Bodø-Osholmen
Just before Landegode we met the more than 110 years old boat "Hæringen". This boat is an "Åttring" (basically; eight pair of oars boat).
We found a perfect spot for anchoring, dropping two anchors; one fore and one aft facing the current and forecasted wind. But late that evening the wind increased to 10 m/s and turning more than 180 degrees within minutes. We were in the lee of the mountain, but in this spot the topography of the island caused the wind to play havoc with our anchoring strategy. We decided to move 2nm miles to Fesnes harbour at 2 o'clock in the morning - so we would be able to get some sleep.
The mountains in Lofoten emerged from the sea at sunset.
Osholmen-Fenes
When we arrived the quay was occupied. Therefore we just tied up to a buoy and in the late morning we moved to the floating stage.
Fenes-Nusfjord
Started early to be in Bodø to pick up a crew member arriving with plane. Then we headed towards Lofoten. Crossed Vestfjorden close-hauled in nice weather even the sun was out a bit before a front caught up with us again.
In the end we out-sailed the front and landed in Lofoten in sun, well - Nusfjord is a tiny fjord with tall mountains so there we were in the shade.....
Panoramic view of Nusfjord - the guest harbour is in at the far end. We were very surprised to find out, that tourists have to pay 50 NOK/person for visiting the tiny village. As we arrived by boat, this did not apply to us (or was included in the harbour fee).
In the tiny fjord a fishing boat had caught a full net of mackerel - here a fish carrier is pumping the catch onboard from the net.
The sound of the black-legged Kittiwakes nesting in the harbour brings back memories of the captains home town.
Nusfjord-Henningsvær
We sailed to Hennigsvær in gray and rainy weather, the picture above was taken the next day when the sun had finally decided to visit us.
Henningsvær-Trollfjorden
Late start today, the captain had some dirty work to do; one of the toilets clogged up and he had to empty, dismantle and clean the "shit"! Afterwards the toilet worked impeccable and we could head of into a sunny day without wind.
The deckhand and the first mate decided to do some fishing on the way and they caught a coal fish, a cod and this nice common ling (right.
Arriving at Trollfjorden, the wind had picked up and the fish went into a delicious fish soup.
Can't present the right perspective to illustrate the size, but the little dot in the opening is a sailboat!
At night when the "Polarlys" visited the fjord, you get a feeling for the perspective!
Steep mountains in Trollfjorden
A brisk walk up along the pipe for the power plant gave us this nice view of the fjord.
Trollfjorden-Sortland
Leaving Trollfjorden, we could see a lot of snow still laying in the mountains. As it is already August, there is little chance, that the snow will disappear this year.
Goodbye Lofoten - Welcome Vesterålen!
Sortland has 3 guest harbours, one south of the city, one north of the city and the bridge and one in the centre. We choose the one in the city centre, a tiny harbour with room for 2-4 boats along a floating stage. Nothing much was going on in the city.......
We were welcomed on arrival with 2 fresh salmons and a bottle of wine - we love the hospitality of northern Norway!
The rookie sailor's corner
What do you mean? Me - I am not indecent!!!
How can you even try to suggest that??
Have you seen my pink napkin by the way??
The next morning our able deckhand left to catch a plane from Evenes.
We decided to go around Andøya because this area is whale territory, and we hoped to spot some whales - no such luck - instead we had rainy and cold weather! except for the 1 hour of low sun around 10 in the evening.
The lateral markings in the harbour should be followed - at ebb tide rocks were coming out of the water just to the right in the picture.
Bleikøya - the island in the back is a bird sanctuary with lots of puffins, actually there are Puffin Safaris leaving from here several times a day! Here are some of the birds we spotted:
Parasitic Jaeger
Puffin
Black Guillemot
3 White-tailed eagle were circling the island and constantly chased by puffins.
Bleik-Bjarkøy
Going around the northern point of Andøy we also were on the most northerly point of our voyage; N 69° 19' 71'', which is actually as far north as the northern tip of Alaska!
Bjarkøy was a Viking chieftain seat during the Viking and Middle ages, and there have been found many traces of them on this island. Just behind the boat there were a Viking boathouse. Now it houses the local yacht club with a nice and sheltered floating stage.
Bjarkøy-Harstad
We could see a bit of the sun today, but it is still cold!
The rookie sailor's corner
Now, that is what I call a proper stick!
It is definitely not the usual toothpicks you throw for me!
We
woke up at 0600 because the wind had turned to NE and the harbour
turned into as rollercoaster!
We decided to get off for an early start and get trough the currents ahead before it turned against us.
Harstad-Skarstad
Lovely sailing through Tjeldsundet today, we were doing 10.5 knots over ground due to the strong current!
We first tried the well protected guest harbour in the southernmost part of Lødingen, but the berths was only 3.8m wide. Stopped at the new pontoons further north, but being exposed to the NE wind and waves, they were quite uncomfortable, so we only stayed long enough to do some shopping.
Just across the fjord we found Skarstad with a floating stage and lovely view!
Moored at the floating stage - less than 10€ with power. Did we mention that we had sun the whole day today?
Skarstad-Straumshamn
Sunny today again! Here we are approaching our anchorage.
Welkin in sheltered waters in Straumshamn. We tied up to land with 2 lines fore and one aft, plus an anchor aft - we had a calm night!
The white beach looked tempting, the water was crystal clear, but with 10 degrees C in the water and 11 in the air - not a chance!!
Straumshamn-Bogen
Light winds, sun and lazy sailing - in the end we had to start the engine. Just a couple of miles before the guest harbour at Bogen, the first mate spotted something that looked like Harbour Porpoises, but when we got closer we were in doubt - there were simply too many of them! We could count 15-20 on the surface, so there must have been more than 50 of them, but when we saw them jump out of the water we were sure; Dolphins! It turned out to be Atlantic White-sided Dolpins. Check out the story in the local newspaper Nordlys!
We followed the dolphins for about an hour before we went the last part to the harbour and only 100m from the quay 3-4 dolphins surfaced by the boat as if they wanted to say good-bye and thanks for the company!
Bogen guest harbour in the evening sun, well the guest places are the end of the two pontoons.
Bogen-Kjerringøy
Motored through the skerries the first part of the day - the forecasted gale appeared in the afternoon as a breeze so we could sail the last part. Kjerringøy has lost some of its charm with the two rows of equal and unreal designed fisherman shacks for the tourists!
Kjerringøy-Bodø 1580nm total
We let the coastal line ship Nordnorge mark the end of our journey this year.
The crew is now eager to get home and defrost a bit after a cold and rainy trip along the beautiful Norwegian coast - just look at the weather forecast for the coming days.................
