Last stops before the Arctic

Before Tromso, our last stop before heading to Svalbad in the Arctic, we had a wonderful nature day in the Sundsvollsundet Nature Reserve on the island of Helloya. There was a large colony of kittiwakes nesting on the cliffs in addition to guillemots, cormorants and gulls - lots of mating and nest building activity with the kittiwakes, allowing for some interesting action shots. There were also lots of pretty anemones and sea urchins just at the water line with some extraordinarily beautiful rock formations.

The rock formations are incredibly coloured!

 Such a pretty sea urchin!

The mountain backdrop was equally stunning

Courtship

Mating

Not sure if this was aggression or passion

This looked like squabbling

Flying back with nesting material

We spent the afternoon spotting Sperm Whales in Bleiks Canyon, a deep sea canyon known to be the haunt of Sperm Whales. There were at least four or five whales and I was able to catch a few whale tails - it was quite an exhilarating experience, holding our breaths waiting for the whale to blow several times before diving and showing its tail then madly clicking away! The Sperm Whale is new to me - it is the largest of the toothed whales and is the second deepest diving mammal. It has a round dorsal fin and a blow hole on the left side of its head so the blow is never straight up.

Sperm Whale

The day we arrived in Tromso, it was foggy and wet - this was actually the first day of bad weather so we were not complaining. The Arctic Alpine Botanical Garden in the rain was still pretty and in fact water drops on the flowers added to the shots. This is an unusual Botanical Garden in that it is the world's northernmost botanic garden. It was surprising to find so many flowering varieties and of course the tulips were still blooming in June.  The garden focuses on plants from the Polar regions or high mountains which have difficulty surviving in the warmer climate where most botanical gardens are located.

Outstanding rock gardens in the Arctic Alpine Botanical Garden

We visited the Polar Museum, housed in a stunning building. The Tromso waterfront, which we could see from the museum, was actually quite pretty in the fog.

Polar Museum

Tromso in the fog

We took a cable car ride up to the top of the mountain but was fogged in - the view was better on the way up than up on the mountain. We then visited the famous Arctic Cathedral, but there was a wedding there and we could not get in to see the beautiful triangular stained glass window inside.  It was not our lucky day.  But the Tromso waterfront had some interesting buildings and the old town was quite picturesque. We were keeping our fingers crossed that the weather would improve as we head north across the Barents Sea to Svalbad.

Tromso from the cable car

All we could see up at the mountain top - one group from the ship was actually hiking in the fog, until they found they couldn't go any further up and had to turn back.

The Arctic Cathedral

The gorgeous stained glass seen through the window

Tromso waterfront - mix of modern and old buildings

A fishing boat with all the processing equipment on board

Leaving Tromso and heading for Svalbard!

Lofoten Islands - Stunning!

I've heard so much about the Lofoten Islands that when we finally got to set foot on them, I didn't feel that we had enough of it - I kept wishing I could get closer to the rocks and the mountains. We got magnificent views of the dramatic landscape from viewpoints calculated to provide postcard-perfect pictures but somehow I felt we were too far away. We had a bus tour going through five of the islands, but what we needed was a good hike to get up close to the rocks. Well, maybe next time...

Our first stop was at a village called Ä (the last letter of the Norwegian alphabet) on the island of Moskness where we visited the Torrfisk Museum, dedicated to the Atlantic cod. We learned all about Stockfish, unsalted dried cod which was the main industry on these islands.  Portugal and Italy are the largest customers. The fish heads go to Nigeria where they are used for soup because of the protein. It was an interesting visit with an enthusiastic guide, the owner. We then proceeded through the islands going from south to north with the first stop at the iconic view of the islands at the picturesque village of Reine.

Reine

The mountains around Reine

Look at those rock faces!

The squatters (kittiwakes!) have taken over this building at the waterfront in Moskness

Stockfish samples at the Stockfish Museum.

Fish farms

Fish drying on racks which were everywhere on the islands - they have to be finished the drying process by June before the insects arrive!

The red cabins are fisherman's cabins (Rorbuer)

A pretty church with a Russian inspired spire where we stopped to stretch our legs.  We clambered over a meadow and saw some oyster catchers nesting.

Nesting Oyster catcher

Some of the rugged landscape we saw on our way through the islands

 

Our lunch stop at the small fishing village of Nusfjord on the island of Flakstad

Kittiwakes were nesting everywhere, including window ledges!

Another picture postcard view at Nusfjord where we had our delicious Norwegian lunch

The ceiling of the museum shaped like a Viking ship

Near the museum

Our last stop was at the picturesque fishing village of Henningsvaer.  Lots of reflections here and interesting doors on the houses...

The "Lofoten Wall" - collection of mountain peaks that from a distance appear to form a straight line

The last excitement of the day was the ship's trip into the narrowest fjord in Norway, Trollfjord which is only 100 metres wide at its narrowest part.  The scenery at the end was spectacular with the evening sun hitting parts of the mountains.  The Captain did a nifty manoeuvre at the end to turn the ship around.

Going into the narrow fjord

This hidden gem at the end

One of two waterfalls on the sides

Rock formations along the side of the fjord

Leaving the narrowest fjord in Norway