Saturday, November 15, 2014

At 3 PM we are in pitch darkness -- we are in the Arctic Circle!

Hi guys -- We left Tromso yesterday afternoon (also in darkness) and are now making our way north and east across the north cape of Norway.  The ship is the Kong Harald (King Harold) and it is a combination passenger/goods ship along the west coast into the Barents Sea. It stops at little towns along the way and we got off for lunch in the town: the streets and sidewalks were covered in ice and the people we saw were getting along on personal sleds (with one foot on one ski, pushing along with the other foot, with a connection of the two skis connected with a basket for shopping bags), or pushing their children on little sleds with handles. Last night it was clear and we saw some examples of the Northern Lights -- not as spectacular as they are in professional photos, but pretty good when Mom figured out to increase the exposure times.  The temperature in Tromso where we stayed overnight before catching the boat was about the same as it is in Rochester, because of the gulf stream, but in the Barents sea it is very cold and we walked around a little town of Honnigsvag with the temperature at about 20deg F, and a ferocious wind. More or less new expensive cars with  extra fog lights were parked or slowly driving through the slippery streets: either the fishing or the oil industry if doing well in the North Cape.
Love to all
GPaJim



Posted by at

6 comments:

  1. Chris IsonNovember 15, 2014 at 10:04 AM

    Sounds very interesting. Glad you got to see the Northern lights. Will they get brighter as you head further North?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. GMSNovember 15, 2014 at 12:54 PM

      It has turned cloudy in the north so we can't even see stars.

      Delete
    2. GPJimNovember 15, 2014 at 1:16 PM

      We are not getting further north, as we are just rounding the North Cape, then we go east and a little south to a fjord to Kirkenes (close to the Russian border), then turn back, about noon tomorrow. I think the strength of the lights is determined by the amount of plasma erupting from the sun, and more mundane, the cloud cover. Tonight sorry to say, it is totally cloudy. On the other hand, this may be not such a bad thing, as they broadcast the appearance of the lights, so we all get dress up warmly again on go up on deck.

      Delete
  2. Sarah I.November 15, 2014 at 11:54 AM

    Very cool description of the way people get along. Is that one of the shopping sleds? Do the people there use it like a dog sled and stand in between the runners?

    ReplyDelete
  3. GMSNovember 15, 2014 at 12:51 PM

    They put one foot on a runner and push with the other or both feet on runners if going downhill.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sarah I.November 15, 2014 at 8:47 PM

    Hey, are you guys on a cruise ship with a pool and weight room, etc?

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)