Mooring recovery and deployment Aug 24 2024

This article is part of the series “2024-08: Fram Strait cruise KPH”.

For science it is important to get measurements, preferably a lot of measurements. That’s not so easy if you have to take the icebreaker, you have only one and very limited ship time. One thing to go round this is to have sets of instruments that are moored at different locations in the sea. A weight and a buoy keep the communication cable with the instruments vertically and make the mooring stationary

On this cruise we had to recover seven moorings between 78° und 79° N and between 2° and 10° W. To communicate with the mooring a so-called hydrophone is used which can transmit and receive acoustical signals. The hydrophone is used to find the mooring and also to release it. Then the mooring will detach from the weight at the bottom and the upper buoys will slowly drift to the surface.

Then you have to find the mooring . Visually. That’s not an easy task because you will release the mooring in a certain distance to the ship to avoid crashing it into the hull. Beside of that it was pretty foggy this day when a team of NPI engineers and the ship’s crew tried to recover the first mooring with the id F10-19.

But look: There it is! It was found a while ago and our ship Kronprins Haakon is already in position for the recovery.

Now it takes a while to get everything on board without to destroy the scientific instruments. A lot of winch work is involved in the process.

This recovery at 2° W took approximately took one and a half hours. I think that’s quite fast if you consider, that the depth of the sea is round 2650 m at this place. That’s a lot of cable to pull up.

In the afternoon the second mooring recovery took place, this time at 3° W. I’ll show some more photos because this was one of the rare occasions when we actually had sun.

When the mooring was on board the collected data had to be fetched from the instruments and checked while other research was going on in parallel. And so the work continued until the last mooring was recovered three days later.

Of course you want to proceed with the continuous measurements. So on our way back the same amount of moorings had been deployed at the same places. Sometimes a mooring could be re-used, sometimes instruments had to be calibrated on mainland and a replacement was deployed. Each deployment started with the heaviest part, the iron weight that moors the cable to the ground following by the cable, the instruments and some buoys. And then again – a lot of winch work, setting carbines and so on.

Today we got the message: “All moorings are deployed! 🎈” – Great news!

P.S.: One instrument was lost but already in November. The data anyhow is saved elsewhere in the mooring and could be recovered.

Disclaimer: This is a private blog. I try to stick to the facts as good as I can. However this article has not proofread by any other people. Therefore some facts can be slightly inaccurate or even plainly wrong. If you find a mistake, please let me know and I will correct it. Thank you!

Wind and weather, water and ice Aug 21 2024

This article is part of the series “2024-08: Fram Strait cruise KPH”.

Wednesday, 21 August 10:36. It’s Annika’s and my fourth wedding anniversary, but I’m far away from her. I’m on the icebreaker Kronprins Haakon in the Fram Strait at 78° 50′ N, 12° 16′ W, that’s between Greenland and Svalbard. Air temperature is +0.2 °C, water temperature -0.1 °C. It is day 9 of the scientific cruise FS2024 of the Norwegian Polar Institute. Today I have found some time to write a blog article and also to publish it thanks to the fast satellite internet on board.

This article is about the journey, about the elements, not about research. I’ll come to this later in other articles.

13 August

Today the 2024 expedition to the Fram Strait begins. Short name: FS2024. 19 participants and 20 crew members are on board. Round 18:00 we leave the port, sail along the Adventfjorden and turn into the 107 km long Isfjorden. When we reach the open sea the sea gets rough and our ship starts to pitch and roll in the waves and not all people feel well. I have a cabin in the bow of deck 3 and the larger waves splash sea water against the port hole.

Sailing along Svalbard, soon we will leave it behind

14 August

In the night the wind has calmed down. We are heading west and it is quite foggy. This year there is much less sea ice in the Fram Strait then usual at this time. Less ice coverage means increased air humidity and that results in fog.

15 August

It continues to be foggy, no need to take any photos of the sea. But in the afternoon the sun manages to fight its way through the fog. This results in two hours with blue sky and also in a phenomenon I never experienced before. A fog bow. As with usual rainbows the sun is in the back so it is not a halo. The water droplets of the fog are so small, that the colours are very weak and so the fog bow looks almost white.

