Happy Holidays

Another month has slipped by and as planned last month we spent it very quietly. The increasingly dark days weren’t that conducive to much activity anyway. One highly anticipated milestone was reaching December 21 as it’s the shortest day of the year. We were very curious as to how much daylight we’d actually have on that date. As you can see from the photo below, taken at noon on December 21, a very clear day, there is a kind of a grey/blue twilight for about two hours a day, 10-12. Before 10 and after 1 p.m. it’s pitch dark. You know the sun is there somewhere below the horizon, but, you can’t see it. It’s just enough daylight to mark the coming and going of each day.

December 21, noon

December 21, sunset

 Now that we’re past the winter solstice, we can expect each day’s light to become longer. On January 21 the sun will rise above the horizon again for the first time since November 21. We’ve been told the days lengthen very quickly and by Easter we should expect almost 24 hour daylight. Once the days start to lengthen, the ski season will also start in earnest. Some people are already taking advantage of the lit, cross-country ski trail that runs the length of the island, along its spine. We don’t have skis yet, but, hope to buy some used ones at the local recycle centre soon.

One negative to all this ‘darktime’ is that it has been playing havoc with our sleep patterns. There’ve been a few episodes of going to bed at 3 a.m. and not getting up until 10-11. We’re trying to maintain a ‘normal’ sleep pattern, but, it’s difficult. On the plus side, it’s been a welcome break in our usual hectic lives and has allowed us to get back into reading for recreation. Unfortunately, we have now gotten through every book we had on board and all those we traded with the neighbouring boat. There are some English language books on sale here, but, they’re expensive and not a great selection. So, I have ordered myself a Kindle from Amazon (electronic e-reader) and am eagerly awaiting its arrival in late January so I can download books anywhere and everywhere. In the meantime, what a treat it’s been to finally read a lot of books that have been on my list for years, like Mutiny on the Bounty (a really good yarn). In addition to quite a few sailing books, I have also ploughed through the Stieg Larsen ‘dragon tattoo’ trilogy, Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance (very good), Jonathan Frantzen’s The Corrections (well-written, but didn’t like the characters or story much) and about a dozen other varied titles.

Three books that really resonated were all by the same author, David Howarth. I mentioned in an earlier blog that we met the author’s son-in-law on a neighbouring boat in Stornoway which is how the author first came to our attention. Usually, I have absolutely no interest whatsoever in war history, but, these three are just good all-round adventure stories as well as historical books. I think they’re still in print and if you’re interested in a good story, these are all a very fast, enjoyable read. For us, having visited the sites in both Scotland and Norway and right across the North Sea where the action took place made it all the more real and gripping. In the spring, we’re planning to visit the Toftfjord and the Lyngen Alps mentioned in the books. Would recommend reading The Shetland Bus first, followed by We Die Alone. The Sledge Patrol can be read independently and is set in Greenland. If you like these books, you may also like The Last Gentleman Adventurer: Coming of Age in the Arctic, by Edward Maurice which I found fascinating for its insights into the Hudson Bay Company and Canadian Inuit culture just prior to ‘modernization’.

December, of course, also brings the Christmas and New Year’s period. We were interested to see how Norwegians celebrate. This was also our first Christmas spent living aboard and we wanted to celebrate old traditions while perhaps also making some new ones.

For us, Christmas dinner is always turkey. For Norwegians, it’s usually lamb or something else, so, first we wondered whether we’d even be able to get a turkey (‘kalkun’). There were a few, in boxes, in the grocery store, so, we nabbed one when we first saw them. The next question was whether it would fit into our propane oven. With some rearrangement of the interior we were just able to fit it in. The next worry was would it cook properly as the oven heat is somewhat irregular and localized and we could run out of propane. We were having guests (Mark and his daughter Marissa from the boat Tevakenui and Celia, my new friend from New Zealand who has been here six years teaching English), so, were worried that not only might we ruin our own Christmas dinner but others’ as well. As it was, by rotating the turkey every hour, it was done to perfection and the dinner was a great success. We made an effort to have all the trimmings as well. We didn’t make stuffing, but, the requisite Brussels sprouts and other vegetables were easy to find. Not so easy was mincemeat. We searched every single grocery store in town and found a single, dusty jar of imported Robertson’s mincemeat which was only one month past its sell-by date. We grabbed it! Our guests brought homemade Christmas cake and shortbread which rounded out the traditional meal.

New Year’s Eve was highly anticipated. We knew there would be a fireworks display from the top of the chairlift that goes up the mountain adjacent to our marina. We anxiously watched the weather throughout the day as we first had some fog, then heavy snow, which obscured the mountain top. We thought the celebration might be cancelled. In the evening, the skies lifted and it looked like a go. Around 11 p.m. we made our way to the town square to find that there were only a very few drunken foreigners milling about, no Norwegians, no music and no scheduled events. Disappointed, at 11:45 we decided to make our way back to the marina to watch the fireworks from there. Halfway back, the mountaintop around the detonation site was first surrounded by red flares and then a ring of bright white, flaming, torches. Then, the fireworks started and we soon realized why no Norwegians were downtown. They were all at home setting off their own elaborate firework displays. The private displays were almost as good as the official display. We’ve seen better quality fireworks, but, the sheer volume of the displays, which must have numbered in the hundreds was truly amazing and went on for almost an hour. Both sides of the channel which separate the island of Tromsø from the mainland and up the mountain sides were ablaze and the air smelled of gunpowder. At the stroke of 12, the Hurtigruten (coastal steamer) sounded a few long, deep blasts of its horn and followed up with some red parachute flares of its own. Then, for additional atmosphere, a light snow started which complimented the warm (0C) and windless evening. A very memorable evening after all.

I wish I had a tripod so I could have taken better pictures, but, here a few which really don’t do the scene any justice at all….

