Day 10 - Nordkapp and the North Coast of Norway

More Northern Lights

After the last port of call last night the ship sailed into the open sea which was very rough.  I couldn’t get off to sleep and got up just before 1.00 am to see a magnificient display of the Northern Lights from our cabin window.  I took a few photos but only one turned out ok.  Eventually they disappeared and I managed to sleep but it was off and on all night.

This morning, after leaving Hammerfest very early this morning the ship started moving along the north coast of Norway towards the North Cape or Nordkapp as it is known here.   We are now in the Barents Sea now and the sea has been very rough,

Coping with rough seas

Showering iss a challenge as the ship was moving about so much.  Everyone was staggering around the ship as if drunk.  We had breakfast and then watched the ship dock at Havoysund, another very pretty and very isolated village along the northern coast.  

Havoysund 

Nordkapp Excursion

At the next port of call, Honningsvag, we had our first excursion – to Nordkapp which is the most northerly point in mainland Europe.   We had booked with a local tour company who were charging half of the Hurtigruten cost and we think we got better value.  There were only 12 of us and the driver gave us a lot of information on the 30 km drive.  The last 14 kms were in convoy.  We turned off the main road and waited behind a few other vehicles at the barrier and soon the Hurtigruten coaches joined us.  At the start of the convoy was a snow plough removing all the snow that had drifted or had fallen since the last run.  All the vehicles followed with a service vehicle at the rear.  The Nordkapp is a very wild place in winter and totally white everywhere.   We were shown an island which has a large population of puffins in the summer and were told that 80% of them arrive on 14th April every year.  Nordkapp has a visitor centre which has a few interesting exhibits including an excellent film showing the area through all seasons.  There is also a Thai museum from when the King of Thailand visited many years ago.  There is a large outdoor area where there are a few monuments and some great views over the snow covered cliffs.  We then got back on the bus and joined the next convoy which got us back to the ship in plenty of time.

Landscape on the way to Nordkapp

Paul at Nordkapp monument

Nordkapp

The Nordkapp Convoy (see snow plow ahead of yellow coach)

Fjord near Nordkapp

Honningsvag

Snowmobiling

We had our second excursion today.  We got off the boat at a place called Kjollefjord and were kitted out ready for our snowmobile trip.  A bus took us to the start point and we were given instructions on how to operate the snowmobiles and then drove them to the next port of call at Mehamn. We had one each and I was a little nervous as I have never driven anything like this before (Paul always drives the quad bikes) but it was really good fun and quite easy.   It was just starting to get dark when we began but was very dark when we finished and we arrived at the end point just as the ship docked.

We had dinner and watched the ship dock for a few minutes in a small fishing village called Berlevag where we passed the Hurtigruten ship that is one day ahead of us, coincidentally called "Nordkapp".  It was snowing heavily so no chance of seeing the Northern Lights tonight.

Jean on Snowmobile