Late on Sunday we kicked half the crew out for their taxi to Longyearbyen airport. For them, the adventure was over but for the remaining four of us (Barny, Joy, Dan and Rob) we were only half way in time and distance (though more than halfway in scenery). We now had to get our boat back to Tromso on mainland Norway at a positively southern 69 degrees North. To do this we would have to set out across the Barents Sea named after the Dutchman who discovered many of the islands around here, a name surely almost as closely associated with the Arctic as the Bearing Strait.
We refueled, re-watered and re-provisioned for the onward trip and removed the huge quantities of rubbish which we had accumulated over the previous 9 days since this could not be dropped off anywhere else. Finally, knowing the reputation of the Barents Sea as a stormy place and as you have to sail generally upwind to get to Noway we stood out in the rain and tested out our storm jib and cutter sail options for efficient sailing in light and strong winds.
Just before 7pm we set off South, ready to cross the parallels of latitude every 12 hours or so starting with 78N. With the reduced crew we settled on a new tougher watch system - 4 hours on, 4 hours off with two 'dog watches' of two hours in the middle of the day so the same team were not always on the unpopular 12-4am.
The first night was a bumpy hack out of the Isfjord, but by morning the winds were settling and we had a beautiful sail down the South West coast of Spitsbergen, we saw several whales and many groups of dolphins rounding up fish in big groups leaping out of the water repeatedly to further confuse their prey while the sea birds dived from above.
The dying wind conditions led us to contemplate again the kit which we would recommend any sailors in Svalbard bringing. In addition to the 10 things we were glad we brought, we would add a couple which we wish we had:
- A thermometer. It would have a been interesting to have known the air temperature (Raymarine told us the sea temperature) on the days that seemed freezing cold and the days that seemed warm.
- Heated boots (for obvious reasons)/ hot water bottle for warming up cold feet after watches.
- cowboy boots for the Texas Bar?
And things we wish we hadn't brought... 3kg of jam and a cupboardful of pot noodles...
To return to the story, we passed the Sorkapp later on Tuesday evening but could still see the last peak for some 70nm offshore well into the next day. Now the next landfall would be Bjornoya (Bear Island) an isolated place half way back to Norway home to many birds (it has apparently one of the best birds cliffs in the Northern Hemisphere) and a few meteorologists. We spotted this late on Wednesday when the sky was noticeably getting duller (a feeling with which we are unfamiliar, but will have to get used to as we keep going South). By this time the wind had disappeared and we had been motoring for many hours. We knew it would be time to start pouring in the diesel from the reserve cans soon, but needed a sheltered placed to do it as it required hanging off the back of the boat to get them out.
Joy had been having nightmares about being wrecked off Bear Island, and her worries were not helped when we pulled out the chart of the Southern end to find the fearsome marking 'survey incomplete, navigate with caution'...
We approached within a mile of the bird cliffs which rose forbiddingly several hundred meters from the sea, and saw many more puffins, auks and guillimots in the water, some with their young as if teaching them to fish. We also spotted a flock of Eider ducks shown below. By this time the sea was a very confused chop and the boat was wobbling around, we were experiencing a strong west going current (about 3 kts) and decided that it was time to head for deeper waters, rather than drive against the current and seek a bay for refueling.
We headed away from the cliffs and within a few minutes they disappeared into the fog, it was midnight and we woke up the other watch, fished out the diesel cans and set ourselves up for the final leg towards Tromso.
We refueled, re-watered and re-provisioned for the onward trip and removed the huge quantities of rubbish which we had accumulated over the previous 9 days since this could not be dropped off anywhere else. Finally, knowing the reputation of the Barents Sea as a stormy place and as you have to sail generally upwind to get to Noway we stood out in the rain and tested out our storm jib and cutter sail options for efficient sailing in light and strong winds.
Just before 7pm we set off South, ready to cross the parallels of latitude every 12 hours or so starting with 78N. With the reduced crew we settled on a new tougher watch system - 4 hours on, 4 hours off with two 'dog watches' of two hours in the middle of the day so the same team were not always on the unpopular 12-4am.
The first night was a bumpy hack out of the Isfjord, but by morning the winds were settling and we had a beautiful sail down the South West coast of Spitsbergen, we saw several whales and many groups of dolphins rounding up fish in big groups leaping out of the water repeatedly to further confuse their prey while the sea birds dived from above.
Dolphins by the boat with birds ready to take advantage
The dying wind conditions led us to contemplate again the kit which we would recommend any sailors in Svalbard bringing. In addition to the 10 things we were glad we brought, we would add a couple which we wish we had:
- A thermometer. It would have a been interesting to have known the air temperature (Raymarine told us the sea temperature) on the days that seemed freezing cold and the days that seemed warm.
- Heated boots (for obvious reasons)/ hot water bottle for warming up cold feet after watches.
- cowboy boots for the Texas Bar?
And things we wish we hadn't brought... 3kg of jam and a cupboardful of pot noodles...
To return to the story, we passed the Sorkapp later on Tuesday evening but could still see the last peak for some 70nm offshore well into the next day. Now the next landfall would be Bjornoya (Bear Island) an isolated place half way back to Norway home to many birds (it has apparently one of the best birds cliffs in the Northern Hemisphere) and a few meteorologists. We spotted this late on Wednesday when the sky was noticeably getting duller (a feeling with which we are unfamiliar, but will have to get used to as we keep going South). By this time the wind had disappeared and we had been motoring for many hours. We knew it would be time to start pouring in the diesel from the reserve cans soon, but needed a sheltered placed to do it as it required hanging off the back of the boat to get them out.
Joy had been having nightmares about being wrecked off Bear Island, and her worries were not helped when we pulled out the chart of the Southern end to find the fearsome marking 'survey incomplete, navigate with caution'...
We approached within a mile of the bird cliffs which rose forbiddingly several hundred meters from the sea, and saw many more puffins, auks and guillimots in the water, some with their young as if teaching them to fish. We also spotted a flock of Eider ducks shown below. By this time the sea was a very confused chop and the boat was wobbling around, we were experiencing a strong west going current (about 3 kts) and decided that it was time to head for deeper waters, rather than drive against the current and seek a bay for refueling.
Eider Ducks at Bear Island
We headed away from the cliffs and within a few minutes they disappeared into the fog, it was midnight and we woke up the other watch, fished out the diesel cans and set ourselves up for the final leg towards Tromso.
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