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Settling in for Winter-Tromsø, Norway

People speak of short winter days and how winter evenings ‘close in’. Well, here in Tromsø, at 69 North, the evenings have ‘closed in’ permanently. The sun has disappeared below the horizon and we won’t see it again until late January. That doesn’t mean it’s totally dark all the time (yet!). Right now, it gets light about 9:30 a.m. and is pitch-black by 2:30 p.m. The ‘light’ period gets noticeably shorter every day. At first, it was very peculiar. It would be very dark out and we’d have this feeling like it should be after dinner already. It felt like you were always late for something, then, look at your watch and realize it was only 3:00 p.m. and could relax, still lots of ‘day’time left. We can still see the loom of the sun below the horizon, but, at 10:00 a.m. it looks like you’re viewing a sunset rather than a sunrise.

Sunrise/Sunset

Black Sheep II has pretty much settled in now for the winter at Polar Havn Marina. Life at the dock has taken on a bit of a routine. Between daily trips to the library (we don’t have internet access on the boat), the gym/pool and the daily chores, the days seem to fly by. Daily life is a bit more difficult and time-consuming than on land. We have to get all our water in jugs from a public supply, fairly close by and transport it to the boat to fill the water tanks. So far, the boat’s water system hasn’t frozen, but, it’s still a worry that it might. Likewise, both propane and diesel have to be bought across town and carried to the boat. We don’t have hot water, so, when required, it must be heated on the stove. Showers aren’t an issue though. I have joined a gym within easy walking distance and Glenn has a pool membership, so, we’re well served in that regard. As we’re close to downtown, we have a choice of grocery stores and Glenn enjoys getting an English newspaper once in a while. Laundry is a problem, we have to travel by local bus ($16 round-trip) to a campground that has the only public laundry we’ve been able to find in all of Tromsø. To wash/dry a single load is about $16, so, it’s not an inexpensive chore. They only have one machine too, so, to do just two loads is an all-day task costing about $54. Needless to say, we only go when we absolutely have to. Hand-washing is out of the question, we don’t have the space and humidity/condensation is already an issue on the boat.

In our slip at Polar Havn Marina

Mark (our New Zealand neighbour) drops by to visit quite often. A Norwegian friend of his had been out fishing and left a couple of freshly caught fish on the back of Mark’s boat. As it was dark he didn’t notice them there and woke up to a commotion in the night which turned out to be an otter stealing one of the fish. We were given ½ of the remaining fish, a very large cod and it was delicious. Other than that, we haven’t seen any wildlife here, it seems strange.

As I mentioned earlier, I have joined a gym and it’s been really good to get back to a fitness routine again. They have all the same types of classes that I’m used to. However, doing a yoga or step aerobics class when it’s all in Norwegian and you don’t understand a word can have interesting consequences! One nice perk is that I met a couple of ladies at yoga who are part of the English-speaking Tromsø ex-pat community of mostly Americans. We got invited to their annual American Thanksgiving pot-luck celebration. It was conveniently located in a building next to our marina and we really enjoyed the turkey with all the traditional trimmings including pumpkin pie. They were able to buy the only eight turkeys in town and people had saved up cans of pumpkin. Couldn’t find cranberries, but, local Norwegian lingonberries were a great substitute. We met some really nice people, most of them professors at the University.

We’re managing to keep fairly warm on the boat with our little electric heaters although we are using way more electricity than we’d like to. The boat isn’t insulated and condensation is a problem requiring continual wiping up. It was fairly cold this week, around -10C and the heaters were struggling a bit, so, we’re hoping it won’t get too much colder than that, or, we may have a problem.

There is a two-page list of boat jobs waiting to be started. However, we have decided to take a bit of a hiatus from boat work until the sun comes back. It’s just too dark and cold to be trying to do outside work. Some jobs had to be done though. We weren’t sure how cold it was going to get here, so, thought rather than worry about it, we’d winterize both the main engine and generator. Sourcing out the correct antifreeze took a while, but, we managed and got them both done as well as topping up the diesel etc.

The snow that arrived with us in late October is still here along with a bit more. The temperature seems to stay fairly constant with little fluctuation between the day and night temperature. They don’t use salt on the roads here, so, the snow stays white and is very dry, quite nice actually except for the ice on which I’ve slipped and fallen twice already. A lot of people are wearing crampons on their boots, guess I’ll have to get a pair.

People here seem to take the winter and darkness in stride and even revel in it. It still amazes me to see construction workers, up on a roof, building trusses in the pitch-dark, not even wearing head lamps. There are even many bicycles about on the snow-covered streets, using studded bicycle tires for traction. We haven’t seen any of the Norwegian kick-sleds in use yet, although we’ve seen them for sale in the stores.

Cathedral

Tromsø is really a lovely town with a great quality of life. No highways and driving to malls and big box stores to deal with. There are three very small indoor malls, so, the old-fashioned main street with all its wooden buildings is still the primary shopping area and it seems to be thriving.

Florist

Part of the street is a pedestrian mall. On Saturday, even when it’s really cold, the street is just crammed with throngs of people of all ages. Elderly ladies with canes decked out in fur garments from head to foot, young families with very small babies all bundled up, gypsies on street corners playing accordion and saxophone, street vendors selling shrimp and waffles, it’s all very charming. The street has been hung with Christmas lights now and the stores are being decorated. Many stores have candles lit up on the sidewalk outside to lead shoppers in. There are many coffee shops packed with patrons. One really nice innovation is that they pump seawater underneath the sidewalks, so that they remain ice and snow-free.

We don’t have much planned for the winter and expect it to be a quiet time, will be spending our energies just trying to stay fit and warm. We won’t be sailing again until probably May, so, it will be a long layoff. However, we’re looking forward to a bit of a rest as the last year has been so busy what with multiple intercontinental moves opening/closing apartments in three countries, refitting the boat, finishing up work and preparing ourselves for our first year’s cruising. It will be good to slow down a little. Probably won’t have too much to write about, but, will post monthly just to let you know how we’re doing. When the sun comes back in January we hope to become more active again.

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Bodø to Tromsø - We made it!

