Position: 60°38.57’N, 5°26.40’E

Power-washing the anchor locker as part of washing the boat while anchored at the head of Austfjorden. We don’t clean the anchor locker every time we wash the boat, but try to get to it occasionally.

Position: 60°38.57’N, 5°26.40’E

Changing the two 9-volt batteries in our Ultra Safety Systems high-water bilge alarm. We use our maintenance log to remind us to change them every three years.

Position: 60°38.59’N, 5°26.40’E

The holes on the original dishwasher upper spray arm (right) had widened over time, reducing the force of the flow and impacting cleaning effectiveness. We replaced it with a spare.

Position: 60°39.56’N, 5°25.49’E

Footbridge over the head of the small inlet Klenevagen, viewed on a tender tour of Austfjorden.

Position: 60°41.00’N, 5°22.99’E

Approaching a portion of the bridge from mainland Norway to the island of Hosoy.

Position: 60°41.90’N, 5°23.36’E

Looking north in Kyrkjesundet past a traditional Norwegian stone navigation mark.

Position: 60°42.00’N, 5°23.87’E

The Kjekallevagen Bridge crossing Kjekallevagen on the east side of Austfjorden.

Position: 60°41.72’N, 5°24.00’E

Boat houses at Gjelsvikvagen, looking east across to the other side of Austfjorden.

Position: 60°42.56’N, 5°26.61’E

Dramatic Kjekallevagen, extending off the east side of Austfjorden, with five waterfalls spilling down the cliffs.

Position: 60°39.06’N, 5°22.76’E

Jumping tower stored in a narrow, sheltered inlet in a branch of Austfjorden. The tower is used for the Asgard Dagane water sports festival, held in the area annually.

Position: 60°38.31’N, 5°23.84’E

Old dam in Vestvagen, at the head of an arm of Austfjorden.

Position: 60°39.19’N, 5°22.51’E

Water ski jump, part of the fun at the Asgard Dagane water sports festival.

Position: 60°39.21’N, 5°22.50’E

We were a little surprised to see a catapult-mounted chair next to the water ski jump. It’s also an attraction in the Asgard Dagane water sports festival and was the first one in Norway when introduced in 2013.

Position: 60°42.61’N, 5°26.11’E

We found Kjekallevagen so appealing when we toured the area by tender that we decided to bring Dirona here. The anchorage is deep at around 100 ft, but we’ve got plenty of room to put out 340 feet of rode and the holding is excellent.

Position: 60°42.63’N, 5°26.97’E

Kjekallevagen is almost completely encircled by steep slopes, and our Furuno SC-30 satellite compass can’t get a fix. The chartplotter has gone to a backup heading sensor, but the radar hasn’t yet switched over, so isn’t properly aligned.

Position: 60°42.59’N, 5°27.06’E

Tying off the tender for a hike up the mountains around our anchorage at Kjekallevagen.

Position: 60°42.50’N, 5°27.37’E

None of our hiking sources showed any trails at Kjekallevagen, so we just worked our way up through the most reasonable path we could find. The first part was steep, but through relatively open forest, and not too difficult.

Position: 60°42.61’N, 5°27.80’E

We exited the forested half of the climb at a sheer face above one of the waterfalls we could see from the anchorage. Where the face disappears over the edge is a several-hundred-foot drop-off. Even where James is in this picture, is steep enough that considerable care is required.

We weren’t keen on crossing it, but couldn’t find an alternative, so gingerly made our way across. The sections with water running down were very slippery, but we found a workable route. It did, however, feel a lot like a some of our recent via ferrata routes, but without the climbing aids.

Position: 60°42.63’N, 5°28.09’E

Great views into Kjekallevagen and Austfjorden from 2,131 ft (649 m) up near the top of Saeterfjellet. The wind was really blowing up here, and in the picture you can see big gusts disturbing the waters below. We were seeing 30-40kt winds at the top, strong enough that it could catch you a little by surprise as the gusts came up. So we’re being careful to stay away from the cliff edge.

Position: 60°42.43’N, 5°28.06’E

We found a nice sheltered spot out of the wind for lunch with a view down to Kjekallevagen. We couldn’t quite see Dirona, just around the corner to the right.

Position: 60°42.43’N, 5°28.06’E

From Saeterfjellet we could see a group of large oil rigs moored at the island of Sandoyna. These rigs are about twenty nautical miles away, and look super-interesting. Visiting them will be our next adventure.

Position: 60°42.42’N, 5°27.96’E

We wanted to avoid crossing that sheer face again, so looked for another way down. We found a pretty good route down a scree that brought us back to the treed section we’d originally hiked up.

Position: 60°42.66’N, 5°27.11’E

Back in the tender and looking up to the waterfall at the bottom of the sheer face we crossed earlier. That’s why we were being careful with our footing while crossing the face.

Position: 60°42.61’N, 5°26.95’E

Dirona moored at dramatic Kjekallevagen.

Position: 60°42.84’N, 5°27.23’E

Metal object, probably a power shovel, at an old industrial site in Kjekallevagen.

