Kvaløya-Senja – 30th October 2017

Mon
30 Oct
2017

We left from Tromsø in good spirits in the early morning and set course to the north, through Kvalsund and to the outer side of Kvaløya, the large island west of Tromsø. The first orca of the season had been seen there a couple of days ago, so there was reason to be optimistic.

We were there at the right time but not quite at the right place, they were certainly somewhere, but not where we were, so we did not see any whales. We saw stunning landscape, rugged islands, sometimes hidden under snow showers, to re-appear then under quickly changing but always amazing light. We crossed 70 degrees north, close to Sandøya, an island with some lovely sand beaches and some lonely houses. Sandøya is supposed to have exactly one permanent inhabitant.

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Then we set a southerly course and sails, and the bridge crew took us safely through the skerries and rocks on the outer side of Kvaløya. We abandoned the plan to follow the outer side of Senja to Gryllefjord, it was just a bit too rough for that, and some had already sacrificed to King Neptune, so we went into the channels again and found good shelter between Senja and the mainland and soon we went alongside in Gibostad for a calm night.