When we planned our first cruising season, Tromso, Norway was the ultimate goal. There were a few (many) times when we wondered whether we’d actually make it. We toyed with the idea of spending the winter in the U.K., southern Norway, or even heading somewhere else that’s warmer. However, we persevered and I’m pleased to say we arrived in Tromso on October 21.

Tromso Arrival - this building is Polaria, made to look like ice floes

We'd hoped to be here at the end of September and if we hadn't stopped for three weeks in Bodo, for repairs, we would have made it while the nice weather lasted. As it was, it was none too soon weather-wise. At the end of last month we were in Bodo (pronounced boo-duh), waiting for our new shaft seal to arrive. It arrived incredibly fast, in only 2-1/2 business days from West Marine in the U.S., using FedEx, very impressive. We were then duly hauled out and put on the hard. Closer examination revealed that a large part of the leak problem was because the engine was out of alignment. This led to the cutless bearing being worn irregularly. The shaft also had some irregularities but was still ok for the new seal which would be in a slightly different location on the shaft. So, as usual, the simple job morphed into an expensive repair, new seal, cutless bearing and an alignment. We decided we’d make do with the old shaft. The shop was able to locate a correctly-sized cutless bearing in south Norway. It took four days to arrive. The largest cost was the skilled labour. With the exchange rate and the 25% VAT the hourly mechanic rate was around $200 an hour, ridiculous, but we had no option but to pay it.

We were on the hard two weeks. The weather was still wonderful and we were even able to do some varnish repairs and repaint the bootstripe. After the seal work was done we were dropped back into the water in the middle of a gale.  We took shelter in Bodo harbour and waited it out for four days. There were fifty knot gusts at the dock. We were being blown off the dock and it certainly tested our lines. A couple chafed right through very quickly and our priority became getting chafe protection on the remaining lines. This gale was the turning point in the weather and it hasn’t been the same since.

While waiting out the gale, we were invited to join a young Swedish couple, Olu and Caroline on their boat for dinner. They had a beautiful boat that they’ve built themselves (Olu is a professional boatbuilder) and are dreaming of travel to Alaska with it. They prepared a lovely meal of halibut that they’d caught from the boat. We saw pictures of it prior to it being turned into halibut steaks and it was huge! They’d also invited their Norwegian neighbours to join us. After dinner we went to Helge and Ellen’s rorbu (rorbu, or, rorbua plural, are holiday homes styled on traditional Norwegian fisherman’s cottages) for cheese/crackers. We had a fun evening with an international flavour. Luckily, they all spoke good English, or, it would have been a lot more difficult to communicate.

We left Bodo Oct 13^th on a crisp day with fresh snow on the peaks.

Leaving Bodo

We were wrestling with our passage plan to Tromso because we didn’t want to travel at night and the days were now getting so short we couldn’t get the daily distances to work between safe harbours. There was also one last open water, potentially dangerous, crossing we needed to do across the VestFjord which would take us to the scenic Lofoten peninsula.

Vestfjord and the 'Lofoten Wall'

We could make a much shorter crossing by hugging the mainland and stopping in marginal harbours, or, make a direct crossing of about 35 miles direct to Svolvaer. We chose the latter approach. It was a very lumpy crossing with headwinds and we were only able to motor around four knots. At least it wasn’t raining. We made it into harbour just as it was getting dark in the middle of a sleet squall. We docked easily and with great relief, but, soon realized we’d have to move as we didn’t have the necessary depth alongside. So, one last chore needed to get done before we were able to plug in and turn on our new electric heaters we’d picked up in Bodo.

October is the month when Orcas (killer whales) follow the herring into the Vestfjord and we were really hoping we’d see them, but, no such luck. In Svolvaer we did see a whaling boat with a huge harpoon gun on the bow platform. Norway is still a whaling nation.

Svolvaer was a great town with a brand-new waterfront and town square and we were considering it as a winter stop as we’d been offered a cheap berth there for the winter. However, we thought it was a little too small and the marina didn’t have any services so decided against it.

Svolvaer

Leaving Lofoten

One other reason for choosing the Svolvaer landfall was so that we were close to the Raftsundet passage through the ‘Lofoten Wall’ and the Trollfjord (a major tourist attraction).

Trollfjord

Trollfjord

It would take a day longer to get to Tromso this way, but, we didn’t want to rush so much that we were missing sights along the way. The Raftsundet is supposed to have some tricky tides, but, we must have timed it right because there was no impact at all. The Trollfjord was interesting. Apparently, the big cruise ships go in there and do a 360 turn between the walls to impress their guests.

Exiting the Raftsundet, the rain started and visibility was bad. We couldn’t locate the leading lights into the small mole (breakwater) harbour we’d chosen at Hennes. As it was a dangerous approach, through shallows, we decided not to risk it and pushed on to Stokmarknes. Again we arrived just as darkness was closing in.

Next day we found, to our delight, that we were getting a big push from the tide and were doing almost 7 knots for quite a while. Then, because we’d made such good progress, we got ambitious and decided to push on to Harstad, about 60 miles in total rather than spend the night in a marginal spot. With the benefit of the tide, we’d hoped to get in before dark and because the approach was very straightforward we thought we could manage in the dark if we absolutely had to. This decision broke one of our rules not to approach strange harbours at night, but, there wasn’t a lot of choice. The last hour of the approach was in darkness and although it was straightforward (with the chartplotter guiding us in), it didn’t feel that way and we were quite stressed when we finally got in. While tying up to the guest dock, we got a nasty surprise when one of the fast ferries pulled in beside us and did a complete turn, in the process sending up a small tsunami which practically threw us off the deck. This wash from the continual ferries plagued us for the two nights we spent there and we were glad to leave.

