July 22nd – Bliksvaer

views of fleinvaer archipelgo

Interesting rock formation



We had bright sun at 4 am but by 8 am it was more overcast although not thick cloud  - all was very calm. We decided to explore the Fleinvaer archipelago a little more before going to Bliksvaer – the first island we visited when C, J,I, & A were with us.

Not far from last night’s anchorage we found a guest pontoon but it was rather shallow and we decided the islands in general looked less interesting than the Bliksvaer archipelago.

return to Bliksvaer

We had a light wind but inevitably it was on the nose so we motored to Bliksvaer, the sun coming out on the way. The pontoon was full but we rafted up to a large motorboat. We have since been told this is fine, last weekend they had a festival and boats were rafted up 7 deep.

In Sorfugloy the gallery owner’s husband had told us there was an interesting museum in Bliksvaer and we should ask for Mr Thomasen. We duly did as suggested and were introduced to Mr Thomasen when he was collecting visitors from the ferry, which arrived shortly after us.  He arranged for his wife and daughter to show us the museum at 8pm. It proved to be fascinating, small & not yet completed , but dedicated to HMS Effingham, a British destroyer which hit an uncharted rock while going through a small passage just off Bliksvaer in May 1940. She was leading a small fleet of about 6 ships through the channel and had chosen the route as they were less likely to encounter German submarines. She was carrying 700 men of the Welsh Borderers as well as her own crew of 600 and despite the ship sinking quite quickly they got everyone off without loss of life. She was ordered to be sunk in deep water but was carried by the tide onto a reef and there was a fascinating description of the captain destroying papers and secret information before abandoning ship -  a intriguing bit of WWII history which we must research further when we get back.

Two small dolphins came past the jetty jumping and diving and also some geese plus all the usual birds

View from top of hill behind pontoon



We plan to leave in good time tomorrow in order to get back to Bodo to restock in preparation for Hermione, John, Sam, Joe, & Zac who arrive on Sunday evening.

We will post this week’s blog in Bodo but are unlikely to be able to post  anything next week while Hermione & Co are with us. After that we will be leaving Norway as soon as we have a good weather window and will probably not get a Wifi connection until we get to Shetland.