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.