Whales!

Photo: Lisa Anderson

If it’s whale watching in Iceland, mainly the name Husavik springs to mind, our destination for this morning. Only passing from Grimsey to the Northeast of Iceland we had spotted so many whales, literally on the drive-by, how promising is it to go out with the people who live here! And indeed some of them are bold enough to give a guarantee to spot the gentle giants. The port of Husavik sports many of very beautiful whale watching boats, giving the whole place a bit of a Moby-Dick feeling.

Photo: Klaus Kiesewetter

So it is more than natural that some of us set out with the schooner Haukur to see plenty of birds and of course follow the blows at the oceans surface.

After a stunning visit at the steep cliffs that were literally teeming with puffins it takes only a short ride until the first whales come into sight. In the end the statistics speak of minkys, fin whales and humpbacks. Not bad for a mornings ride!

Photo: Lisa Anderson

Photo: Klaus Kiesewetter

At the same time others were busy marinating in the Myvatn Nature Baths, geothermal natural pools of a constant 40 degrees (centigrade…), after a pretty hike around the perfect caldera of Hverfell. Really volcanic it gets on the Lake Myvatn Express that takes the third group through the mighty lava fields of Dimmuborgir and the boiling sulfur pots of Namaskard. So there is something for everybody, many stories are swapped after returning for the ride to our evening destination Thorshofn, where the local music school performs for us in the observation lounge.

Photo: Lisa Anderson

Photo: Lisa Anderson

Arrecife

Our journey goes to an end... and the crew wishes all the passengers all the best...

We are now having  our last full day on this tour with MV Fram. We are in Arrecife, Lanzarote. Tomorrow morning our passengers will leave the ship in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.

This morning there were lectures about the Canary Islands, so our passengers are well prepared for these two last days of our journey. Som have learned even more, by going on one of our excurcions. One group had the excursion "Lanzarote - Yesterday & today", getting to know the "real" Lanzarote...

Another group went to the southern part of the island, visiting the Timanfaya National Park, and even had a camel ride! A bit shaking...

This evening we will have a barbeque out on deck, ejoying the warm air here in Arrecife. Since we are leaving quite late tonight, we both had the fantastic Crew show and the captains farewell coctail yesterday evening.

Iona

The day today we spend on the beautiful islands of Iona and Staffa.
Again a superp day. Perfect weather condions for landings with our Polar Circle Boats.
The outdoor acitivies started around 8 o`clock on the island of island which is one of the oldest and most important religios centres in Western Europe. Christianity was spread throughout Scotland and marks the foundation of a monastic community by St. Columba.

The book of Kells, a famous manuscript, is believed to have been written by the monks of Iona around
800 AD. Vikings "visited" the monastery on the island several times.
Some of our guests went for an early service in the church, others walked around for personal education in the rich historic area of the Abbey and the surroundings. Two groups were shown around of professional guides.
All of us were very embrassed of beeing on the isle of Iona.
In the afternoon the ship sailed 14 nm northeast to the tiny island of Staffa. The name is from Old Norse and
means stave or pillar island. The island is well known for its basaltic rocks specially in the south end.
Nobody lives there. The island became to prominence after a visit by Felix Mendelsson. His Hebrides Overture brought fame to the island.

 

Again a superp landing with our Polar Cirkle Boats. The guests enjoyed to walk a longside the high cliffs and had a look into the majestic Fingal`s cave.



Shetlands

In the morning around 8 o`clock our ship docked at the smal pier in Leirwick the capital of the Shetland Islands.

The small central city was only a few 100 meters away from the Fram.The weatherforcast for the day was not very good: rain the whole day! But that changed very qiuckly during the morning to a dry and warm day with temperatures of about 12 degrees. Our norwegian guests felt nearly at home.

The Shetland Islands had a great influence by norwegian invaders. The Norwegian language, "the norn" was spoken until the 19th century.

The excursions to the "Jarlshof" and the island of "Mousa" where booth very informativ and well joined by our travellers.

Morning Has Broken On Sea

What a nice day we had yesterday on the Faroes. All passengers loved the stay and the activities, specially those who had the wonderful boat trip to the Vestmanna Bird Cliffs.

After leaving the port of Torshavn, the captain brought the ship to the narrow magnificent sunds with high and step mountains in the northern part of the Faroes. Around 7.30 p.m we reached the Cape Enniberg, which is the second highest sea-cliff in Europe after Hornelen, in Norway. During the famous fashion show in the observation lounge we could see the beautiful high cliffs of the Faroe Islands for hours on our way to Iceland .

A day at sea, good time to relax after powerful days. But also good time for the multiple activities aboard.

Our lectures are busy preparing and doing their lessons. So we learned from Friederike about the

Atlantic-History. Or one could attend a humorous lecture by Klaus, about Iceland and the Islanders.