16 August

Research as usual: Two mooring recoveries and several CTD casts, MSS casts, optical casts. The weather: also as usual. It is foggy again and it will stay like this the whole day.

It is not clear whether we will have any ice station on this cruise. The ice stations planned for yesterday and today have already been canceled due to the lack of sea ice and tomorrow it doesn’t look better. At lunch time at least the first chunks of ice have appeared. That’s a nice change in the uniformness of the foggy weather.

17 August

For days we have been checking the wind speed on windy that forecasted winds up to 40 knots for today. That’s 20 m/s. And the gale has already reached us. The waves have started to get larger with spray on the top. They splash against the few ice floes drifting around us.

In the afternoon all research has been cancelled because of the increasing wind and growing waves. After dinner I go down to deck 3 and into my room. We have average wind speeds of 22-23 m/s now. The ship pitches a lot and in combination with the high waves (I think, 3–4 metres) the port hole of my cabin is occasionally under water. These are some screenshots of a short movie I made with my mobile:

Now the ice floes are not gently drifting anymore but are at the mercy of the waves. Is the storm our friend and blows that one nice looking ice floe in the north towards us? Or will the swell break the ice into smithereens?

18 August

Half past seven – breakfast time. Wind has calmed down to 15 m/s. We are at 78°50′ N und 9°30′ W. I work a lot this day on my computer, hardly looking out of the window. We want to reach 14° W tonight. That’s not so so far away as it sounds, since one degree west means a distance of just 21.5 km at these latitudes.

At 18:30 all people involved in sea ice work meet up. That’s also the people doing “bridge watch” looking for polar bears from the bridge at deck 8. We get a safety briefing for being on the ice and then we see a presentation created by ice expert Henrik that shows the ice situation. There are two possibilities for an ice station for the next day.

Planning for the ice station (slide by Henrik Fisser, UiT)

It’s hardly believable – we are still in open water with less than 1% ice. But we have a fresh satellite image and people who know ice so I’m optimistic. If only the ice is stable enough.

At least there are some flat ice bergs around.

19 August

At 4 o’clock in the night I wake up. I know this noise, the vibrations, these movements. Kronprins Haakon breaks though the ice! I look through the porthole – we are in the ice! Despite the early hour I get up to take photos on the helicopter deck. It looks so different from the previous days.

Shortly after nine o’clock I take my mobile phone to make this photo:

And this means – after a year and two month I finally stand on the arctic sea ice again. I missed it, I just love this environment! Today’s mission: Flying a drone to produce images for a so-called orthophoto. But that is another story to be told a bit later.

Before the cruise – Longyearbyen, Svalbard Aug 13 2024

This article is part of the series “2024-08: Fram Strait cruise KPH”.

Sunday, 11. August

I am sitting in a plane heading north. Tromsø lies behind, the plane goes to Longyearbyen, the largest settlement on Svalbard. If everything goes according to plan I’ll be on board of the Norwegian research icebreaker Kronprins Haakon two days from now to join a scientific cruise to the Fram Strait between Svalbard and Greenland.

Eight other participants are in the same plane, there are not so many flights to Longyearbyen. The rest will arrive tomorrow or has been joining already the previous cruise. We wait for the luggage and then for the “Maxitaxi“ that brings us to our different accommodations. I check in at Gjestehuset 102 and start a photo tour back to the center.

Arctic cottongrass grows next to the road

The river is fast and carries very muddy water

In August the town looks brown. It’s brown water, brown mountains and brown dust everywhere. As a photographer I prefer winter. Longyearbyen lies by the fjord Adventfjorden and there lies the German research icebreaker Polarstern that I visited in Tromsø three days ago.

The German icebreaker Polarstern in Longyearbyen

It is windy but surprisingly warm with temperatures round 19 °C. Later I learn that the maximum was 20.3 °Con this day, the warmest August temperature measurement ever. I stroll around and go to the huge supermarket to buy some goodies. Then I head to the beach again to take some more photos. At 18:30: dinner time with nine of the cruise participants. After that I walk the 2.3 km back to the guesthouse. And take some more photos in the evening light.

