A sea voyage along the Norwegian coast: part 2

Saturday, August 27


Felt a lot better today. We started the day, watching the approach to Harstad. Here we met the north-going Hurtigruten, which had docked before we arrived, and which left shortly after we docked.

Harstad

Grytøya

Today husband has had a headache, and also a lot of worry about mother-in-law, who has taken a turn for the worse.I was able to properly enjoy the breakfast buffet today, although, to my disapointment they didn't serve pancakes today. The rain had stopped, and the sun was almost breaking through a hazy sky. Spent the morning relaxing on deck until lunch.

Relaxing on deck. Not so warm now.

Vesterålen


Shortly after lunch, we arrived at Stockmarknes, where we visited the Hurtigruten Museum. We had just left and were idly remarking on the ambulance crossing the bridge with flashing blue lights, wondering where it was going, when the ship suddenly turned 180 degrees and hightailed it back to the dock. The ambulance arrived just as we laid to. One of the passengers had been taken ill.

Stockmarknes


But the high point of the day was the eagle safari. We crossed from our ship to a smaller boat mid fjord from the car hold. Then zoomed down a narrow pass between towering crags called raftsundet, in the middle of which is the entrance to the troll fjord. Two women began throwing pieces of bread and fish over the edge, while emitting sharp birdlike calls. At first nothing happened. Then gradually the seagulls started gathering, calling and chatterering, hovering in the air over the women, diving for the food, catching it in the air, and even landing on their arms to tear it out of their hands. It is the commotion from the gulls that attracts the eagles, and suddenly there they were, gliding over the boat in circles. The boat idled, the gulls suddenly gave way and fell silent. Then one woman filled a fish with a syringe full of air to make it float, and threw it as far aout as she could, and the eagle dived for the fish, catching it out of the water. I think, all in all we saw a dozen eagles. One huge eagle, with a wing span of 7or 8 feet is 45 years old we were told.

From here we went straight into a smaller vessel

Leaving MS Vesterålen behind

Trollfjorden

Attracting gulls

Two eagles

Lofoten

We rejoined our ship at Svolvær. Dinner tonight was a more social event than previously. We sat with an american couple, a young swiss nurse, and a swedish journalist, talked and got to know each other. It was later than usual before we went to our bunks to read before bed.

Svolvær

Bedtime on board

Sunday, August 28

Sailing along the Helgeland coast today brought back memories of the 6 years that I lived in Leirfjord. It had rained again last night, and was still somewhat cloudy when we docked at Ørnes.

Ørnes

Arctic Circle

Helgelands Coast


However as we sailed down the coast, passing the arctic circle, it cleared up and we experienced a calm, fairly sunny, mild day: rare weather for Helgeland as I remember it.The next stop was Nesna, where we bought my first horse. Sailing along Leirfjord I was surprised to see how wild and uninhabited it looks, seen from the sea. We reached Sandnessjøen, where both my sons we born, around noon, and took a walk around town. Here you could see how Leirfjord lies open to the southwest, which also explains how the southwestern winds that I rermember so well are able to tear up along the valley, driving rain (and snow) before them. In ourday, you had to take a ferry between Leirfjord and Sandnessjøen. Now there is a new bridge.

Leirfjord

Sandnessjøen

Petter Dass statue in Sandnessjøen


We have been flying the mail flag all day. In Sandnessjøen we loaded 4 pallets of mussels (blåskjell). The hurtigruten is not only a cruise ship, but carries mail and goods, as well as passengers going shorter distances.Between Sandnessjøen and Brønnøysund, watched the 7 sisters slowly pass by, and Alstadhaug church at the southern tip of Alsten Island. In Brønnøysund where we docked in the mid-afternoon, we took a walk again. A member of the crew had recommended the soft serve ice cream with stirred wild blueberries from the ice cream shop on the dock.

The Seven Sisters

Brønnøysund

Torghatten


Since many of the passengers will be leaving the ship in Trondheim tomorrow, there was a farewell dinner, wher we wwere introduced to the kitchen and serving staff and given the opportunity to applaud and thank them. It started raining during dinner, and when we got to Rørvik in the evening it was pouring rain and windy - typical Helgeland weather. In Rørvik there was a free museum with an exibit about life along the Norwegian coast from the stone age to the present. The church was open as well, withcandlelight and music, but we didn't have time to visit it all, as we were late arriving, thus cutting our hours stay down to about 35 minutes.

Farewell Dinner

Husband

The Museum in Rørvik