we came into Tromso. The wind dropped towards the end but we had had the most perfect day’s sailing!

We had some difficulty in finding a berth but eventually Christopher backed with huge skill into a very small space and we were met on the pontoon by our friend Ragner who had brought a bottle of wine and fresh prawns for a perfect Norwegian midsummer’s day evening meal.

23rd June Feast of St Hans -

harbour at Sorlenangen



friendly arctic tern - our gatekeeper

group meeting by Larry's stern

sharing the gossip

Midsummer's eve - looking north - 11.30 pm

midnight

Thursday 23^rd June Lyngen peninsula

Woke to a grey day – little wind but low grey cloud; however to our delight we found we could access the internet via a free WiFi connection, so we spent most of the morning doing the two previous days’ blogs, sending various emails and generally tidying up. 

We left about 1 pm and headed south – needless to say we had a southerly wind on our nose! - we have yet to take the sail covers off the sails this year! As soon as we got going we realised that the chart-plotter was not picking up information from the GPS . This was very, very irritating as Christopher has been struggling to get the system working since before we arrived out here and the current situation is now worse than last year. However we could still see the charts and GPS was working. Furthermore today’s planned journey was a very straightforward run down to Sorlenangen (69⁰48.7N 19⁰59.5E) so we were able to navigate here without problem and this evening Christopher is endeavouring to return the system to the way we had it last year which was perfectly good, except that we have to spend time inputting waypoints to GPS  manually when it should be possible to upload waypoints automatically from the chart-plotter .

Low clouds meant the Lyngen alps are only partly visible and all other mountains were the same as yesterday, so no new mountain photos today. 

As we approached Sorlenangen we encountered a raft of 60 to 70 adult and young male eider ducks. Interesting as up to now we have seen several groups of female eider with lots of ducklings operating a crèche system, but there has been no sign of any males – clearly they are off at a men’s club!

Sorlenangen is a large inlet with a small mole harbour, half way up the west side of the Lyngen peninsula. It is a typical little fishing harbour with several fishing boats coming and going. We found space at the end of a small pontoon for leisure craft. As we came in it was clear we were disturbing a flock of about 14 Arctic terns – they went to sit on a nearby disused gangway for a bit, but once we were settled they returned to sit on a short fing er pontoon immediately behind our stern and have only just left after at least 2 hours chatting!

We have a beautiful view of the Alps but our original plan to go walking in the mountains is not possible as we are too far away and on the wrong side of the fjord so we will probably return to Tromso tomorrow. The forecast looks reasonable but promises to be very wet on Saturday so we hope to catch up with our Norwegian friend Ragner in Tromso.

 Cully, I have tried to make this larger print, perhaps you could let me know if it has not been successful. Many thanks for printing these out I will make a donation for your printer ink when we return!



70N!

Wednesday 22nd June - 70 07.9 N

Round this corner and on a bit is North Cape!

The photo immediately above is looking North - next land Spitzbergen and beyond that the North Pole - the mystery "serpent" in the bottom right hand corner is the string on the camera blowing in the wind!

above 2 pictures were taken at 70N and should be earlier in the sequence but as you will have realised I have not yet mastered how to move photos in the blog!

the lyngen alps shrowded in clouds

the final 2 pictures show the delegation of eider ducks who came to visit on arrival and the view from our mooring

Wednesday 22nd

when we woke in the morning the day was still grey but the wind had dropped and the sea had gone down so we set forth driving up Landgsund between Ringvassoy and Reinoy. A very beautiful sound with some very rural scenes including the horses. We made good speed and gradually the sun came out. There were occasional short spells of very strong winds and down drafts always on our nose but no big seas to impede progress. Just before we were reaching the head of the sound we crossed the 70N which had been one of our targets!

We continued through a wide passage round the south of Vannoy island to Kristoffervalen, Vannoy (70 07.9N 19 59.5E) a small sheltered fishing harbour with spectacular mountain views. The harbour has very low lying hills to the north and east and would have been ideal for actually viewing the sun at midnight but guess what: it had clouded over and there was intermittant light drizzle. However it is a very snug mooring and from now on all will be downhill! as we turn south the visit the Lyngen Alps.

During the latter part of the day we saw a couple of squadrons of low-flying puffins and lots of Arctic terns having a feeding frenzy. On arrival a grey heron flew low into the struts under a nearby old wooden quay and we were visited by a group of eider ducks with lots of ducklings. Later we were greeted very noisily by a pair of oyster catchers when we walked too near to the sandy shore where they had two babies scampering along the sand and among the rocks.

This place is truly spectacular and feels like the top of the world which of course it is - well worth the effort of getting here.

A more rugged day



Tuesday 21^st June

We knew the amazingly hot and sunny weather could not last and it hasn’t!  Judged by the standards of last year this has been a rather more typical North Norwegian summer day – in other words it has been rather colder and overcast  with wind and rain increasing reaching probably 5/6 mid-afternoon.

We re-stocked at the supermarket first thing and also filled up with water from a tap with a good strong pressure which solved another problem we have had, which was that since the installation of the new accumulator the taps had been stuttering and spluttering with no proper flow of water due to seemingly endless air locks. We now have beautiful clear arctic water running smoothly from all taps including the hot ones.

At this point it was merely overcast with occasional light drizzle but we were soon clawing our way north east through rather more unpleasant conditions so we decided not to go as far as originally intended . Even so it was 4 pm before we found a place to stop. We are now snugged down, about 10 miles north of Tromso, in Finnkroken, Reinoy SW (69⁰49’.6N 19⁰25’.5E)  - in the middle of a little group of 3 bird reserve islands with the fire on, tending the various leaks which were the inevitable result of so much hot dry weather on the decks, and crossing our fingers that after 3 attempts the anchor has now set!!.

first 3 picures were taken en route and final two in our anchorage

Tomorrow is forecast to be sunny with less wind and within a couple of days the wind is expected to go round to the SE – needless to say just when we will probably be thinking of going South.

various photos & Tromso

royal wedding day April - view from larry while she was being repaired showing rorbuer (little red house) where C stayed during repairs

same view on June 17th

a good waterfall

another good waterfall

general views

 Klauva - the teatime pinic spot

A passing Viking taken from the anchorage at Hestoy

we floated shortly after posting the previous blog and had an uneventful passage to Tromso. weather overcast with occasional strong breeze mostly on the nose so certainly not t-shirt weather but not nearly as cold as we are used to in Norway (we have not yet lit the heater). We are currently moored to a pontoon with other robust sailing boats and small motor boats on the outskirts of Tromso. There is a very large supermarket within 200 yards open from 7 am and water on the pontoon but there appears to be no means of paying - another cheap night? On the way here the narrows where we expected a strong current proved very tame about 1.5 knots of current but we encountered two ferries and two small cargo boats plus a low flying hercules while we were there - very busy by norwegian standards.

for those who will be joining us we have a good selection of books for all ages including some old favourites, a range of games including animal happy families, 2 buckets & spades,a nesting pile-up toy and 2 teddies but unfortunately no wheeled vehicles! If you are able to carry it please bring a 3 litre box of duty free wine per adult- Gatwick has one kind - Hardys - not all that cheap but the liquor stores here are few and far between - on the other hand local beer can be obtained in most supermarkets.

there has been a lot of blogging today because we have paid for a 24-hour connection and I have been slowly learning how to upload photos. tomorrow we hope to head for the Lyngen Alps and maybe further it would be good to get to 70N! maybe no more blogs for a bit.

love to everyone

S & C