Day Four ~ Crossing the Arctic Circle

 November 8, 2022

At nearly eight o'clock, when our crew hustled us up onto the fresh, crisp air of deck seven, the full moon hung above a steely gray sea, and the glow of dawn began to highlight the rocky islands and skerries.  

The reason for the call to deck was the momentous occasion of crossing the Arctic Circle.  With no other form of entertainment on board, the excursion team loves to make a big fuss about everything.  In fact, the day before, they had put out a contest to see who could come closest to the exact crossing time, right down to the second.  I'm not sure if there was a prize involved.  In the very blurry photo below you can see the metal globe on Viking Island, that marks the spot.  My photo is blurry as I was attempting to get a picture over the heads of those who crowded the rail.  

Once we had passed this premium location, the crowd left and I was better able to take a few pictures as we left this notable location behind. 

The sky stayed clear throughout the day, with the temps hovering just around the freezing point.  I never did get off the ship as we only made one longish stop, and there wasn't an excursion that I wanted to participate in. 

On this cruise that is often referred to as the BKB (Bergen-Kirkenes-Bergen), there are 34 ports of call on the northbound route, and 33 on the southbound.  While Hurtigruten no longer carries mail to the little islands along the shore, it is still a working ferry.  It delivers things like nonperishable foods, lawnmowers and cans of paint. There are also people who use it for transportation along the coast.  One of these small coastal towns is Ornes, where we stopped for just ten minutes to take on a couple of passengers.

Ornes, like all the other little coastal towns, is a fishing village.  Though the sun had not yet reached their little harbor, a few of the plethora of boats were heading out to sea for a day of fishing.

Another little contest was a trivia game that we had a few days back.  The question was how many island are there in Norway.  I don't recall the correct answer, but I recall the definition.  And island is inhabitable, a skerry is not.  An island is also more than a certain number of square kilometers, but I can't recall the size ( I clearly don't have a great memory!).  I have taken dozens of pictures like the one below, of little scattered skerries, clinging to the horizon.  A phone camera just doesn't do them justice.

And then there are hundreds of small islands.  Some inhabited, and others, rocky and bare. 

Though I've slept well most nights, sometime after lunch I was suddenly so tired.  As I looked at my cozy bed with its huge pillows, I got to thinking that there was absolutely no reason that I couldn't just take a nap.  And so, without even closing my window shade, I did just that.  When I woke up at 3:30, I saw out my window that the day would soon succumb to the night.  

And then, though it was only 3:40 in the afternoon, there was the moon, shining brightly in the intensely blue sky.

As the moon continued to climb up into the sky, I wished that I'd learned how to take pictures of the moon with my cell phone, but I kept these for the memories.