There are several ways for a cruise guest to reach Edinburgh. You can call at Leith as we did a few weeks ago and we will do in a fortnight again. You can drop anchor at South Queens ferry and tender ashore or you can dock at Rosyth. This is just past the Forth bridge and therefore the port is limited to those ships that can pass under this bridge. The Prinsendam is in principle too tall as well but we can fold our mast and by reducing our height by 7 meters, we do fit under it. Thus last evening after departing Kirkwall, the bo’sun lowered the top of the mast in preparation for today. From the pilot station to being fully docked is about 2.5 hours travel up the Firth of Forth and to be on time we arrived at the pilot station around 04.30 in the morning. Continue reading

Coming from the North West you have to sail between the islands that make up the Orkneys in order to reach Kirkwall. We sailed down keeping the island of Westray on our port side and the isle of Shapinsay to starboard. The body of water that we travelled through was called, most appropriately the Westry Firth. When we sail through these sort of areas I prefer to be on the bridge in case something unusual happens. It does most of the time. The currents can run strongly here and it only needs one Sunday sailor to be in the way for things to get complicated. A bit of moral support from the captain then makes the life of the navigator a lot easier. Further to the South is the Pentland Firth where the currents can run up to 7 or 8 knots or even more. When we went through there last time, on our way to Scrabster, we went through at the end of the Flood tide and we still had five knots with us. That was the END of the flood tide. Continue reading

The narrow passage for the approach to Torshavn from the West is between the islands Stremoy and Sandoy. Torshavn is located on Stremoy and this island you keep on your portside when coming through. The passage itself is deep and easy to go through, the problem lies with the currents that are setting around the islands. You have to be very alert as the set occurs very quickly and without notice. So it was also this morning. We were nicely sailing over our track line and suddenly the ship was pushed off-course by about 15 degrees. That is a lot and in a narrow passage you have to counteract this set at once to ensure that you stay on your track line. So we did and we moved under this 15 degree angle through the passage. In the middle of the passage the current started to follow the general direction of the passage and the officer of the watch could return to steering the regular course. There is a lot of current between the islands of the Faeroes and tomorrow when we are in the Orkneys there will be even more. Continue reading

Due to the fact that Reykjavik is located at the South West side of the island and the Faroe Islands more to the East, we had to sail around the southern part of Iceland. As it is not exactly a small island it took us quite a while. It was only by noon time today that we finally left the island behind and started the crossing. Although we are away from the area of the midnight sun, it is still not completely dark during the night and thus we could see the mountain ridges of South East Iceland all night long and well into the morning. Continue reading

The capital of Iceland is located in the South West corner of Iceland and not in a fjord as most Icelandic places more to the north are. As a matter of fact it is quite open to the elements when there is a South Westerly wind blowing. I was expecting the wind to be more from the North and that would make it wind still on arrival. For cruise ships Reykjavik has three options. Small cruise ships can dock in the inner harbour on the top of the town, large cruise ships can dock at the commercial dock and every size can anchor in the bay North of the main town area. We were scheduled to dock at the commercial port, which since from 5 or 6 years has a very beautiful dock. For a moment I contemplated dropping anchor as it was wind still in the bay and it would make it very easy for the guests to get to downtown using the ships tenders but as there was wind expected in the afternoon, I decided to continue to the dock. With a Southwesterly chop, the tender ride would have been uncomfortable. Continue reading

Due to connectivity problems with my PC earlier in the day, I will upload two days tomorrow.

Best regards

Capt. Albert

Well the weather gods were with us, as far as the wind was concerned. By the time we started our sightseeing, the fog had been blown away and then the wind started to die down. Good for sightseeing and good for docking later on. Isafjordur is located in a deep bay with several inlets. It looks a bit like a cats paw when seen on the chart. This area is called the Isafjardjup fjord and we made a slow sail by through this fjord. The whole area is of volcanic origin and the mountain ridges all have slopes where debris has accumulated. Rocks that have come loose because of the extreme temperature differences between summer and winter that can occur. Also water that froze in the cracks during the winter months and then expands caused large and small pieces of rock to breakaway from the solid part. I found it looking a bit like Idaho, as long as you forgot about the Greenery. Continue reading

This town is located on the north side of Iceland at the end of a 28 mile deep fjord. The latter can be a blessing or a curse. Fjords can the shelter the docks from the wind or they can enhance the wind or funnel wind, if the wind direction is in line with the fjord. We arrived in foggy weather and also found that the entrance was shrouded in this hazy stuff. I had planned for this situation to occur, so we had built up a bit of spare time in the schedule and that meant that we did not have to race into the fjord. At sea you can always make a round turn or another major course change, in a fjord that is a little bit difficult. Reducing speed is the only option and that means it helps if you are already going slow. By the time we were halfway into the fjord the shore lines came in sight, which meant we had visibility of about a mile. Three quarters down in the fjord, the fog lifted and we could see the hamlets lining the shore. This is the place where a lot of Reykjavikians come for their summer holiday and we saw several clusters of cottages dotting the hill sides. Today it did not look much like a vacation destination but normally the weather is quite pleasant here. Continue reading

Today was our second day at sea while sailing from Spitsbergen to Iceland. After a foggy night we approached Jan Mayen Island around 06.30 and we just saw the Beerenberg coming out of the fog for a few seconds. That gave hope that we would be able to see something and I slowed the ship down to have maximum exposure time while sailing by. The island is about 20 miles long, at least that is the distance that we had to make to get around it. I mentioned yesterday that Jan Mayen is exactly on the line, and thus on the course line, between the exit of Isefjord in Spitsbergen and the approach to Akureyri. So we had to change course a little bit to the West to avoid running straight onto the beach. Continue reading

Leaving the top of the world behind; we set sail on a South Westerly course for Iceland where we will visit three ports and by doing so sail around half of the island. First on the list is Akureyri which is tucked away at the end of a fjord on the North side of the island and more or less in the middle of it. From Spitsbergen to this place is one straight course line except for the fact that the island of Jan Mayen is in the way. So when we approach that one, by tomorrow morning, we will have to change course temporarily in order not to hit it. This area is notorious for fog, caused by the proximity of various currents, all with a different average temperature and one moist weather system after the other coming over it. I had been warned and the warnings were true. Continue reading