We had to sail 300 miles due South from Bear Island, and expected this to take another two days (taking the total to 4 days since Longyearbyen), there would not be much to see on the next part, so we would have to keep happy by making cake and enjoying the ever warmer temperatures.
We spotted on the horizon a thing which looked like a yacht, in the sense that there are basically two kinds of things you see at sea - cargo and passenger liners which are long and low, and sailing boats, which have high masts that are seen well before the rest of the boat. This had a high mast so appeared to be a sailing boat, but did not seem to have any sails, and did not seem to be moving, it also seemed to be a long way away. As we got closer, it morphed into a huge oil exploration platform. This was a photo when we got a bit closer...
So the ways we explore the arctic have changed since the whale slaughter and blubber ovens we had seen at Smeerenburg, but all around us once out of Svalbard we saw fishing boats and now oil rigs too. Will the people in a few hundred years see us any better than we think of the whalers of the 17th century who pushed so many species so close to extinction they have still not recovered? They just wanted some whale oil after all....
Fortunately the whalers didn't get them all, and after the smaller Minke whales we saw in Northern Spitsbergen at almost the end of our trip we saw a giant Sperm whale next to the boat - I thought it was a rock at first that somehow I hadn't seen on the chart but then it blew a waterspout and dived. So this completed our 'big-5' sightings.
We hope you have enjoyed some of the photos on this blog, we've had a huge range of camera equipment to play with, and on the way back we tried out some additional interesting effects.
There was still no wind, and our weather forecast team (Ben) was keeping us posted by satellite phone on any updates. Sadly no wind materialised, and the main excitement of the trip started to be whether we would run out of diesel before we reached the Norwegian coast... We did every possible calculation and monitored the rate of usage every hour. At various points we were sure that we would not make it without more sailing (and so more wind) while at others we thought we could make it easily. We considered changing destination on the coast to the port where Nansen's 'the Fram' returned after her attempt to reach the North Pole over a hundred years ago - perhaps a fitting place for us to arrive after our arctic adventure?
As we kept out watches we realised that for the first time in two weeks the sun would set that night (Raymarine were back on form at these lower latitudes), there was now a much bigger difference in temperature between night and day and we were were all wondering where the switch for the navigation lights was....
Thanks to a late burst of wind when just 30 miles from the Norwegian coast, we made it back to Torsvag, the first fishing village on the coast in Norway with the help of our cutter rig. We now had around 40 liters of our 340 litre of diesel capacity remaining, we decided we would just be able to make it to Tromso without refuelling.
The Barents Sea didn't challenge our sailing this time, but after such a fabulous trip to a land so different to where we normally live, that it already seems a bit like a dream as I summarise it for the ships log.
I am sure we will return if Sysselmannen allows, and we hope the number of tourists does not get out of control. Perhaps then we will see a different side to this part of the Arctic Ocean.
As we entered the fjords we collected the last of our 10 degrees of southerly sailing, passing the 70th, just over a week after the 80th. Rob and Dan felt they had to go swimming nearby to have done that at both as well! It was time at last to take off our thermal underwear, we were actually beginning to sweat a bit...
The scenery here is different with trees on all the hillsides and colourful little cabins, but you can see the marks the glaciers left on the land when temperatures were cold enough to sustain them.
We moored in the Boreal Yachting marina must before midnight on Friday ready to hand the boat back the next morning. We had sailed just over 1210 nautical miles in two weeks, and completed a passage of 650 to get back to Norway - all without more than one RYA 'night hour'!
We were back in a land of cities, albeit very scenic ones and so we headed up to the hill above Tromso by cable car to take this final picture for the blog.
We hope you enjoyed reading - and perhaps have been inspired to do your own arctic adventure, even if only to the edge of the arctic circle.
Barny, Joy, Dan & Rob
We spotted on the horizon a thing which looked like a yacht, in the sense that there are basically two kinds of things you see at sea - cargo and passenger liners which are long and low, and sailing boats, which have high masts that are seen well before the rest of the boat. This had a high mast so appeared to be a sailing boat, but did not seem to have any sails, and did not seem to be moving, it also seemed to be a long way away. As we got closer, it morphed into a huge oil exploration platform. This was a photo when we got a bit closer...
Fulmar in front of West Hercules oil platform
So the ways we explore the arctic have changed since the whale slaughter and blubber ovens we had seen at Smeerenburg, but all around us once out of Svalbard we saw fishing boats and now oil rigs too. Will the people in a few hundred years see us any better than we think of the whalers of the 17th century who pushed so many species so close to extinction they have still not recovered? They just wanted some whale oil after all....
Fortunately the whalers didn't get them all, and after the smaller Minke whales we saw in Northern Spitsbergen at almost the end of our trip we saw a giant Sperm whale next to the boat - I thought it was a rock at first that somehow I hadn't seen on the chart but then it blew a waterspout and dived. So this completed our 'big-5' sightings.
A huge sperm whale next to the boat - the worlds biggest carnivore
We hope you have enjoyed some of the photos on this blog, we've had a huge range of camera equipment to play with, and on the way back we tried out some additional interesting effects.
Some camera tricks from Rob
There was still no wind, and our weather forecast team (Ben) was keeping us posted by satellite phone on any updates. Sadly no wind materialised, and the main excitement of the trip started to be whether we would run out of diesel before we reached the Norwegian coast... We did every possible calculation and monitored the rate of usage every hour. At various points we were sure that we would not make it without more sailing (and so more wind) while at others we thought we could make it easily. We considered changing destination on the coast to the port where Nansen's 'the Fram' returned after her attempt to reach the North Pole over a hundred years ago - perhaps a fitting place for us to arrive after our arctic adventure?
As we kept out watches we realised that for the first time in two weeks the sun would set that night (Raymarine were back on form at these lower latitudes), there was now a much bigger difference in temperature between night and day and we were were all wondering where the switch for the navigation lights was....
Thanks to a late burst of wind when just 30 miles from the Norwegian coast, we made it back to Torsvag, the first fishing village on the coast in Norway with the help of our cutter rig. We now had around 40 liters of our 340 litre of diesel capacity remaining, we decided we would just be able to make it to Tromso without refuelling.
Passing Torsvag as we arrived at the Norwegian Coast
The Barents Sea didn't challenge our sailing this time, but after such a fabulous trip to a land so different to where we normally live, that it already seems a bit like a dream as I summarise it for the ships log.
I am sure we will return if Sysselmannen allows, and we hope the number of tourists does not get out of control. Perhaps then we will see a different side to this part of the Arctic Ocean.
Crossing the 70th parallel - not much whiskey left now
As we entered the fjords we collected the last of our 10 degrees of southerly sailing, passing the 70th, just over a week after the 80th. Rob and Dan felt they had to go swimming nearby to have done that at both as well! It was time at last to take off our thermal underwear, we were actually beginning to sweat a bit...
The scenery here is different with trees on all the hillsides and colourful little cabins, but you can see the marks the glaciers left on the land when temperatures were cold enough to sustain them.
We moored in the Boreal Yachting marina must before midnight on Friday ready to hand the boat back the next morning. We had sailed just over 1210 nautical miles in two weeks, and completed a passage of 650 to get back to Norway - all without more than one RYA 'night hour'!
Tromso from the top of the cable car
We were back in a land of cities, albeit very scenic ones and so we headed up to the hill above Tromso by cable car to take this final picture for the blog.
We hope you enjoyed reading - and perhaps have been inspired to do your own arctic adventure, even if only to the edge of the arctic circle.
Barny, Joy, Dan & Rob
Location:Bear Island to Tromso
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