At sea towards Hammerfest

The pace of our traveling has not been as frenetic as it usually is, so I don't feel the need for a day at Sea as much as we have in the past. However, distances can be vast and we are now on our way to Hammerfest and we are therefore at Sea .

Given this is not an expedition Cruise, we're not having the number of briefings or lectures that we have come to enjoy in the past. We do however have two lectures the first lecture is on cetaceans. These creatures cover everything from the largest creature on Earth. The blue whale through to dolphins. It was an excellent lecture of course. And we will have the opportunity to spend more time on deck looking for whales with the naturalists. Those we might see include the fin whale, orcas, minke and humpbacks. In the afternoon I have an opportunity to try and again get my head around The physics of the Northern lights. The lecture was much less about the physics compared with the previous lecture I had listened to I now have a better understanding.

We were greeted in the morning by snow on our balcony, it was very cold. For some of the passengers, the delight of our day at sea has been the stunning coastline as we sailed past. Small villages, snow, capped mountains and the occasional flurry of snow was spectacular. Nothing boring about the view from the ship.

We were invited to have cocktails with the captain before dinner. This is a regular feature and pretty much a marketing exercise. Keep the regular punters happy by making them feel special is my somewhat cynical take on it. However, we did go down to what is known as the blue eye which is on the first deck and is below the water, they have created a special cocktail lounge down there with large portholes that look out into the sea. Champagne, snacks and a chat with the captain. What was interesting though was one of the young women employed by the company we had met when we went to Madagascar. It was nice to catch up with her, she was there because she is the onboard sales person.Read more