Thu
16 Nov
2023

The magic of the ear­ly polar night in Spits­ber­gen. A day in Advent­da­len, not far from Lon­gye­ar­by­en. Some impres­si­ons of a day on 78 degrees north in mid Novem­ber from noon with some twi­light to real dark­ness which comes in the ear­ly after­noon.

Click on thumb­nail to open an enlar­ged ver­si­on of the spe­ci­fic pho­to.

Wed
15 Nov
2023

The last two days of this trip. A mor­ning in Sørk­jo­sen, a scenic (if wha­le-free) after­noon in Rei­safjord en rou­te to the love­ly litt­le place Ham­nes on Uløya. The­re we could enjoy a mor­ning with some walks in bril­li­ant wea­ther: light frost, clear sky and the beau­tiful light of the low win­ter sun.

Then we finis­hed a very suc­cessful trip in the far north of Nor­way with the last miles to Trom­sø.

And this is the end of my sea­son 2023 on sai­ling ships in the north. Anti­gua and Mean­der, I will see you next year in Spits­ber­gen! I am loo­king for­ward to you!

Click on thumb­nail to open an enlar­ged ver­si­on of the spe­ci­fic pho­to.

Sat
11 Nov
2023

As men­tio­ned abo­ve, we had saved the orcas for today 🙂 serious­ly – obvious­ly you can’t plan it like that, but some­ti­mes rea­li­ty is even bet­ter than you could dream it.

The wea­ther: pret­ty wild. Show­ers of snow and hail, dra­ma­tic light, strong and gus­ty wind. The who­le packa­ge and back again. And in the midd­le of all that, orcas ever­y­whe­re around us. Wild stuff.

It was good later to walk a bit in the silence of Sørk­jo­sen.

Click on thumb­nail to open an enlar­ged ver­si­on of the spe­ci­fic pho­to.

Fri
10 Nov
2023

Today the sun was smi­ling – at least for tho­se almost 5 hours that it bothers to come up abo­ve the hori­zon. And it is get­ting less and less every day. But the twi­light hours are long and beau­tiful both in the mor­ning and in the after­noon.

Our quest for wha­les in Kvæn­an­gen was suc­cessful also today, except that we still lea­ve the orcas for tomor­row. But the who­le rest of it … hump­back wha­les, finn wha­les, they were all the­re!

And so was the nor­t­hern light in the evening. A Zodiac tour to the litt­le har­bour and pub on Spil­dra roun­ded the day off.

Click on thumb­nail to open an enlar­ged ver­si­on of the spe­ci­fic pho­to.

Thu
9 Nov
2023

Kvæn­an­gen – that’s the place now for tho­se who dream about nor­t­hern lights and wha­les.

The best days are often tho­se that begin with low expec­ta­ti­ons. Clouds and wind. Litt­le chan­ces for a good wha­le­wat­ching expe­ri­ence and no chan­ce for nor­t­hern lights, one would think.

See what we then got … the pic­tures below will tell the sto­ry 🙂

Click on thumb­nail to open an enlar­ged ver­si­on of the spe­ci­fic pho­to.

Tue
7 Nov
2023

Here we go again – the last trip up north under sail this year for me. Lea­ving Trom­sø today with good old SV Anti­gua, sai­ling to the north, hoping for nor­t­hern lights and wha­les.

The first step takes us to the island of Reinøya with the litt­le love­ly place Finn­kro­ken, whe­re we spend the first evening, night and mor­ning. And now we are hea­ding nor­the­ast, to the Kvæn­an­gen area, very curious what the next days will bring!

Click on thumb­nail to open an enlar­ged ver­si­on of the spe­ci­fic pho­to.