After crossing the Vestfjord, we’d thought we’d left all the open water behind us and would only be in sheltered water now all the way to Tromso. However, leaving Harstad required crossing another fjord quite open to the sea. The weather forecast had called for a F8 gale decreasing to F5. At 10 a.m., in harbour, it was very settled and the barometer was rising. It was only about 14 miles across and we thought, the worst must be over, how bad can it be? Stupid mistake, it was bad and got worse. Around 12:30 it went to a F9 and we were motoring to windward at about 0-1 knots. We decided to abandon our plans and go downwind to a small mole harbour. We surfed downwind, sometimes at 10 knots and got to Bolla in about 20 minutes flat. It was snowing heavily, it was cold and visibility was really bad. We were worried about approaching the entrance because we couldn’t see it until the last minute, but, it was fine. We approached upwind and at the last minute did a quick turn and got in behind the breakwater. The harbour was closed up tight and we were prisoners on the pontoon with a locked gate and there was no hydro available (i.e. no heat). At around 17:00, the wind shut off like somebody turned a switch and we spent a quiet, though cold, night.

Only two days left to go at this point and we were getting anxious to arrive. On the way to Finnsnes, on October 20, we again had very poor visibility and heavy snow. By the time we got to the marina, we had about six inches on the deck. We pulled in to find it was really full-up, although deserted. We rafted up against a fishing boat, plugged in and collapsed. We were just starting to get warm when we heard a commotion next door. We had rafted-up to the only boat going out that night, so, had to get the boots on again and move.

Finally, the last travel day, October 21, dawned. After clearing snow and dealing with the frozen lines, we cast off for a fairly uneventful day’s travel into Tromso arriving early Thursday afternoon. Pulled up to the guest harbour to sticker shock. This was the most expensive harbour to date, 225 NOK ($37.50) per night. There was no service building, or, water available for this exorbitant charge. It didn’t feel much like a warm welcome to our chosen winter hometown. The harbour was also being dredged and there were huge, loud pile-drivers at work. We started having serious misgivings about this place, but, we were here now and stuck with it. We were also disappointed to find no other occupied cruising boats.

Next day, our opinion changed quickly. Speaking with a Kiwi (New Zealander) at the tourist office, we learned there was another cruising family, also New Zealanders, who had arrived the week before and were now settled into a small, private marina that we’d noticed on the way in that was in a great location, very close to the downtown. We’d read that this marina wasn’t available and that our only other choices were a couple of small places way out of town. It wasn’t looking good, but, we went to check it out anyway. We managed to meet Mark and Jane, along with their 15 year old daughter Marissa. They had done all the legwork and contacted various berth owners in the marina and said they were sure that we’d be able to get a berth. They got their Norwegian friend, Harald, to call the owner and we got a yes right away. We immediately moved the boat and were settled in before lunchtime on Friday! The berth owner, Trond, came down after work and he gave us an incredibly generous offer for monthly rental of the berth which we immediately accepted. We are very grateful to Mark and Jane as they did all the legwork and saved us a lot of time and probably frustration. Jane has an interesting career as a fisheries observer and today has left for a two-month stint on the Indian Ocean, leaving Mark and Marissa here to brave the winter. Mark/Jane have lived aboard their home-built steel boat for 23 years and have travelled to some very unusual places. Marissa grew up on the boat and has never lived anywhere else.

We later went out to explore the town and were duly impressed, thankfully. There is an old-fashioned, thriving, main street with many shops, interesting museums, a great library, three small indoor shopping malls, swimming pool, gyms and a movie theatre. Also, a large number of cross-country ski trails (lit up at night) and a small Alpine ski hill. In short, everything you could possibly want, except maybe warmer weather.

Lots of interesting sites around town

Every corner has something interesting

Library with great internet access

View of Arctic cathedral and fisherman's monument

The record low temperature in Tromso is only -18C and the average January temperature is around -4C, so, it probably will be warmer than what we were used to in Muskoka where we’d sometimes see -40C. The days are drawing in quickly now and we are looking forward, with interest, to the arrival of the Polar Nights (24 hour darkness). In Tromso, this is expected to last between November 28 through January 15, so, it will be a dark Christmas and New Year. On clear nights, we’ll be looking for the Northern Lights as well. This is supposed to be one of the best areas for viewing them. We’ve seen them in Canada, but, only as a weak, translucent, green ‘curtain’. The display should be more impressive here. The Midnight Sun (24 hour light), in Tromso, is between May 18 through July 25.

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Bergen to Bodø-Across the Arctic Circle

Our first month in Norway has been packed full of new experiences and adjustments.  In the August blog entry, I left off at our point of entry into Norway from the North Sea at the Marstein light, near Bergen. We picked up a mooring ball in an idyllic, perfect little anchorage. We liked it there so much we stayed an extra day to rest after our somewhat traumatic North Sea crossing from the Shetlands. We then headed for Bergen, about twenty miles distant, spent a week there attending to business and then headed north. The last three weeks have been spent travelling each day. We are now at latitude 67 degrees which is north of the Arctic Circle (66 degrees and 33 minutes North). Our winter destination, Tromso, is at 69 degrees North. We are less than 200 miles and five days away from where we plan to spend the winter months.

Our first Norwegian anchorage

It has been a bit of a ‘whistlestop tour’ so far as we felt we had to push on while we had good weather. We were absolutely blessed with sensational, sun-filled, summer-like days from the day before we left Bergen and for about two weeks thereafter. Each day, we couldn’t believe our good fortune as the day dawned sunny, bright and with blue skies. After the Scottish weather experience, it was delightful to feel the sun again. The high pressure system that brought us the sun also brought little wind and calm seas. Lack of wind is a problem for a sailboat, but, the calm seas were a treat. They enabled us to continue on right through two of Norway’s most difficult and sometimes dangerous, navigational challenges, Statt and Hustadvika, without having to wait for an appropriate weather window.

Statt is the westernmost peninsula in Norway which juts out into the Norwegian Sea. You are in open waters directly exposed to the Sea. There is no protected inner lead available. An escort service is available for small boats that attempt to round it. We went round on a flat calm day, it was quite ‘swelly’ but no problem at all. A week or so after we passed through, we noticed that the Statt weather forecast indicated 9.5 metre waves (that’s around 30 feet!) which wouldn’t have been fun to deal with on a lee shore that consists of granite cliffs.

Hustadvika is a rock-strewn passage also exposed to the open. Again, we went through on a flat calm day and it was no issue at all.