Monday, 12. August

Before the cruise many things are on hold. When will the ship arrive? When are the first scientists allowed on board? Is my help needed? When is the flare gun training for the ice people? And so on. Let’s wait and see.

KPH has arrived in the morning but only a few selected scientists were supposed to go on board to get a handover. So I have time to stroll around again – it is still warm and sunny – and take some more photos while constantly checking our WhatsApp group for plans being updated. And I meet some of my colleagues that joined the previous cruise.

Goslings – part of a larger flock of geese

Taubanesentralen– used in old mining times

In the evening we have another dinner, this time with all 19 participants. That is quite a small team this time, there are 35 berths on the vessel. We have pizza and the first opportunity to get to know each other. What a nice and interesting team I am allowed to work with for the next two and a half weeks :-) !

Tuesday, 13. August

Today is the day. I was already in town and bought a woollen sweater that I wanted to buy for years. Then at 13:00 the first group of people gets a ride to our swimming research platform – Kronprins Haakon. Welcome back. At 13:15 I have boarded, at 15:00 I have checked in. I have got the very same room as on the first cruise two years ago. It’s on deck 3 in the bow and when there is ice, it is shaky, loud and noisy. I love it! Arctic lullabies. This time I have it eben for me alone. That’s luxury!

At 16:00 we get a safety briefing. After that I fetch my safety boots and my survival suit. Will I ever wear it on the ice on this cruise? At 17:00 we have our first dinner. Salmon and rice – delicious. Ice cream as dessert. And at 18:19 I realise that we have left port. Now we will be on our way west.

My favourite photo shooting location – the heli deck

I will work with a software project and I want to join the sea ice team. The ice situation however is doubtful. Last year there was so much ice, that navigation was a real issue, not its the absence of ice that can lead to problems for the ice people. But as on each cruise – let’s wait and see.

Anyhow I’m lucky and happy to be on tokt – on cruise – again!

I decided not to blog regularly while being on the cruise. There is just too much going on and too much work to do. Anyhow I may show some photos in a few days. Let’s wait and see.

Four days hiking in Tromsø – part two Aug 9 2024

It is the morning of 5th of August, the third day of Annika’s and my four day hiking tour in the fjell of Tromsø’s mainland. (Part I)

Day 3 – Blåkollkoia—Trollvassbu

We are at the small and cosy cabin Blåkollkoia and will hike to the next and last cabin Trollvassbu. With round 13 km it is the longest stage, which is actually not so long after all.

The weather is still calm, sunny and pretty warm. We leave round 9 o’clock. The way leads up through sparse birch forests with wet ground. The air is humid and feels hot in the sun. We are sweating and walk quite slowly. After a good km we leave the forested valley behind. Now we have an easy path to walk on over the vidda – the mountain plateau.

Red blueberry twigs on the mountain plateau

But still we are pretty slow. Why? Because of the many berries to pick and to eat. It’s not only the omnipresent blueberries but a lot of multe, Norwegian for cloudberries. They prefer boggy ground with normally zillions of mosquitoes around. This year however the summer was dry and so was most of the ground. Too dry for the mosquitoes. Yeah! I don’t think I ever ate so many cloudberries on a single day as today.

This part of the trail is very easy to hike and it is a pleasure to follow the small path. We really liked it. Some birds – long-tailed-jaegers – however don’t want to have us around. They are flying mock attacks. Soon they realise that we’re just passing and leave us alone. Beautiful birds nevertheless.

Long-tailed Jaeger – part of the skua family

We continue walking through the mellow landscape and meet only a single person – a hiker we already met two days before.

Winding path – the cabin is almost in view

The terrain is undulating and the views are constantly changing. So the question is: when will we see the cabin for the first time? Oh – there it is, less than a kilometre away. It lies on an idyllic place by the river Trollvasselva. We are lucky, the river carries water. Most of the smaller streams have been dried out and it was not so easy to find water to drink.