Position: 60°42.64’N, 5°26.92’E

The winds are really picking up here at Kjekallevagen. We’ve seen gusts to 52 knots at the anchorage so far. The anchor is well-set though, and we’re swinging on 340ft of rode, so we’re not going anywhere.

Position: 60°42.62’N, 5°27.00’E

The high winds have continued since yesterday and we’ve seen northeasterly gusts to 57 knots. The chartplotter shows that when we first arrived the winds were relatively light and the boat was moving around closer to the anchor, but over the last 24 hours has spent the most of its time at or near the limit of the rode. You can see the wind direction has been relatively constant from the northeast. The forecast was for winds about half this strength and from the southeast. Wind conditions are more heavy here as the winds rush down the fjord.

Position: 60°42.63’N, 5°26.97’E

We have a media filter in front of our water maker prefilter. The media filter is essentially a small sand filter very siimilar to that used on swimming pools. It’s super effective. In plankton rich waters, water maker prefilters can need to be replaced or cleaned weekly and sometimes as often as daily. With the media filter, we only change the prefilter annually when we change the carbon flush filter. The media filter has pressure guages showing when it needs to be cleaned, but we find it can go a very long time without building much back-pressure, so we just schedule the media filter for back-flushing monthly.

Cleaning the filter is quick and easy process. We reverse the valves, then run the booster pump, which runs seawater through the filter in the opposite direction, cleaning it. Here you can see the brown flush water coming out at the start of the flush cycle. We run the booster pump until the outflow water is clear, then shut it down and restore the valves to the forward flow.

Position: 60°42.63’N, 5°26.96’E

Doing the annual change of the water maker prefilter (top) and carbon flush filter (in bucket).

Position: 60°42.63’N, 5°26.98’E

We annually run the SCUBA compressor to lubricate the pump if it’s not otherwise been used. After, we drain off all air and water from operation and return it to storage state.

Position: 60°42.62’N, 5°26.96’E

Replacing the filter in the Racor CCV (Closed Crankcase Ventilation), used to reduce contaminated crankcase emissions. The purpose of this filter is to remove the oil most from the crankcase vapors that blow past the piston rings before these vapors are routed back into the intake to be burned in the engine. Burning these vapors rather than releasing them into the engine room helps avoid oil residue building on engine room surfaces and is required by modern emissions regulations. But to meet these same emission regulations the oil mist must be removed from the vapors prior to burning them since burning oil increases emissions.

Just about every major diesel manufacturer uses the RACOR CCV to remove the oil mist prior to burning these vapors. The more effectively the oil vapors are removed, the easier it is to get the engine emission compliant. So most manufacturers use the finest filter available from RACOR. They actually provide three different filters but using a very fine filter makes it easier to get the engine certified as emissions compliant. The downside of that choice is these filters plug up very quickly. Often as little as 250 to 500 hours between filter changes.

If the filters plug faster or they aren’t changed sufficiently frequently, excess crankcase pressures are the result, which will cause engine oil leaks. We have a manometer to measure crankcase pressure and we have found that these filters can cause problems remarkably quickly. As an experiment we have purchased several different more coarse filters. Here we are installing a WIX 1000 Racing Filter that uses a coarse metal element to condense out the oil mist. We expect this filter will deliver a much longer lifetime while avoiding excess crankcase pressures and the oil leaks that they can cause.

Position: 60°42.73’N, 5°27.24’E

The tender tied off at Kjekallevagen for another hike ashore. With the winds blowing it onshore, we’ve secured the stern with an Anchor Buddy to prevent the tender from bashing against the rocks.

Position: 60°42.72’N, 5°27.56’E

On our hike today, we’re heading up to the base of the waterfall, visible in the background, along the hill Setrelia along the east side of Kleppsvagen. Here we are climbing alongside the river flowing from the waterfall.

Position: 60°42.76’N, 5°27.79’E

Climbing a scree along the hill Setrelia at Kleppsvagen.

Position: 60°42.77’N, 5°27.75’E

The waterfall we’re climbing to plunges several hundred feet over a cliff.

Position: 60°42.77’N, 5°27.81’E

We reached the base of the fall in about an hour and had lunch with a great view across Kleppsvagen with Dirona visible below. You can see by the water patterns that the winds haven’t settled down much.

Position: 60°42.76’N, 5°27.76’E

Jennifer edging a little closer to the edge of the cliff for a look over the side.

Position: 60°42.86’N, 5°27.23’E

After hiking up Setrelia, we landed in the northeast corner of Kleppsvagen at at Kjekallebotnen to check out some ruins we could see. This is looking along a glacial moraine to the valley beyond.

Position: 60°42.88’N, 5°27.34’E

Stone ruins of a house at Kjekallebotnen.

Position: 60°42.87’N, 5°27.27’E

Checking out an old concrete pipe at Kjekallebotnen.

Position: 60°42.84’N, 5°27.28’E

A rusting chain among other old industrial ruins at Kjekallebotnen.

Position: 60°42.68’N, 5°26.81’E

Sometimes Dirona looks big, and other times small. It looks decidedly tiny here below the cliffs at Kleppsvagen.

Position: 60°42.63’N, 5°26.97’E

The winds increased in strength at Kleppsvagen this morning with gusts to 67 knots. The boat really leans in winds like that.