At 0600 we embarked the pilot for Bergen as we were scheduled for a 0900 arrival. We did not need to be that early as we will be staying overnight here and that gives two days to explore beautiful Bergen and the surrounding areas. So we have some full day tours running here that will return to the ship at a time that we would normally be pulling out. Not today; we will have a quiet overnight, great for the guests and interesting for the crew. Although the local prices will probably keep the crew from having too good a time ashore. Bergen itself is lying in the shelter of two strips of coast line, facing a large open bay called the Byfjorden. Therefore it takes a while from both pilot stations to get to this port. Whether you come from the North (Fedje Pilots) or from the South (Marsteiner Pilots) you have to sail through an approach fjord which will lead to Bergen port. This port is sheltered from the elements, especially in the winter, and that made it possible that the city rose to become the 2nd city of Norway in size. If you talk to some inhabitants of Bergen, then they will claim that Bergen is the foremost city in the country, far ahead of Oslo. It is a rivalry not uncommon to other countries as well. In my own country there is Rotterdam and Amsterdam and never “the twain shall meet”. Being educated at the Maritime academy of Amsterdam and sailing for a company originating from Rotterdam, I know everything about that. Continue reading

Today we had another restful day at sea with still the same smooth seas. At least until late in the morning when the wind and swell started to pick up a little bit. Normally there is a southerly flow blowing along the coast of Norway and on most cruises that I made here we have had this flow. So also this time. Thus the ship moved a little bit on occasion but you had to look at the curtains to be able to notice it. For the rest the weather is holding perfectly and that means that this is just a perfect cruise as far as that is concerned. The rest is always a matter of personal taste but I think even the greatest pessimist has to agree that this cruise has been rather spectacular with its ports and accompanying weather. We just have to keep our fingers crossed for the three coming ports, Oslo, Kristiansand and Bergen (in reverse order) as far as the weather goes. Although these three ports are less weather dependent than those that lay behind us, as there are things to do that do not require you to be in the open that much; still most of our tours are focused on the Norwegian scenery and that looks a lot better in dry weather than in a downpour. Continue reading

After the excitement of the Top of the World visit we had today the first of our two sea days. Two days are needed as we have to cover about 1160 miles, straight down, to reach Bergen in the middle of Norway. As the sea is very smooth we are having a very nice ride following a course of 185o which will not change for those two days. With every mile that we make we are coming closer and closer to the real world, of email, twitter and facebook. I expect that we will be able to pick the signal again in the early evening of today. I am not very much into satellite signals but it all seems to depend on the angle above the horizon and the strength of the signal beamed at any given time. That means that we might not pick it up at the same latitude where we lost it last year while Northbound. Still today we should be back in “civilization” as they call it and it will mean that I can upload my blogs tomorrow morning. Continue reading

From the “Top of the World” we sailed slowly south towards our next highlight of the cruise Ny-Alesund also on the island of Spitsbergen. It is located on the banks of the Kongsfjorden about a 100 miles North of Longyearbeyen as the crow flies. The “Kongs” or Kings fjord was created by a glacier system called the Kongsbreen which is very big. So large in fact that it looks like an ice plateau that flows around mountain peaks and gives the impression that there are several separate glaciers. This glacier reaches the waterline and thus there is ice calving off and floating to open waters. Normally not much of a hindrance as the fjord is very wide but in foggy circumstances you can still bump into little bergs. As we have been having fog banks in the early mornings, there would be a good chance that this would happen today as well and that complicates dealing with little bergy-bits of ice. Continue reading

Today was the absolute highlight of the cruise. This cruise is called the “Top of the World” cruise and thus the idea is to go to the top of the world. At least as close as possible. By the time you come to the drift ice it is time to stop as we are not an ice breaker. In the last 14 days I had kept a close eye on the ice border North of Svalbard. In May they had a warm month in this area and that caused the ice rim to retreat. The worry was how far as I had only so many hours in the schedule to sail North and go looking for the ice without endangering the next port of call Ny-Alesund, which I knew was also going to be a highlight. You do not visit the middle of nowhere everyday, thus we had to go. The ice charts kept however indicating that the ice hovered between 150 and a 100 miles North of Spitsbergen, with the Fast ice about 200 miles away. That meant that I would be able to find it within the schedule as with full speed I would be able to cover 300 miles extra, as long as I would make enough time available to do so. Meaning we had to go to Magdalena Bay very early in the morning. Continue reading

