Tuesday 25th June 2013 +1hr BST ­ At Sea to Bodø: White Tailed Sea Eagles and Mountains with Holes - The Delights of Cruising the Norwegian Inside Passage

One of the chief delights of cruising in Norwegian coastal waters is that there is always something to see, the sailing is in calm waters and at this time of the year once you are north of the Arctic Circle you can stay on deck in the midnight sun as I did so watch this space!!  Having left Stavanger we made our way north with two pilots aboard to assist in navigating between the myriad of islands off the mainland coast of Norway. 

Sometimes the Braemar had to hop out to the open sea because the inside passageway is too narrow or not deep enough.  Not so for the Hurtigruten ferries with their distinctive black and red livery that ply their way from Bergen up to the far north east corner of Norway – to Kirkenes on the border with Russia - calling at some 66 ports of all sizes on the way.  One of these ferries leaves every day, taking some 12 days to do the round trip.  We were to meet the Hurtigruten “Nordkapp” several times on our way north including a spirited race out of Tromso harbour but more of that in a later posting.

Our Captain did his very best to keep us informed of the sites we could see along the way and this afternoon we were treated to one of the most picturesque stretches of coastline as we cruised in bright sunshine, although a sharp breeze if you stood on the wrong part of the deck.  Captivating vistas of tiny inlets with fisherman in rowing boats and nestled in the bay behind, hamlets of typical oxide red cabins and wooden houses – see photos.

The undulating coastline – not too high yet - covered in trees and lush green meadows were dotted with wind turbines.  I thought Norway was self sufficient in hydro electricity but clearly not since turbines were in evidence at many places but not so many as to spoil the magnificent scenery.

Almost every hamlet had a salmon farm and in the bright sunlight I could see flashes of sliver as the mature salmon breached the surface below the green nets.

Then somebody on the bow shouted ‘eagle’ and there soaring across the ship was my first view of a magnificent adult White Tailed Sea Eagle with its 2.5 metre wingspan – what a glorious way to end a splendid afternoon watching the world go by.

The sites were not yet over for after dinner as the light faded, since we still had 24 hours to go before crossing the Arctic Circle and entering the Land of the Midnight Sun, we had a geological feature to view in the form of a hole that passes right through a mountain.  A feature created by the receding ice some 10,000 years earlier as it scraped a great gash out of a rock forming the hole.  When we arrived at this mountain it was covered in mist but as the Braemar 'heaved to' so the wind dispersed the mist and a rather cold and windswept group of enthusiastic photographers recorded this interesting feature.