May 28 - Bronnoysund, Sandenessjoen, Nesna, Ornes, Bodo, Stamsund, Svolver

Since we were still up at midnight, we stayed up to see the island of Torget and the town of Bronnoysund. The ship nosed into the narrow channel shortly after midnight, and then prompty did a 360 degree turn within its length so that it could parallel park with the port side to the dock. Once passengers and cargo were exchanged, we did another 360 turn and headed north across Vegafjorden.

Sunrise was about 0200, so it only out of sight beyond the distant clouds and islands for a few hours. It was more that twilight all night long, i.e., it never really got dark.

We arrived in Sandnessjoen at 0340 and Nesna at 0525. All along the coast are snow capped peaks that range from 600 to over 1100 metres above sea level. About an hour before reaching Ornes, we transferred the passengers that were taking the Svartisen Glacier excursion to a Fjord 1 catamaran.

At 0728, we crossed the Arctic Circle near Hestmann Island. We arrived at Ornes at 0900. As we passed the area with the Svartisen Glacier, the snow-capped peaks to the east rose to 1600 metres.

From here, we snaked our way around islands, and through channels, again passing many impressive peaks until we reached Bodo at 1230. We could see Lofoten in the distance to the north, still 4 hours away by ship.

After a short walk around Bodo to stretch our legs, we headed back to ship to download images, and try checking e-mail.

After leaving Bodo, we charged into strong cold headwinds as we rounded Landegode (803 m) and the lighthouse on its northern corner, and headed north-north-west towards Lofotveggen, a ‘wall’ of rock formed by a prominent chain of islands that rise up to 1000 metres along a length of about 60 km. The Steigen Mountains are to the northeast.

After crossing Vestfjorden, we had brief stops at Stamsund and Svolvaer with the spectacular Lofoten Mountains as a backdrop. From there, we headed into the 2 km long Trollfjorden which starts off at 100 m wide and narrows. The ship went up this, then turned around within its length … truly amazing! While we viewing the sights, a troll wandered around the ship to everyone’s delight. So as the sun began to set, we cruised northeast along Raftsundet, a narrow channel that cuts across the eastern end of Lofoten.

We stayed up for awhile taking pictures of the midnight sun sky, and then headed to bed in the early morning. It was light … no darkness at all!!!