When I reached the bridge at 0500 in the morning, I was met with very hazy weather which turned within 15 minutes into a dense wall of white fluff. For the approach to the port of Longyearbyen it does not crate much of a problem but in the scope of things to come, tomorrow’s sightseeing, I was not very happy with what I saw. However after an hour of frequent whistle blowing, which advised all the guests in the balcony cabins that the bridge was wide awake and working the fog dispersed and the Isfjorden opened up in front of us. This is a very wide and deep fjord and deserted in the early morning. Later in the day it will be a different story as it can be full of sailing boats, canoes, fast crafts and scenic contraptions that are moved around. But even scientists have to sleep on occasion and therefore things tend to be reasonably quiet at 5 am in the morning. We had very good visibility after clearing the fogbank and we could see the dock from miles away and it was nicely clear of boats. Continue reading

03 August 2010; At Sea.

This was our second day at sea and I was mind boggled by the weather. Smooth seas, with only a gentle breeze. Later on it went up to just wind force four which is still very good for this area. Reasonable to good visibility; all the reason to be very happy with the state of affairs as they are developing. The chance of fog is bothering me as all the coming sightseeing depends on it. So I am hoping for the best. I made my announcement today, laying out the plans for the coming days. After departure Longyearbyen we will go to Barentzburg, which is located in a small fjord to the south West of Longyearbyen. This side step is not in the brochure or in the HAL planning, but I have the time, so why not. It works out that I can do it between the two sittings and before the show starts, so no irate cruise director who sees his planning going up in smoke. Nor will it affect the bingo so I will live another day on that one. The next day we have the planned visit to Magdalena fjord, which looks a little bit like Glacier Bay although the landscape has different colors. Here I need good visibility and if it is foggy I might still be able to do the call in the afternoon. In between we will go north to find the North Pole ice. The Norwegian Ice charts are indicating that the ice is about 100 miles North of Spitsbergen and that I can reach easily within the current schedule. So I sent all the guests to bed with the request to say a little prayer. Continue reading

Today was the first of the two sea days that we have between Akureyri and Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen. This area of the North Atlantic is partly called the Greenland Sea towards the Greenland side and the Norwegian Sea towards the Norwegian side, and I have never been able to figure out exactly where the one ends and the other starts. The area is well sheltered from the North Atlantic weather that comes from the south by Iceland and as long as there is no wind from the North, the seas are smooth here. However there can be a lot of wind from the North and therefore we are very lucky with the weather. Nothing but a gentle breeze, temperatures in the mid 40’s (10 oC) and low hanging clouds. May it last for another few days. The only issue with low hanging clouds is that it obscured the top of the island of Jan Mayen, the Beerenberg Volcano. Continue reading

By 03.30 we started to enter the fjord. Rather early but I had set up the route from Isafjordur to Akureyri to run on average speed, to achieve optimum fuel consumption and that meant a speed of just over 12 knots. As the fjord is 26 miles deep it would take nearly three hours to get to the pilot station near the port itself. Still it is advisable here to go slow. There is the occasional fishing boat, and the occupants are not always awake plus there can be whales swimming about. As explained in one of my previous blogs, the company has protocols to avoid collisions with whales. One of those options is to change course to head the ship away from them. In a fjord that is not so easy with limited space to go, so slow speed or stopping has to do the trick. Thus the idea of charging into the fjord at full sea speed is not a good one. If then you suddenly have to put the breaks on there is a fair chance that you get a highly excited Chief engineer on the phone. The Whale experts have figured out that if the ships speed is around 10 knots the chance of hitting a whale is quite small. It seems to give them time to realize that there is a ship nearby and it also gives us time to quickly stop the ship. Continue reading

Today and tomorrow we will be visiting ports that are tucked away deep at the end of a fjord. That gives the meaning of “approach” a whole different dimension as the arrival of the port is preceded by some very scenic cruising towards the dock. For the early morning arrival, there are normally not that many guests out and about, except for a few diehards that I see every morning but on departure the outside decks will be full when we retrace our steps again to open sea. The weather forecast predicted a gloomy day but when we started to make our approach we could see the sun already trying to peep through so once again the prediction was wrong, whoever it was wrong to our benefit. The town of Isafjordur is located on a shelf of land that sticks out into the fjord. Behind it is a large and deep bay with several docks all dedicated to the fishing industry.
The entrance channel towards these docks is only 60 meters wide and thus there is great reluctance by the port authorities to let us go there. They have asked for a government grant to widen the channel and then larger ships can call at Isafjordur. Until that time the largest size ship is dictated by the length of the dock located at the entrance of the port, or by its willingness to go to anchor. Continue reading