We arrive at the cabin in early afternoon. There are two hikers in the cabin but they do not stay overnight. So we will have the cabin completely for ourselves. We unpack our things, take a snack and wash ourselves in the river. In the evening it is spaghetti time. „Pasta pesto.“

Day 4 – Trollvassbu—Snarbyeidet

Today it is only five kilometres to the bus stop by the road. We have to leave early to catch the bus at 9:55.

I was awake early and took the opportunity to fly my drone. I need some training for the cruise I’ll join next week. Again the vastness of the landscape is impressive. Then we take breakfast, pack our stuff, tidy up and are ready to lock the cabin with the DNT-key.

Looking back from a bird’s-eye perspective

And off we go. Some hundred metres in open terrain before we enter a dense birch forest that will surround us for the next kilometres. To the right, down in the valley we can hear and sometimes see the river.

The last hundred metres are more open terrain again. There is even a short boardwalk we follow. Minutes (and a bunch of blueberries) later we arrive at the parking place where the busstop is. Time to drop the backpacks and wait for the bus.

At ten o’clock we climb into the bus. We have reliable internet again and are back in civilisation. I’m glad that we did the tour. It is pure luxury to have such tour opportunities right on the doorstep.

Change of subject while sitting in the bus: where is the Polarstern actually? I will visit this German research ice breaker two days later. Oh it already arrived in Grøtsund. And there it is, we can see it from the bus.

Thanks Annika for the wonderful tour. Takk for turen!

I really want to thank the people from the Troms section of the Norwegian Trekking Association (DNT). The cabins are great, in great shape and you all do a fantastic job. Now we are looking to visit the place again in wintertime which according to the guestbooks seems to be the preferred season of many locals.

Visiting the Polarstern Aug 8 2024

Two days ago the German research icebreaker Polarstern has arrived in Tromsø after a three and a half week cruise in the Fram Strait between Greenland and Svalbard. Today I met the data manager of the Polarstern to learn more about how data is handled on board. Well – I’m deeply impressed! This however is a private blog and no place to talk data.

However I was lucky that the data manager had time to give me a guided tour through the ship. Beside things of professional interest I got to see the mess, the helicopter hangar, a bunk, the operating room, some of the labs, the recreation area with a small swimming pool and much, much more. I took some snapshots that I am allowed to share.

“Der blaue Salon” used for representation and other meetings

The recreation area has a small swimming pool

Bunkering for the cruise to the North Pole

Tomorrow the scientists will arrive and then the next cruise PS144 starts. It is a nine week cruise to the Arctic Ocean crossing the North Pole. (Sounds tempting!)

Today I left the ship after two hours but I’m lucky. On Sunday I will fly to Longyearbyen and next Tuesday I’ll go on board the Norwegian icebreaker Kronprins Haakon to join the two week Fram Strait cruise of the Norwegian Polar Institute. It will be my third cruise and I’m happy and grateful that I’ve got this opportunity.

Today’s thanks go to the data manager – for your time, your explanations and for the “private guided tour”. Vielen Dank!

Three weeks in Sweden – some photos Jul 7 2024

14. June

I am sitting in the airplane. Soon I’ll be back “home home” in Obbola for three weeks. Here we are crossing the river Umeälven.

20. June

A low rainbow has appeared above the trees. In the inside it shows supernumerary bands.

21. June

Midsummer in Sweden has several traditions. Probably the most famous one is the dancing round the midsummer pole. Annika and I are in Gammlia, a park with outdoor museum in Umeå. Here we are doing “raketen” – the rocket.

“raketen”– the rocket – midsummer in Sweden

In the evening Annika and I are watching a roe passing by with her two young fawns. They are crossing the shallow bay. Since the water level is higher than normal the water is quite deep for the fawns.

22. June

Excursion to a coast we do not know yet – Järnäsklubb. There are several trails you can follow, only the bathing place we do not find.

24. June

While I pluck lupins (an invasive species) I realise how many beautiful flowers we have in the small patch of wilderness between our house and the sea. Here: a Siberian iris.

27. June

Annika and I are in Gammlia again, this time for the Mullin Mallin Band that plays folk music from Balkan to Sápmi.