And the third lecture was about Iceland today after the crisis 2008 by Sabine. Last not least Anja

was given interesting informations to the excursions in Greenland. In the afternoon our bartenders in the

panorama lounge lured us with freshly waffles added with music in the air from our famous pianoman

Antonio. But not enough, after Dinner there was movie-time with a documentary about the poles.

The wonderful seaday ended with a radio-feature on the icelandic novel "Bankster"enjoying the

view of the lovely waves.

Fjords, Legends and Trolls

Again it is a beautiful morning. Today we spent nearly a full day on the archipelago of the Lofoten, famous for its natural beauty. At 7 a.m. our ship docked at the small pier of Reine. Two excursions were offered. One a visit to the fishing village of Å (the shortest village name in the world) and another one to the Lofotr Viking Museum in Borg. At 1p.m. MV FRAM set sail to the village of Svolvær, which is located on the south coast of Austvågøy. There our guests joined a rafting safari or a tour to Storvågan and Henningsvær.

At 6 p.m. we left Svolvær for more gorgeous landscape; the narrow approximately 2 km long Trollfjord. The name derives from troll, a figure from the Norse mythology. While cruising through the fjord we even spotted those legendary Trolls.

By special invitation the local guide, Geir, from Digamulen gave us and introduction to the upcoming port, Digamulen. At 9:30 p.m. we reached the village of Digamulen, where our Captain Rune Andreassen was born. Most of our guests went by Polar Circle Boat for a visit to this little charming place.

Olden, Nordfjordei and the Bird Island of Runde

On our way from Bergen to Olden we passed in the evening narrow sounds and hundreds off tiny islands. In the early morning we reached the Nordfjord, which is the sixth longest fjord in Norway. At 7 a.m. MV Fram docked at the pier of Olden. Our excursions for the day included a boat trip on the Lake Olden and a overland-tour to the Briksdal Glacier and Nordfjordeid. The helicopter flight over the glacier was due to the low clouds not possible. At 1:30 p.m. MV Fram reached the capital of the municipality of Eid; Western Norway. The ships Polar-Circle-Boats were put on water for a transfer service to Nordfjordeid where the passengers explored the scenic city. At 8:30 p:m. another high light of the day the Bird Island of Runde. Runde is famous for its enormous amount of birds. About half a million or more seabirds  inhabiting the island, most of them are to be found in the cliffs.

The Hurtigruten Grieg Event in Bergen

At 8 a.m.  MV Fram reached the second largest city in Norway, Bergen. On her way through the bay the MV Fram was escorted by another famous Hurtigruten ship, the MS Lofoten. The MV Fram docked in the cruise ship terminal close by to all the main attractions of Bergen. The Norwegian coastal steamer service Hurtigruten starts in Bergen heading northwards to Kirkenes.
Good and dry weather conditions.During the morning we offered our guests a city tour of Bergen. In the afternoon all guests were invited by Hurtigruten to enjoy a special event at Trollhaugen. The motto of this special event was "Grieg". Trollhaugen was the home of the famous Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. To experience not only the musik but also to see where Grieg lived can only be regarded as a high light of the cruise. A superb piano concert was given by professor Signe Bakke and the museum curator Eilif Løtveit enlightened us with interesting information about the life of Edvard Grieg. The entire event was absolutly fantastic and faboules!

To end the evening an onboard fashion show was held. The crew and staff members in an unusual role as models performed beautifully in the observation lounge on deck 7.

Iona (Gaelic: Chaluim Chille) and Staffa (Gaelic:Stafa)

At 12 o`clock we reached our anchor position in front of the the small island Iona on of the Inner Hebrides off the western coast of Scottland. In former time the island was the centre of Celtic Christianity and is today renowned for its tranquility and natural beauty. In 563 Saint Columba was exiled from his native Ireland and founded a monastery on Iona with 12 companions. From there they set about the conversation of pagan Scotland and much of Northern England to Christianity.

Our tender boats brought the passengers safely on shore. From the pier it was an easy walk to the Abbey, passing the ruins of the Nunnery from the 12th-13th century. The Iona Abbey, now an ecumenical church, is particular historical and religios interest to pilgrims and visitors alike. The graveyard at the Abbey is the final resting place of Scottish, Norwegian and Irish kings. The island is such a beautiful peaceful place. Marvelous!
After we left Iona at 4 pm the captain headed to the tiny island of Staffa near by. The name Staffa comes from Old Norse. It means pillar island. The sea was calm just a Again the guests were brought onshore by the tender boats. And they loved it! Staffa`s most famous feature is Finga`s Cave, a large sea cove located near the southern tip of the island. Puffin (we didn`t see any), Common shags and some Skuas normally breed on the island. On small pads we walked along the cliffs to the north tip of the island. What a wonderful walk and such a great day!