The last few days in a nutshell

How blue is the ocean? We can assure you this photo has not been "fixed!. This is how blue it is. Picture taken Friday 25th of March at approx 5 degrees north. It is incredibly beautiful!!

Friday was a quiet day after the grand ordeal of baptism the day before. The single events were concluded at night. On Saturday the 26th the FRAM Olympic games started. 5 teams Dining, Housekeeping, Galley, Deck/Engine, and the Leftover team (Officers and Medical Team).

First game out involved running up and down the entire ship answering questions, and the last task was to find a trapped stuffed penguin in a passenger cabin. The group answering the 7 questions first got a head start on the search after the trapped penguin. Left overs were leading for all the questions, Dining and Deck just behind.

When the search started Deck department found the penguin and won this first game of the Olympics. It took a toll on quite a few of us having to run like crazy people up and down the decks after ha heavy barbeque dinner. Chef  Eduardo shows how most uf us felt afterwards. On Sunday there were three new games amongst them were egg race and "Guess the Word". The score is now a tie between Deck and Dining, that can change, keep following the Olympics on the FRAM!!

Our current position is Latitude: 19 degrees 18.1N Longitude: 023 degrees 44.6 West

We have 25 degrees outside temperature

Todays Interview is:

Name: Janardhan C Bambulkar
Position: 2nd Engineer

How long time have you been working for Hurtigruten?
For the past 4 months.
How many times have you crossed the Equator with a Hurtigruten ship?
This was the first time.
What do you like best about the equator crossings?
The people singing karaoke in the bar at night
Is your job different when the ship does the crossing?
No it is the same
Which tasks do you have during the crossing?
Cleaning of coolers, condensors, sewage pipelines, blackwater tank cleaning.

We are back !

Hello all, we have to apologize for not blogging for a whole week. We can justify only not blogging from monday to wednesday really when we had no sattelite connection at all, and we were truly alone in the big blue open. So we are blogging a bit in retro-spect now. During the days that have passed we have seen interesting things, which we think our biologists that normally travel will us in other parts of the world find interesting. We had a gathering of 6 "Masked booby" birds soaring along our way, suddenly a big dark bird appeared in their midst. We ran out with the camera, shouting, we have to get pictures for John and Manuel on this. After looking in the book we think this is a "Frigate Bird". It is described that this bird harasses other birds, and we can confirm it does. Several times it toke a dive to attack the "Masked booby".

Head chef Johan-Ludvik brought his deep-sea fishing equipment for this trip and tested aft on deck 3 after reports of sword fish was spotted, but no such luck this time.

We would also like to announce that we have opened up for anyone to comment on our blog. By mistake the comment was set to team members only.

Todays interview is:

Name: Irvin Igtanloc

Position: Motorman

How long time have you been working for Hurtigruten?

Almost 4 years

How many times have you crossed equator with a Hurtigruten Ship?
3 times

What do you like best about equator crossings?
Baptismal ceremony
Is your job different when the ship do crossings?
No differcence, it is the same as always

Which tasks do you have during the crossing?

Night duty in engine control room.

Sunday and we finally have birds

We start today with yesterday evenings events. We have had crew activities at night all week, and singles games with darts, table-tennis, chess, and last night air gun shooting.We end up getting very competitive, and next week we continue with team games which we guess will get even more competitive. This morning we got a phone call from our Safety Officer Andreas, who reported "birds" soaring around the vessel. Quick camera, need to document for John. So here it is. We have a theory after looking in the book that this is a "Masked Booby". If John or Manuel should read this, could you comment on the blog to either confirm or give us the right name? They kept us company for many hours throughout the day.

Todays interview is:

Name: Johan-Ludvik Johansen

Position: Head Chef

How long time have you been working for Hurtigruten?
Since 1989

How many times have you crossed equator with a Hurtigruten Ship?
11 times

What do you like best about equator crossings?
Cleaning all storerooms, barbeque arrangements, sun and warmer climate.

Is your job different when the ship do crossings?
Yes time for more planning of the future cruises.