Although we knew that wind in the inner leads is often directly ahead, or, directly behind the boat as it funnels down through the mountains, we didn’t realize just how much we’d be motoring. We have only actually sailed (with the motor off) for 2-1/2 hours in the last three weeks. The best we can hope for, the rest of the time, is to motorsail which we do as often as we can as it boosts our speed from around 5 to 6.5 knots. We hadn’t really considered the cost of diesel and the hassle of obtaining it, but, it’s a necessary evil in this environment. We burn about a gallon an hour at 2000 rpm. It costs about 8-13 NOK ($1.28-$2.08 CAD) per litre and with about four litres to the gallon, times 7-10 hours a day and well, you do the math. It’s expensive.

Another expense we hadn’t thought much about was buying Norwegian paper charts. We’d bought enough to get us to Bergen, but knew we needed more to get us north. We spoke to a couple of cruisers who are just using electronic charts, or, borrowed charts. We have the electronic charts, it was only around $400 for a single C-MAP chip that covers all of Norway, Scandinavia, the Baltic and some of northern Europe. I didn’t feel comfortable going without paper, not only for backup, but, for planning purposes as well. The coastline of Norway is so complex, it’s impossible to figure out which way to go without some kind of ‘bigger picture’ to guide you. The Norwegian charts are excellent and we needed an absolute minimum of 50 charts. It was around $1500 to purchase these in Bergen and this covers us from Bergen to Tromso only. At first glance, the charts look overwhelming and a magnifying glass is needed to see some of the detail, even at the largest scale available, 1:50,000. We hope we may be able to sell the charts to another cruiser when we leave Norway.

Navigationally, everything is very well-marked. There are a few different types of navigation markers, but, when present, they are very helpful. There are ‘vardes’, which are ancient round, brick towers with a pointer on top telling you which side is the correct side to pass on.Norway. Apparently, they’ve been there since Viking times and are still in use today. Sometimes a modern light has been put on top, or beside them. There are also ‘perches’ and bakes’ which have the same function, with a different form.

A typical Varde navigation marker

Every day, we try and leave early so we can cover 35-45 miles and stop around three in the afternoon. This gives us time to pick up more diesel, or, groceries etc. The evening is usually spent working out a route for the next day. This is non-trivial as it takes around 1-2 hours every evening. I use CMAP’s PC-Planner to prepare the route on the computer, then, I upload it to the chartplotter. The next day, it’s just a simple matter of following the plotter line.

We have anchored out a few times, but, have run into some problems getting the anchor to set, so, to avoid frustration and time delays we’ve been staying on pontoons most of the time. This time of year, everything is deserted, which gives us (me) time to practice docking the boat and the prices are reasonable. Prices each night are usually 50-150 NOK ($8-$24) and you pay via an honesty box. Showers, laundry and electricity, when available, are extra. There is a large selection of places to stop and it’s been no problem to find somewhere each day.

Although we have suffered from a high degree of ‘sticker shock’, Norway, in general, has so far been everything we expected. The scenery is absolutely spectacular, it is uncrowded, the waters are protected and the weather is good. As a cruising ground, it probably doesn’t get much better than this. Ok, maybe a bit more wind, water you can actually swim in and a warmer winter would be nice. There is also quite a bit of shipping to dodge, there are a lot of fast ferries travelling at 30+ knots and some large freighters and fishing boats. Norway seems to have its own version of the ColRegs as well i.e. all leisure boats need to keep out of the way of the commercial ones. Only foreign boats seem to alter course for us, it gets tricky with the Norwegian ones who stand on, no matter what. It’s resulted in a few anxious moments while we try and get out of the way.

A little too close for comfort

Each day we would see the Hurtigruten pass. The Hurtigruten is Norway’s famous ‘coastal express’ service. A boat leaves Bergen each day and travels north to the Russian border and back. The one-way trip takes eleven days and the ship stops at a lot of small communities on the way. Some of the newer boats look like cruise liners and are very luxurious, with food included in the ticket. When we factor in the cost and effort involved in our cruise, we sometimes think we should have just bought a ticket on the Hurtigruten as it would be a lot easier and we’d see all the same sights!

One of the Hurtigruten coastal ferry cruise fleet

We have been struck by how much the landscape resembles Muskoka and Georgian Bay.

When out walking, sometimes it’s like being back walking on the Torrance Barrens and we forget how far away we are (and so much further north). The difference is they have a lot more height to the mountains and the fjords are distinct. It is more of a wilderness in Canada as well. Here there are quite large towns, fishing villages and historic trading posts around every corner. We have seen hardly any wildlife: one seal, a couple of sea eagles and a bunch of seagulls. In places, though, the water is just teeming with fish and we’ve seen a few large ones jumping. There are also interesting and colourful jellyfish.

Here are a few highlights from this month:

BERGEN

Whenever you see a tourist photo of Bergen, it usually shows Bryggen, the row of sixteenth century merchant shops on the quayside. We docked Black Sheep II against the quay right in front of Bryggen which was just across the street. We were also a few steps away from the front door to a rather swanky Radisson. We couldn’t help but contrast what guests there were paying, probably $300 a night, to our $16 a night across the street on the quay. We spent a week there. At first, it was interesting being on the busy quay with all the tourists strolling by. After a while, we realized that we (the boat mainly) had become a tourist attraction and sometimes our privacy suffered. There were a lot of Canadians in Bergen and we ended up meeting every one of them, I think. We did enjoy speaking with them though and many compliments on the boat were received and appreciated. However, one Chinese tourist went a little far. He asked G if he could take a photo of the boat (at least he asked). G said ok, he then proceeded to climb down onto the boat, out onto the bowsprit, did a Leonardo DiCaprio Titanic pose over the water while his girlfriend took the shot!