29. June

We are in Åsele in the Swedish inland where we visit friends of us together with their farm animals. (Photo: Annika Kramer)

“The sheep and I” – photo: Annika Kramer

3. Juli

For lunch break I paddle to the beach at Byviken where I eat Ćevapčići. Total distance – round 6.7 km both ways. After that I have to continue working. Home office.

6. Juli (yesterday)

I am sitting in the train to Narvik. I read, I eat, I play with my mobile, I doze and I look out of the window.

The train was in time in Umeå and in Narvik as well. From there the bus 100 brings me to Tromsø where I will work for the more or less next five weeks. Hej då Sverige – hei Norge!

Midnight paddling Jun 23 2024

It’s midsummer day in Sweden. Yesterday Annika and I danced around the midsummer pole and ate huge amounts of salmon, potatoes and eggs with roe, just as you use to do on a typical midsommarafton. One thing however was not typical: It didn’t rain at all. And since the night was still clear and beautiful, Annika and I decided to make a small kayak tour. At 22:40 we were clear to leave.

The eastern sky was blue and purple and the trees on the island Bredskarssten almost black – but it was not dark although some of the photos may look like. The sun had just gone down.We decided to paddle to the tiny archipelago Obbolstenarna.

Kayaking to Obbolstenarna – Annika ahead

When we arrived there all seagulls flew up into the air screeching. Did we disturb them? No, it was an eagle that quickly was chased off by the seagulls. We circumnavigated the islands and headed back east, where some of the spare clouds still caught some sunlight.

And now? There was no noticeable wind and kayaking has been pretty effortless until now. Annika and I had the same thought: kayaking to the southern tip of Stömbäck-Kont. We’ve been there often, but always by car. Stömbäck-Kont is 30 km from our home by car but only 5 km by kayak. So, let’s go …

Meanwhile it had become a bit darker and the flat sea and sky looked like fantastic paintings. Like from another world.

We passed the sea side of the island Tarv, and turned north behind the small island Gåshällan and some islands I don’t know the names of. Then we headed west.

This black shadow ahead, is it the rocks of Strömbäck-Kont? It is hard to see because the contrast is low. But my navigation was correct and soon we approached the barbecue area, where we were welcomed by the mosquitoes, that luckily were not present on the open sea. Time for a short break to stretch one’s legs.

The stop was pretty short, because the mosquitoes just loved us and we have quite a lot of them this year! So we jumped back into our kayaks and followed the coast a bit north were we could hear music.

Here lies Simphamn, both a nice sandy beach and a marina. A bunch of very expensive looking yachts were anchored at the boat bridge and apparently some people had had a party on one of the yachts. We paddled round the small island with the clubhouse.

Now it was time to head east back to the island Tarv and circumnavigate it clockwise. Most sea birds were relaxed. The geese more or less ignored us while the terns were ignoring us. They were hunting. Again and again they plunged vertically into the sea to catch fish.

After a while we headed south and reached the opening between Tarv and a peninsula connected to the main land. Here we reached the open sea again.

From there we know the way home by heart. Passing the bay Vitskärsudden, following the coast while avoiding the many rocks in the water and after two more kilometres we were back home.

Now we only had to drag the kayaks back to our house through a field of lupins. (I will pick them. They are an invasive species and we want to get rid of them.) And then – after 12.5 km of an extraordinary beautiful night paddling we were back home. Now it was a quarter to two – definitely time to sleep!

For those who love maps or live nearby, this is the track:

5 × 5 images from a Hurtigruten cruise Jun 5 2024

Two weeks ago I took the plane from Tromsø to Bergen. From there I would travel back to Tromsø by Hurtigruten together with my sister, my brother-in-law and my mother. My wife Annika would join us in Trondheim two days later.

22 May

There is still a lot of snow in the mountains on Tromsøya, Kvaløya, Senja and other islands I do not recognise from the plane. But in the lowland it is springtime.

Flaying from TOS (Tromsø) to BGO (Bergen)

I travelled with the Hurtigruten several times, but never south from Trondheim. We were not the only one’s boarding in Bergen. A lot of people use the Hurtigruten as a cruise ship, not as a possibility to travel from A to B. And there it lies, the vessel Kong Harald.