Which tasks do you have during the crossing?
All the provisioning of the upcoming Europe cruises, and preparing new menus. Also make sure the crew have good food on the crossing.

The hunt of the "Ekvator Certificate"

At 09:20 the "bing-bong" of the PA system sounded, and "Radio Ekvatorrrrrr" were transmitting a very important message to "ALL CREW". If you were not able to produce the one and only accepted evidence of your prior baptism over the Ekvator by 19:00 today, you are doomed on the day of judgement, which in this case is very close. It is the day we cross the Ekvator. You will be pabtised after the terror-regime passed down by generations of sailors. For those of us who have done it, we are in no hurry to do it again. A slight panic in more than one corner (especially the galley according to ships rumour) emerged after the message were transmitted, some went desperatly to their cabins to see if they had it. Others called thousands of miles to get there husbands and wifes to roam around and find this important document. The picture above shows the result of both methods used to retreive it. How many actually did not have the document by 19:00 today, will be reveiled in the blog on the day of judgement. So keep following us:-) 

The weather is beautiful, there is no other word to describe it. Temperature 29 degrees celsius, a comfortable 21 at night. We have had barbeques on deck every evening, how lovely is that?!! The lounge on deck 7 is a cool oasis after being outside for a while. One of these comfortable seats can be your on a crossing in october for approx 500 NOK per day included all meals. 

Todays interview is:

Name: Rune Andreassen

Position: Captain

How long time have you been working for Hurtigruten?
25 years

How many times have you crossed equator with a Hurtigruten Ship?
6 times

What do you like best about equator crossings?
Nice summer weather, and baptism of new crew that never have crossed before
and those who have forgot their certificate. You will never forget your first crossing

Is your job different when the ship do crossings?
I have more time for paperwork and planning of the operation ahead.

Which tasks do you have during the crossing?
Preparing for the next season in Europe/Greenland/Spitsbergen. Planning for the itineraries
for 2013, follow up with the ships management all maintenace and preparations conducted on the crossing. I am also judge for the FRAM Olympic games starting today, and will be going on for more than a week after duties.

The days seems all the same now

The days comes and goes, and they all seem the same now. The chores and the view do not change much. Although the position on the screens do tell us that we are on latitude 29 south now. It is getting considerble warmer day by day. No birds today John, we think we will see more when we approach the brazilian coast in a couple of days or so. We are looking. As you see from the first picture it looks quite inviting to take a plunge in the jacuzzies onboard. They are really nice!

Our Navigation Officer Clyde always seems to be busy on the bridge during his watch hours, although his view is a bit more monotonous than usual. Our medical team spends their spare time puttig together this large puzzle.

Todays crew interview is with
Name: Clarice Tabanao

Position: Receptionist

How long time have you been working for Hurtigruten?
5 months
How many times have you crossed equator with a Hurtigruten Ship?
2
What do you like best about equator crossings?
The games, and the time to relax
Is your job different when the ship do crossings?
No
Which tasks do you have during the crossing?
Inventory of the shopstocks, inventory of the office supplies and tidy up reception area

She will shine

Today was the first day our crossing tasks commenced "full force" after leaving Buenos Aires. All hallways and outside on decks were filled with water hoses, buckets, cleaning liquids, you could smell soap in every corner. A bit bumpier and windy today, resulted in a brisker walk on deck for those of us who do our daily excersice walking deck 5-6-7-8 for an hour or so.

We have arrived at 30 degrees south now and our average temperature is 26 degrees celsius during daytime. Quite comfortable to be onboard at the moment.
A message to our resident ornithologists and birdies. Our own John Chardine sent me a mail today saying "Karin, please have a look out for the tropical bird on the trans-atlantic crossing" Aleksander and I will do so, and promise to post pictures if we see any bewinged friends on our way.

Tonight as we are blogging the Fram Olympic games have started on deck 7, individual events first tonight with darts and table tennis. On my way from the lounge to do this blog the crew asked me to extend a heartily greeting to all you family members who follow us on the blog.