Bergen's Bryggen

Bergen 

Bergen tall ship

Bergen tall ship

Bergen was a delightful city, surrounded by mountains and full of quaint neighbourhoods with all wooden houses, clean, green, great walks and museums. I’d like to say great restaurants, but, I think eating out in Norway is maybe an annual treat, it’s so expensive. We didn’t eat out at all. Some idea of prices? A hamburger in an American-style restaurant, $27, pizza $32 (plus 25% VAT on top), take-out coffee $3.20+ minimum, small bottle of coke $6.50, Big Mac, $13, loaf of bread $6-8, small bag of chips/crisps $5. We treated ourselves to a soft ice-cream cone before leaving town, $8 and a shower, $10.

We’ve tried a few Norwegian delicacies, like Torrfisk (dried cod sliced really thin like a cracker) without much success, it must be an acquired taste. However, the bread is excellent. Even the crummiest convenience store will have fresh-baked, grainy loaves for sale and we’ve been eating way too much of it.

The houses in Bergen and all over Norway are so well-kept: small, spotless and charming. Board and batten is my favourite house exterior treatment and just about all the houses here have it along with lace at the windows and window trim flourishes reminiscent of American ‘Carpenter Gothic’ architecture.  I don’t know how they keep their paint so nice, every house looks freshly done.

Kristiansund carved wooden doorway

We spent a couple of days doing tourist activities, one day on museums alone. There was a fascinating leprosy museum, among others. We also took a day and did a commercial ‘Norway in a Nutshell’ tour. This was a scenic train ride (about ½ way to Oslo), then a bus ride down an incredible switchbacked, mountain pass road, then, a fjord boat trip on the ‘Narrow fjord’. To reach this fjord on our own boat would take about two weeks of motoring, so, we felt it was easier to take this trip instead. A great day out and the weather was cool, but, perfect.

View on the 'Nutshell' tour

Narrow fjord on 'Nutshell' tour

Waterfall on the 'Nutshell' tour

Alesund

A very nice, unique town.

Alesund, Black Sheep II is moored in the inlet right in the centre of town. We hiked up a lot of steps to get this shot!

Alesund street view

SVARTISEN GLACIER

This was a definite highlight and also a learning experience. We made a detour from the main route to visit the Svartisen glacier. We’ve seen glaciers before, but, this one is easy to access on foot and quite spectacular. We arrived in early afternoon, hoping to get docked and away to do the two-hour hike to the glacier’s snout before dark. So, we were in a bit of a rush, our first mistake.

We arrived to find the floating pontoon mentioned in all the guide books was no longer there (we found out later it had been removed the day before we arrived for winter storage). There was an old, rickety pier and after a careful approach we thought we’d be able to tie up to it, which we did. We were the only boat there. We tied up, left a fair bit of slack in the lines for the tide, which we thought we were probably on the bottom of (although we didn’t double-check) as it was noticeably ebbing for the last few hours on the way in. We had to climb up to the pier to get off the boat, but, thought no more about it and went off to do the hike which we really enjoyed, another beautiful day and we had the entire glacier to ourselves!

On our return to the boat, the tide had dropped about another six feet and the boat was now sitting about 10-12 feet below the pier. We hadn’t noticed the absence of any ladder, or, tires, on the pier that we may have used to climb back down to the boat and we had no way down! Anyway, we felt like two fools and stood there for two hours trying to think of a way out of our dilemma. Finally, we found a piece of 2x6 laying around that we ended up using as a slide to get down to the boat. It was just getting dark by this time. Were we glad to get out of there in the morning! G is still complaining about the slivers.

Svartisen Glacier

G on Svartisen Glacier hike

TRADING POSTS – Haholmen, Mageroy, Selsoyvika, Kuringvagen

Of all the places we’ve stayed so far, we’re finding we like the old trading posts the best. They have often been there since the 1600’s and have a variety of interesting old buildings, exhibits and goods available. They are also usually privately-owned and have friendly owners offering excellent value for money. Although, we’re in the off-season now and most of the associated restaurants/shops etc. were closed up, we still enjoyed our visits. Especially to Haholmen , a resort island in the middle of rocky Hustadvika, Mageroy, on an island/nature reserve and Selsoyvika where the owners opened the store just for us to allow us to purchase some of their home-smoked salmon and they also baked two fresh loaves of bread for us! They also had the best docks we’ve seen in Norway so far, they actually had cleats (most of the other docks have just rings, or, rough boards to tie onto). We also got a mini-tour of the main building, which the King and Queen had visited the year before.

Crossing the Arctic Circle

Crossing the Arctic Circle didn’t feel much like an event as it would in Canada, where it seems so far north, remote and inaccessible that it is an achievement to get there. In Norway, we just motored by VikingVagen, an island with an Arctic Circle monument on it and kept on past the towns/villages that exist all around it.

Arctic Circle monument

Torghatten, mountain with a hole through it

Here are a few lowlights from this month:

BOAT PROBLEMS

Another cruiser once said that ‘…the cruising lifestyle is a way to get to fix your boat in a lot of exotic places’. Unfortunately, this is proving true for us as well.

Our new electronic battery monitor, installed in Savannah, has died and will need to be replaced.

We turned on our watermaker which we hadn’t used since the Atlantic crossing only to find that all the water ended up in the bilge. Another repair job to add to the ever-increasing to-do list.

We noticed our main engine water pump was leaking quite severely. Closer examination revealed that it probably had been doing this for quite a long time. We spent an extra day in Kristiansund, which had excellent service shops, and Glenn was able to remove the pump, get it machined, new bearings/gasket/impeller installed and he reinstalled the pump all in one day, must be a record. Good news is the engine is now running about five degrees cooler.

Glenn noticed some diesel in the bilge the other day. Today, we confirmed that one of our tanks is leaking. The tanks have already been replaced once on this boat, so, we thought we’d dodged this bullet. Guess not. It’s a major undertaking to remove and repair/replace a tank. For now, we’re going to pump it dry and rely on the other tank for a while. The leaking tank is the only one the generator is capable of using, so, it is now out of action for a while as well.