We have boarded round 18:00. At 20:30 we are departing and leave the town Bergen behind.

We are in sheltered waters and you hardly notice the ship moving beside of the motor’s vibrations. Even though Bergen is nine degrees south from Tromsø it does not get dark anymore.

The weather is cloudy but when the sun peeks through a holes in the clouds it looks beautiful.

23 May

One breakfast later: We arrive in Ålesund where the Hurtigruten will stay for ten hours. Time to explore this town which looks so different from the towns in the north. Ålesund has many Art Nouveau houses and “exotic” plants like azaleas are blooming everywhere. Together with my sister I climb the four hundred and something steps up the Aksla where we have an awesome view on the town.

We have also a view on the cruise ship AIDA prima. And beside of that – our Hurtigruten ship Kong Harald. It looks so tiny in comparison. I definitely prefer the small one.

I take a short stroll through town before I meet the others. First I admire all the small Art Nouveau details on the houses, then I almost get a culture shock when I find this tunnel:

In the evening we circumnavigate the island Hessa, because the ship is “reparked” on the other side of Ålesund. After a very warm and sunny day clouds have been gathering. But the sun manages to send beams through the clouds.

Is this one of the life boats? I mean – a photo of one of the life boats? No, it is a photo of a reflection of one of the life boats. It is reflected in the glass facade of an office building by the port.

24 May

Where are we? In Trondheim. Yay! I was so looking forward to meet Annika there. She checks in, then we take a short stroll in town along the channel with the groundbreaking name Kanalen – the channel.

As in Tromsø there are Kittiwakes in Trondheim. They use to screech a lot – often to each other – but these two fellows seem to be a bit shy, at least in the minute where I took the photo.

At lunchtime we leave Trondheim behind. The shimmering sunlight is reflected by zillions of tiny waves. We meet commercial ships, fishing boats, two kayaks and sometimes a sailing boat.

On the port side there is the open sea. Blue sky, blue sea, a small skerry and a house. Wait, a house? Yes, it is erected on a floating raft. What you cannot see – it is part of one of the countless salmon farms located in coastal Norway.

I have moved into Annika’s cabin. It has no regular window but two portholes. It is five to eleven in the evening and the sun peeks into our small but practical cabin.

And that’s the night where I get sick. That really wouldn’t have been necessary at all.

25 May

I am feeling ill and I sleep, I sleep and I sleep. I do not leave the cabin before 17:45 to take some photos while we are approaching the Lofoten islands. They look like mirages at the hazy horizon.

Round half past seven we are approaching Stamsund, passing rocky skerries and rocky mountains. Northern Norway, here we come!

At the harbour a graffito was sprayed or painted on the outer wall of the waiting room. Free high fives! For me however it was time to continue sleeping …

… but I got up at 23:15 again to see more from the Lofoten islands. Some of the mountains look like not being from this world.

The light got dim but it didn’t get dark. It’s the first day of midnight sun on the Lofoten. And it is almost midnight.

26 May

The reason for being up so late is that Kong Harald sails into the quite famous and very narrow fjord Trollfjorden. The landscape is impressive because the Hurtigruten is so near to land. – especially the mighty dark rock face in the north.

On our way back I spot a beautiful wave pattern. I really wonder how it was created.

Then it is time for me to sleep. And I sleep long. At lunch time I take some more photos. Now the landscape looks very familiar. No wonder, in an hour we will be in Tromsø, where I’ve been working for three years now. To my relief there is still snow on the mountain tops. It looks so nice.

The sky is still blue and the sea has been calm more or less the whole journey. There is hardly any wind but the flag is flattering in the airstream.

Round two o’clock we pass the southern tip of the island Tromsøya and then the new buildings on the eastern sea side.

After round 93 hours we are leaving the ship. My family checks into their hotel, Annika and I take the bus to my apartment which has become one of my two homes.

Summer weather in Tromsø May 17 2024

10:30. I am sitting in my car on my way to Sommarøya – “The summer island”. The sun is shining and it is warm already. Today it is supposed to be 19 °C, much warmer than the last weeks (or months). The first photo stop, a parking place by the sea. Tussilago is blooming everywhere.