We will present one crew member every day for the duration of the crossing. We have some standard questions which they all will answer

Todays crewmember is Maria Luisa Nagasawa, Leading Stewardess.

How long time have you been working for Hurtigruten?Since 2004 (7 years)
How many times have you crossed equator with a Hurtigruten Ship?
14 times
What do you like best about equator crossings?
Baptism, weather, but do not like to sit too much in the sun, barbeques on deck, Olympic games onboard
Is your job different when the ship do crossings?
No
Which tasks do you have during the crossing?
Clean all passenger and crew cabins, make them shine and spotless. Organise all lockers and do inventory

Qeqertarsuaq "The Big Island"

Ice, ice, ice! Our first day with icebergs. What a beautiful sight in the morning. Icebergs of all shapes and sizes greeted us as we approached Qeqertarsuaq. The harbour entrance is very narrow, quite dramatic and like everywhere else on our trip, very beautiful.
We dropped anchor and at 9am our Polar Cirkle boats whisked us to shore. Before long our hike to The Valley of the Winds was under way. A short walk through town lead us to a beautiful beach with hundreds of icebergs spread out as far as the eye could see. We were prudently cautioned to avoid going right down to the water's edge as tsunamis from collapsing icebergs were an ever present hazard.
While we were hiking in the Valley Of The Winds we were blessed with a light breeze, blue skies and just enough cloud cover to keep from getting sunburned. Our hike through the rolling rugged rocky wilderness lead us past many beautiful spring wild flowers including: Woolly Lousewort, Arctic Poppy, Moss Campion, Lapland Rose-bay and Broad-leaved Fireweed to name but a few.
The last Polar Cirkle boat to the ship left shore at 2pm which meant we had most of the afternoon to enjoy cruising past majestic icebergs and attending informative lectures by Ilja, Axel and Andy.
Tomorrow: Uummannaq and Ukkusissat.

Sisimiut

Kutaa from Sisimiut!!
Sunny blue skies greeted us as we approached Sisimiut. With 5350 inhabitants this is the second largest "city" in Greenland. The surrounding scenery is impressive with steep rocky cliffs rising straight up from the sea and while the landscape is somewhat monotone there is a riot of colour both from the many bright houses and the hundreds of fishing boats both big and small, surrounding the harbour.
The Arctic Circle, the Polar Circle and the Dog Equator are all different names for the same place. The Dog Equator got its name because in Greenland true Greenlandic sled dogs are only found north of the the Dog Equator! Today we learned that Sisimiut is the southernmost town in Greenland with true sled dogs.
Just before we set sail for Qeqertasuaq we watched Jacob demonstrate his considerable kayaking prowess. We all shivered as we watched Jacob roll his kayak again and again in the frigid polar waters of Sisimiut harbour.

Kangerlussuaq

5.30am is really "not" the most pleasant time for a wake-up call, we do admit! But it is worth it as there are so many things happening: Air Greenland is doing the check-in on board MV Fram. Within record time (45min) 166 passengers are checked in! Time for breakfast, a quick goodbye- and off we go to explore the former US army base. One highlight follows the next: a drive on the bumpy road leading to the icecap and finally standing on the icecap itself, enjoying a guided walk in town and the BBQ at Lake Ferguson- who cares for the little blood suckers that surround us... Praise the inventor of mosquito repellent!

Eqip Sermia

Some things change, some things don't: The Fjord of Equip Sermia is still guarded by a thick ring of drift ice, keeping FRAM at distance. But the weather! Throw away the gloves, get out the sunscreen - winter is over...
In immaculate conditions we bring the Polar Cirkel Boats to the water, to take a real joyride among the icebergs. The light makes all the difference; on a grey day the disappearing roots of the bergs may seem eerie, bu ow it is just veeery pretty.
Who's hungry? Everybody. So the BBQ on the observation deck is an extremely popular event. Sitting in the sun, chewing on chicken, fish or burger, having a drink. Just another day in Paradise...
Those who like sunsets shouldn't be disappointed about the midnight sun - it's quite as nice, as to be witnessed later on.