Tromso - Hamneidet - Skjervoya

Monday as planned we arrived in Tromso around midday. The city centre marina lacked any real facilities at all, no showers or toilets, a little disappointing having paid the highest marina fee yet of £27! Nonetheless it was a city centre berth and was in a good position for exploring Tromso. 

Could be in the Caribbean! 

Floating pontoon at Ryoya

Approaching Tromso

In the centre with the Rica hotel in the background

Tromso has a population of around 73000, the city is built within Tromsoya, Tromso island, an island about 10km long and 3km wide, the overspill from the city on the mainland joined by a bridge and the outer island of Kvaloya also joined by a bridge. The marina despite Tromso having a great deal of tourism was fairly empty, there were however plenty of tourists bundling off the Hurtigruten. 

Hurtigruten

We walked around the town, full of interesting architecture and an impressive cafe and restaurant scene, but surrounded by nature and walks. The city is home to around 11000 students, from all around the world offering classes in English as well as Norwegian. Its one of the busier places we have been, however everyone was very friendly and the transformation from deserted anchorage to busy city was easy.

Tromso centre

The library was very nice and we also walked around the most northern protestant cathedral in the world, which is also Norway's only wooden cathedral. The larger hotels in Tromso were all of interesting design, really standing out, far from many of the characterless square buildings we have seen before. 

Tromso Library

DomKirke, Protestant cathedral

Cathedral Organ

With only one night in Tromso we decided to walk across the bridge in the late afternoon and head towards the viewpoint over Tromso 400m above, there are cable cars which can take you there, but having been fairly boat bound the day before we decided to stretch our legs. Passing the Arctic Cathedral on the way, unlike the wooden Domkirk, protestant cathedral, this 1965 build is a daring architectural design. 

Arctic Cathedral by day

Arctic Cathedral by night

The walk up the hill in the dimming light was pretty tiring, we definitely could feel it on the legs, amazingly well looked after by the people of Tromso, parts of the walk were stone steps. Having made it to the top we stopped for a minute to catch our breath and appreciate the fantastic views, in the dark with the city lights spreading over both bridges, what a sight! By torch light we made our way down another path, we thought it might be a little easier going, it was less steep but longer! 

Beginning of the walk up the hill

Tromso by night

Looking across the bridge to Tromso

Mainland side of Tromso

Around midnight we got back aboard and in to bed, the alarm again set early for suitable weather and currents. Tromso marina was a really nice stop, but without facilities and expensive in comparison to others in Norway (Harstad town for example was £10 including showers and access to toilets and clubroom) we had decided to only spend one night there. 

Since leaving Tromso and typing this we have been in a signal black spot, honestly we aren't surprised as there are next to no settlements, certainly in comparison to further south where much of the coast is dotted with villages and cabins, here we motor for hours with no sign of anything but mountains and sea. 

The Tromso bridge leaving in the early hours

Fog came down like a curtain, giving very poor visibility, ship hidden in fog

The journey North from Tromso saw us reaching one of the fjords which are totally open to the sea, with nothing between us and the north pole, a lot of the northern parts of Norway are like this as there are fewer protecting islands. Thankfully for us it was a beautiful day with the fjord virtually flat calm, we stopped for a short time watching some dolphins, realising what the fjord might become like if the wind got up we moved on as quick as we could.

Amazingly we through chance had the current with us for most of the way, at one point near Tromso we had 3 knots with us, glad we weren't battling against it! The extra boost we had from the current meant we could maintain 5knots which was great as we were aiming to make a good distance while the weather allowed. 

A shy dolphin

Flat calm leading out towards the north pole!

We had been vaguely heading towards a KNBF buoy which was between two uninhabited islands, as we turned to come in the south passageway we could clearly see the bottom, at one point an uncharted rock just inches away from the hull. The buoy unfortunately didn't look like any of the other KNBF buoys we had seen and not wanting to tie on to a private mooring we continued on, this time going through the slightly deeper Eastern passage! 

There was another buoy marked further east near Skjervoya, so we aimed towards it, it was in this sound that we had the first current against us, dropping our speed to high 3knots, could have been worse though! We were beginning to run out of daylight hours, spotting a small marina on the other side of the sound we decided to take a look. The weather was beginning to change too so a sheltered marina was appealing. 

Hamneidet marina was a small and quiet stop, there was no sign of shops and just a handful of houses this suited us fine though, in comparison to Tromso this was the cheapest marina we have been to at only £3 a night. Some 51miles and just short of 11 hours of moving it was nice to get off the boat to stretch our legs. Hoping to get a weather forecast we went in search of phone signal in the evening, finally finding limited service up a small hill, enough to tell us that the next week wasn't looking as calm as we have been having and that if we hope to cross the next open sea area towards Hasvik it wouldn't be for several days. 

Hamneidet Marina

Staying in port for Wednesday we went a longer walk up one of the much higher hills nearby, incredible views over the neighbouring islands and mountains. We even managed to pick a bag full of blueberries, we had thought they would be finished by now. The blueberries made a great treat in a smoothie in the evening. 

Looking towards Isfjord glacier

This morning was calmer weather so we made the short hop around the corner to Skjervoya, which is the biggest town in the area with  a population just short of 2000. It also lies beyond 70 deg North!! Sitting aboard in Papay at just north of 59deg, 70 seemed infeasibly far away! Since leaving Papay we have now travelled over 1600 miles! 

Amazing peaks!

Shortly we will go and explore with the camera and update you later.