I mentioned previously that we noticed that our shaft seal was leaking a lot more than it should be. With all the motoring we’ve been doing, it has been exacerbated and when underway it is now a constant stream. We’ve been able to keep it under control by pumping the bilge twice a day, but, began to realize that if we want to be able to leave the boat at all this winter we’re going to have to get it fixed now, not in the spring as planned.  Unfortunately, this means taking the boat out of the water as the shaft has to be taken apart. We knew there was a travelift available at a boat manufacturer near Tromso and had hoped to make it there to have the work done. However, we took on a lot of water one day, could hear the water running into the bilge and thought we’d better not delay any longer, or, we may lose the boat and ourselves as well. The next large town with a travelift was Bodo and we made a beeline there. They can accommodate us, but, we’ve had to order the new shaft seal from West Marine in the U.S. as there wasn’t one suitable in Norway.

So, we are now here in Bodo, waiting for our new shaft seal to arrive. We expect to be here 1-2 weeks to get the job done. The weather is closing in now, we saw a dusting of snow on the mountains outside town this morning and the boat is very cold. We have heat from our new hydronic heater when the motor is running. When the motor is off, we thought we had a good diesel stove. Unfortunately, it has proved to be next to useless, dirty, finicky, smelly and without much heat, so, it is going to be retired. We’re hoping to sort out some Norwegian extension cords and plugs so we can run a couple of electric heaters. Hopefully, this will be enough to get us through. We are now anxious to get to Tromso and get settled in for the winter which is fast approaching here.

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Stornoway to Bergen

We arrived on Saturday, July 24 at Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, in Scotland's Outer Hebrides/Western Isles.

Great to be back in Scotland

This was our first port-of-call following our transAtlantic voyage. The Stornoway Gazette was soon to report that: 'July 2010 is expected to be amongst the wettest 15 Julys in the last 140 years. With very strong winds at the start of the month, it was also particularly dull during the final week with less than four hours of total sunshine between the 25th and 31st inclusive.' What a welcoming first week! we had anticipated bad Scottish weather, but, not quite that bad.

The Gazette went on further to state: 'Another feature of the month were the very strong winds during the first 10 days - with a gust of 63 mph recorded on the 5th, a result of unusually deep depressions for early summer lying to the west of the Hebrides'. So, these were the depressions that had affected us during our crossing, we didn't just imagine them.

Generally, it was wet, cold and grey during our three week stay in Stornoway, but, it didn't matter. We needed the rest and opportunity to make repairs. More than anything, we needed to dry out. Everything in the boat was soaked, all lockers had to be emptied, cleaned and dried. All our clothes had to be taken to the laundry and dried. The new upholstery was wet, the mattress was wet, the books were wet and mildewed. It had to be all taken out of the boat. The challenge was to find a time between rain showers to get the drying process started.

The ripped mainsail was sent to Glasgow for repair. It took three weeks round-trip which is why we ended up with a three week stay. The 'dead' generator problem was found to be just a solenoid switch. We'll need to order a new one later, right now Glenn was able to make a workaround using a piece of string! We also ordered a portable isolation transformer which will allow us to safely use our North American boat's 110V electrical system with the 220V European systems.

We had seen many of the other Scottish islands and sailing destinations during three previous trips to Scotland, so, weren't too unhappy about staying in one spot for three weeks. We took the ferry/bus into Inverness one day, primarily to stock up on all our favourite Marks & Spencer food goodies. We'd been warned to stock up on food supplies as food and everything else is very expensive in Norway. It was a nice diversion to have somebody else do the sailing for once. It was also a sunny day in Inverness, but, raining again on our return to Stornoway.

On ferry to Inverness

On ferry to Inverness

Inverness

Inverness

We rented a car for two days and were able to land cruise the island. Lewis and Harris (of Harris tweed fame) are actually one island. Harris (the southern part) is like a moonscape while Lewis is mainly peat bog. We saw many really interesting sights.

Harris

Lewis

G on beach, Isle of Harris

Beach, Isle of Harris

A on beach, Isle of Harris

Black House Village

Calloway Standing Stones

 Stornoway itself had a few attractions including great (wet) walks around the Lews castle grounds to the River Creed (salmon river). With the fishing industry declining in the area, Stornoway is struggling a bit to reinvent itself. Although they have a fledgeling cruise ship industry, the town has yet to become tourist-friendly. It's a bit of a throwback to an earlier time with Sundays still reserved as a day of rest. All stores, most restaurants and even petrol stations are closed on Sunday. G went into the local newsagents to ask them if they got in the Sunday Times. The answer was, 'yes, but we're not open on Sunday, so, you'll have to get it on Monday'! It also wasn't very 'yacht-friendly' with no services provided at all. I think they're planning to change this in the next year or so with a harbour redevelopment. The harbour is a really good natural harbour, in an enviable location.

Nice walk along the River Creed, Stornoway

Nice walk along the River Creed, Stornoway

Lews Castle, Stornoway

Stornoway Lifeboat

We also met many nice people there who'll remain in our thoughts. A few of them were:

Simon and Nicola - the first people to welcome us to the dock on our arrival. Experienced cruisers who had sailed their boat back to the U.K. from Hong Kong

James - a local sailor who invited us for dinner to his home and made us very welcome

the fisherman on the boat next to ours - who, when he'd been out fishing, always left us some really
fresh mackerel (he even cleaned them) on our boat

Anthony and crew - a group of experienced sailors who swapped stories on their boat one evening. Digger introduced us to the books of his father-in-law, David Horvath, who headed the 'Shetland Bus' operations during the war (more on this later). Ally told us about her friend's efforts to buy and save a Harris Tweed mill.

'Shetland Bus' memorial, Scalloway

Sean - an Orkney resident and hydrographic surveyor who gave us handwritten notes on Norway

Tony - the local diesel mechanic and lifeboatman, who helped us with our generator.

the harbour seals - not 'people', but, visits from a couple of very large harbour seals who would visit the boat quite often were very welcome

the Queen and family - we just missed seeing the Queen and family, as they were in port just before
we arrived to embark on their own summer Hebridean cruise aboard the 'Hebridean Princess' an old ferry which has been renovated as the new royal yacht. Wonder if they enjoyed the weather...

