The Start

On the Thursday morning, 12 May, I woke up at 4:30 to catch my flight into Tromsø (via Oslo).  Tromsø lies within the Arctic Circle, and occasionally tells the truth there too.  So even though it was very sunny, the mountains around the fjords were all covered in snow.  It is, predominantly, on an island in amongst some fjords and this creates an impressive background to an otherwise largely functional town.  Parts of it, the nicer parts, were slightly reminiscent of St. John's: the colourful wooden houses looking neat and clean against the white snow background.  

Tromsø From Above

The harbour was like most harbours around the world.  There I boarded the Dana, a Danish vessel with a full Danish crew (except some of the scientists) and all the signs, room names etc. in Danish.  Its a fairly big boat, about seven levels, so still finding my way around.  I know where to eat, work, sleep and buy beer though (19h30 each evening, 4 per day - that's a limit, not a requirement).  

Boarding The Dana

We got to the ship early so I headed out into downtown Tromso where I checked out the polar museum: a nice little museum, mainly about hardcore Norwegian dudes, trying to go to even more hardcore places, and killing things there.  Sometimes themselves.  I got some kylling-on-a-stick at the waterfront and strolled the main streets downtown.  The two large bridges connecting Tromso to the mainland and another island impressed.

The Polar Museum

Tromsø Waterfront

But come 18h00, the time came to set sail.  So I went up to the bridge and took the Dana for a spin.

Going Out For A Spin

Actually, I'm not allowed to drive the boat and I was instead comfortably in my cabin.

Kicking Back

In fact, so little is the respect I have here that I was told they would have just left without me if I hadn't got back from town in time. After leaving Tromsø it took a couple of hours to get out of the fjords while the sun was still a way off setting even though it was after 10.  After that I just explored the boat a bit more and got an early night.  Unfortunately, once we left the fjords it got a little rough.  This ship rolls like crazy so I was rocking and rolling all night.  My cabin is also close to the engine room, so its hardly serene.  

Leaving The Fjords

Thus we entered the Norwegian Sea.