Posts In The “Destinations” Category
The shipwreck of the HMY Iolaire was one of the worst UK maritime disaster during peacetime. The ship sunk Jan 1, 1919 in a severe southerly gale off Holm Point just outside Stornoway harbour. At least 201 of the 238 on board drowned (the ship was badly overcrowded and records poor, so the death toll…
Cnoc nan Uan hill is just north of Stornoway, and an easy walk from town. The hill is the highest in the area and has sweeping views across Stornoway and the Isle of Lewis, along with a sobering reminder of the toll of war. Atop the hill stands the 85-ft (26 m) Lewis War Memorial,…
After completing quarantine at Longhope in Orkney, we returned to Stornoway to refuel, provision and accept several deliveries. Departing Orkney is always a bit of a challenge in needing to time the strong tides as well as get a good weather window. We made the journey in two legs, with an 81-mile, 10-hour run to…
We spent much of our two weeks at Longhope, Orkney in twelve days of quarantine required for entry into Scotland during the pandemic. The days aboard passed quickly, and were somewhat reminiscent of our time spent the previous year at the Isle of Gigha during the Scottish lockdown except that instead of the local fishfarm…
Free from the ice, we departed Farsund, Norway for Orkney, Scotland on the first leg of our journey home to the US. Conditions were blissfully calm, especially considering we were crossing the North Sea in late February, and the passage was a relaxing and easy one. We finished the run with an exciting entry through…
Valentine’s Day 2021 brought an online Pearl Jam concert and the end of the cold snap in Farsund, with the temperature soaring 18° to above freezing at 37.8°F (3.2°C) from the previous day’s low of 19.1°F (-7.2°C). The ice melted as quickly as it formed, and over the course of ten days we went from…
In the second week of February, the temperature plunged well below freezing in Farsund and remained that way for ten days. The ice around Dirona rapidly grew thicker to the point we could actually stand on it. Given the water temperature was fairly warm at 45°F (7°C), we were surprised the air temperature dominated and…
The temperature continued to drop in Farsund in early February, bringing more snow and our first grocery trip in the white stuff. And surface ice started to form around the boat. The ice was still pretty slushy and we could poke through it with a boat hook, but it happened remarkably quickly. We also took…
Hundreds of miles of highways were built throughout Norway in the late 1800s and early 1900s to connect the communities. Since most of the work was done by hand, building tunnels and even blasting large sections of rock away was prohibitively difficult. Where no appropriate route was available, some rather impressive engineering resulted in narrow,…
Varbak Hill is the highest point in Farsund and provides wonderful view to the town and the Lyngdalsfjorden. On our second day in Farsund, we took a more extensive tour through town, including a walk up Varbak Hill. We also watched two of the Farsund FFS tugs assisting the 742-ft (226m) Hawk, one of the…
Our pilot guide describes Farsund as “ice free”, but the entrance to the guest harbour was blocked by ice when we arrived from Andabeloy. Two recent paths through the ice were evident, and we could see clear water beyond, so we selected one that looked from a distance to be mostly clear but with loose…
The air temperature was just below freezing as we continued south along the Norwegian coast late January, and the surface ice levels increased, particularly near freshwater inflows away from the warming effects of the Gulf Stream. After departing Kvitsoy, we anchored for a night at Nordragabet near Egersund and saw little ice on a tender…
Kvitsoy, with its historic lighthouse and millennium-old stone cross, was on our list of places to visit since our 2018 Norwegian cruise. We finally stopped there on our way south, near the end of our current visit to Norway. Getting there was a little more interesting than usual: we encountered a surprising amount of ice…
On our third stop in Haugesund, the town was much quieter than our previous visit in early August, when we took the last available berth. Dock space was not a problem late January, and we had the place mostly to ourselves. We spent a peaceful two nights there, and enjoyed a visit from two Stavanger…
Vestland is Norway’s newest county, established on January 1, 2020, and lies directly south of More Og Romsdal county. After departing Vestland’s administrative center, Bergen, we spent a week cruising coastal Vestland between Austevoll and Lammavagen. We’d already explored much of inland Vestland, including Nordfjorden, Sognefjorden, and Hardangerfjorden but hadn’t spent much time in the…
We returned in January to the beautiful city of Bergen, made even more so with a fresh coating of snow. While there, we enjoyed several walks through the winter landscape, particularly at dusk and dawn. We also refueled, restocked and learned about an awesome new piece of winter gear, shoe grippers, a wonderful invention that…
We spent the darkest and most northerly part of our Norwegian winter cruise, from early December to early January, in the the More Og Romsdal region directly north of the headland Stad. This area encompasses several major centers, including Alesund, Kristiansund, Andalsnes and Molde, plus spectacular scenic destinations such as UNESCO World Heritage site Geriangerfjord,…
Winter storms arrived frequently in early January as we continued south from the headland Stad. We travelled in calmer weather and stopped at Helleviksundet and Resesundet, pictured above, as the systems passed through. In calmer conditions we made a tender trip through the complex islets around Resesundet, and in the stormier weather completed some boat…