After three weeks, we were ready to resume our journey. We planned to continue to Bergen, Norway, our original destination, by breaking up the approximately 400 mile journey into two legs, one to Lerwick in the Shetland Isles and then from Lerwick to Bergen.

So, with a good weather forecast, a fully re-provisioned boat and our repaired equipment installed, we were on our way, Tuesday, August 17th.


SCOTLAND - Lerwick, Shetland Isles
The journey to the Shetlands was uneventful. Visibility going into Lerwick was poor and there was a fair amount of shipping about, particulary around Fair Isle. But, the approach was easy and we arrived within a couple of hours of plan on Thursday, August 19.

Lerwick, Shetland Isles

Scalloway Castle

Scalloway Castle

We'd only planned to stay a couple of days in Lerwick, with maybe a day to see the island, however, we were weatherbound and ended up staying four days instead. This wasn't a bad thing as Lerwick was very nice. Due to the North Sea oil money, it felt a lot more prosperous than Stornoway. They had an excellent museum which wouldn't have looked out-of-place in a major city. It's also been a major port since the 16th century and there were many fantastic, old stone buildings and residences around the town highlighting Scottish masonry skills. We hired a car for a day and went all round the island, saw the ancient sites and of course Shetland ponies! We attended a Shetland pony show and walked all round the town. We did another provisioning run to Tesco, the boat is now stuffed full
of provisions which will hopefully last 3-4 months.

Shetland pony

Shetland ponies

Shetland pony show

We had planned to leave Saturday, but, as there was a Force 11, Violent Storm, (56-63 knots) in the local forecast we decided the prudent move was to stay in port. One Norwegian boat decided to head out and hopefully get to Norway before the storm, maybe they knew something we didn't, hope they made it. The other cruisers all decided to stay and wait.

Meeting the other cruisers in Lerwick made us feel a little inadequate. There was so much experience and skill in evidence that we were beginning to feel a little bit out of our element. We met:

Dick and Elly - Dutch sailors with 200,000 cruising miles under their keel. Dick is a yacht designer and had designed their aluminum boat. Elly is a sailing author with four books to her credit. They gave us a tour of their boat, but, as their books were only in Dutch we weren't able to do more than look at pictures of their voyages which included Antarctica and Norway. The boat was lovely with many custom features. They have lived aboard for twenty-five years.

Gary and Leslie - U.S. sailors from California who have sailed around the world and then some. They gave us valuable info about Norway  as they were just returning from their second summer cruise there. They lay the boat up in the U.K. each winter and fly back to the U.S.

The storm blew through on Saturday and Sunday dawned flat calm. With hindsight, this is when we should have left. However, we chose to leave Monday.


LERWICK -> BERGEN
We left Lerwick on Monday, August 23. The forecast was ok, F4-5 winds, but, it was going to be NE, on-the-nose. However, it was due to back to N/NW which was favourable so we went. We made slow progress on Monday. One highlight was seeing two whales. The wind was slowly increasing.

About 1/3 of the way across the North Sea, the latest weather forecast gave a hint that it wasn't going to be so rosy as first indicated. There was a '...possibility  of a F8 gale later the next day...'. Right on schedule, Tuesday at 1700, the wind suddenly increased to a steady 44 knots, with gusts to 50. This wasn't a F8 Gale, this was an F9 Strong Gale, we couldn't believe our bad luck. We were about
ten miles off an oil platform at this point and had just started to pass through two rings of eleven ships that appeared to be lined up to get into the plaform for loading or whatever. They had been circling the platform in two queues and I'd been watching them on the AIS. As soon as the wind hit, they all dispersed and moved away from the platform, guess they were taken by surprise as well.
Unfortunately, this meant that there were now eleven ships all randomly moving about, they seemed to be just idling as they weren't moving much and we were right in the middle of it. It became like a game of bumper cars as the ships frequently changed direction and we never knew when, or, if, they'd start moving our way. We spent the night pinned to the AIS screen. We called one ship up to ask if they could give us a weather report which they did. We also asked if they could see us on their radar. They couldn't, until we gave them our location.

When the wind hit, we had hesitated about heaving-to. We had wanted to continue to sail to try and get away from the shipping. As soon as we cleared the ships, we were going to heave-to. Events intervened. Our newly repaired (for around $500) mainsail ripped in half again, about six inches below where it had been repaired. We had asked the sail loft to put a new panel in. When the sail
came back from Glasgow they had only put a patch on which obviously wasn't adequate.

After a tense Tuesday night, the next day had a few other momentous events:

0530 - we started sailing again. Two of the hose clamps which are used to attach the windvane's control lines to the wheel, snapped in half. We hove-to again and after digging out more hose clamps from under the v-berth, repaired.

0700 - our kerosene lantern, for some unknown reason, had earlier started leaking kerosene all over the salon table. We had quickly taken it down and stuffed it into a bucket with newspapers. When we moved the bucket to get the hose clamps out to fix the windvane, the bucket fell over and yes, the glass chimney shattered into a million pieces and we now had kerosene and broken glass everywhere.

Isn't sailing fun!

By 1000 Wednesday, August 25, we were motoring in about 30 knots. We had been unable to properly fix the windvane clamps and they broke again. We had lots of diesel and wanted
to make sure we got to the coast of Norway to make landfall before dark so we motored. Visibility was bad, we couldn't even see Norway until we were about eight miles off. Between the chartplotter and the autopilot it was a very smooth, easy entry onto a lee shore. We had been worried we might
encounter some breakers going in, but, the entrance was about a mile wide and we just rode the waves in under a rapidly darkening evening sky. We had previously located an anchorage only about three miles in from the sea. At 2100, we were tied up safely on a mooring ball, the only boat in a tiny, perfect, calm, very beautiful anchorage.

We had survived the North Sea, which had lived up to its fearsome reputation. Our anticipated 36 hour 'puddlejump' had turned into a 60 hour ordeal, but, we had arrived safely in Norway and were excited to be here!

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