The road leaves the sea and leads through the valley Kattfjordeidet. The lake Kattfjordvatnet lies on 149 metres of altitude. Does not sound much, nevertheless it is high enough that most parts of it are still covered with ice. I like the open areas – small waterfalls and beautiful reflections.

Kattfjordeidet I – a small rapid in the mountain river

Kattfjordeidet II – an open patch by the ice.

The valley is 12 km long. I leave it behind and meet the sea again. And two locals – reindeer that know the traffic rules and walk on the other side of the street (or better said in the ditch).

Just before the tunnel Oterviktunnelen there is a parking place and shortly after a beautiful sandy beach. It looks so warm, but I didn’t measure the water temperature …

I am lucky, I find a nice shell, a “pelican’s foot”. Then I continue my ride and enter the tunnel. It is not long, just 607 m.

Almost wherever you stop there are nice places to explore, for example this tiny beach, less than ten metres wide. It is not far away from the bridge to Sommarøya.

A small beach by the road Sandneshamnvegen

From the bridge you can see a lot of small islands, many of them with sandy beaches. A kayakers paradise, although the weather can be pretty rough. But if you like challenges, take your boat, head west and after 1600 km you are in Greenland. ;-)

The last weeks I have seen three kinds of wild flowers blooming in and around Tromsø. (1) Tussilago – 17 April (always the first). (2) Dandelion – 26 April. (3) Oxlip (or another primula) – 8 May. Today I discovered two others. According to Pl@ntNet, which I use for identification a Goldilocks buttercup (91.2%) and a Purple mountain saxifrage (94.6%).

Would I find one of my favourites flowers as well – the Marsh marigold, which loves wet places and has an incredibly beautiful hue of yellow. Yes? I found some of them beside a small pond.

On Sommarøya I hardly took any picture, on the outer island Hillesøya I took a photo of one of the boat harbours. In my back an open door, a dark room and in there a man cleaning fish.

After taking lunch in the snack restaurant Havfrua (“The mermaid”) it was time to drive back. I chose the way round the south of the island Kvaløya and made some small stops. One at the ponds and puddles in a boggy area, which now are free of ice. Another by the church Hillesøy kirke, which is by the way not on the island Hillesøya.

And then the time came: 20 °C according to the car thermometer! Last time it was so warm here was last August.

I took another stop to take a photo of one of the mighty mountains on the other side of the strait Straumsfjorden. When I looked down into the deep water I spotted a shoal of fish. It was hundreds, probably thousands of fish resting in the shadow. The photo is heavily edited to make the fish more visible.

After a while I came back to more known areas – less than 30 minutes away from my “work flat” in Tromsø. I stopped at a small grave yard. Most tomb stones were free of snow, but those located in the snow drifts will have to wait a bit longer. Anyhow snow in the lowlands has become the exception. Even the bogs that tend to be cold are hardly frozen any more. And so I had to be quite cautious to avoid wet feet, when I looked for a good place to take a picture of that beautiful pine tree other there – the last photo for today.

Those of you that are not so familiar with Norway as a country may ask yourselves: Why did Olaf make an excursion on a Friday? That’s because today it is Constitution Day. On 17 May 1814 the Constitution of Norway was signed and this is the most important day of the year. Even through our street a marching band walked by and all people have their best clothes on – many of them the traditional bunad which shows, from which part of Norway they come from.

And so I shout out: “Gratulerer med dagen, Norge!” – Happy birthday, Norway!

Here is an article from 10 years ago: Syttende mai (German text).

A day trip to the island Vannøya May 1 2024

It is 10 o’clock on Sunday, 28 April. Marika, whom I know from work and I are in Hansnes on the island Ringvassøya waiting for the ferry. It will take us to the island Vannøya where we want to stay for the day.

I want to take photos, so I am opening the boot of my car and realise that I have forgotten my camera backpack at home. Sh*t! Fortunately I have my Sony camera with me, which does a pretty good job on landscape photography But no time to be grumpy, here comes the ferry.

After a ferry ride of forty minutes we arrive at the island and take the western way to the fishing village Torsvåg. We pass the Polargirl, a passenger ship that uses to make touristic excursions in Svalbard in the summer season.

After seven kilometres we come to our first stop: A small beach. The view is incredible. Snow covered mountains in the back, a cloudless sky above, some islets with white sandy beaches and shallow waters of a turquoise colour so intense that you can see it on satellite images.

We start cleaning the beach, mostly of plastic. A huge amount is plastic nets and ropes from the fishing industry. The plastic is harmful to the environment and is especially dangerous to sea birds. Beach cleaning has become quite popular and it is a good feeling to remove the garbage from nature even when it is only a drop in the ocean. The next photo showing me is taken by Marika.

We stay there for a while, not only because the scenery is to beautiful and the sun shines warmly, but because there are seals out there. Some of them were sitting on rocks until the tide came in, others are swimming in the turquoise water. They are too far away to take good pictures, but I can observe them through my binoculars.

We continue our road trip, occasionally stopping when there is any wildlife. And there is quite a lot. Here at partially frozen puddles we do not only see crows but also a Eurasian curlew.

Minutes later we arrive at Sandsletta, a larger beach. The small sandy dunes are reminiscent of the German North Sea, the mountains aren’t.

There are some more photo stops, either for scenery or for animals. This time a reindeer (we saw some of them) grazing by the road.

Then we arrive at the fishing village Torsvåg. Parts of it are located on Vannøya, others on the small island Kåja. To get there by car you have to cross a dam with a single file concrete road. In the harbour area there is a huge rack full with fish hanging to dry. The dried fish is called stockfish. And there is the Torsvåg lighthouse. If you look north from there, you can see some stony islets and rocks and then there is the open Norwegian sea. Next stop Svalbard.

Is this the end of the island? Well, at least it is the end of this road. But there is more to explore. We turn, drive back 8 km and turn left onto the road to Burøysund in the east. Marika spots an eagle with prey, probably a mountain hare. I do not stop timely and the disturbed eagle flies away to land on a stone nearby. I make a photo through the windscreen, but it is blurred. Anyhow it shows, how big eagles are. You see the crow for size comparison?

Ten minutes later I have stopped the car again, this time for two ptarmigans that first strolled on a meadow by the road and then decided to ignore us and cross the road. Another object with flying abilities was easier to photograph, but what does a propeller plane do on a parking place by the road? Does it use the road for taking off and landing?

We arrive in Burøysund. The whole of Vannøya is a bit “Norway in a nutshell” with its snowy mountains, the blue sea, the rocky shore, the coastal villages. Here anyhow the rocks are special. They are sharp-edged with their “teeth” up into the air and look wild and rough.

Now it is time to head back. On a place we spotted already on our way there we take a late lunch break with the view to the sea (and some ptarmigans and seals in the distance) and the wetlands in our back.

Even if we take the second last ferry we have plenty of time. And we need it, because while driving further I spot something in the water which does not look like seabirds. It is an otter. No, it’s two, wait – three. They meet in the sea and then swim side by side.

Then they go ashore quite near us. One is swimming away soon while the other two stay on land for ten minutes. What an experience so see them so near! I’m sure they have seen us as well but since we are quiet they ignore us. What a pity, that I forgot my Nikon to use the large telephoto lens. The Sony did not manage to take good pictures, also because of the light situation. Anyhow – for the archives – two pictures of the otters:

This day really delivered! Incredible weather and a lot of wildlife. Reindeer, curlews, ptarmigans, geese, eagles, a lot of other birds I do not know, a white mountain hare, the first butterfly of the season (a small tortoiseshell), several seals and now the three otters. Time to catch the ferry with a hasty detour to the south east of the island from which you can see the Nordfugløya (Northern bird island).

Finally we have to hurry a bit but we reach the 19:15-ferry in time. Another forty minutes ferry ride in beautiful light …

… and we are back in Hansnes on the island Ringvassøya which is connected to the island Kvaløya with a tunnel which is connected to the island Tromsøya with a bridge, and that’s where I live. There are worse places!

Takk for turen, Marika!