Spirit of Adventure blog

Saturday morning saw us cross into the Arctic circle, and the following day (at a very unsociable hour - particularly for a Sunday) we embarked our local pilot who would guide us through a few fjords before reaching our berth in Harstad at around breakfast time.

I had not visited this little town of some 20,000 residents before, (as it later turned out, neither had anybody I knew on board) and so like our guests was intrigued by what it might have to offer. Our local pilot commented that the fishing around the harbour bay was excellent, and so I thought it would be worth having a go.

This would pose a challenge though, as I soon discovered that we had no fishing gear on board and being a Sunday, nothing was available ashore. However, nothing is impossible for our crew and within an hour I was handed two little wooden blocks with line wrapped around them and hooks on the end, freshly fabricated by our skilled handymen on board.

A few hours later, with an ice box full of cod, my verification of the pilot’s earlier claims had been completed. Captain’s catch of the day appeared on a few menus that night onboard…

Away from the world of fishing, guests heading into Harstad could visit the world’s apparently most northerly medieval building – a delightful church still in use today. Others were content just meandering around the wooden buildings of the town, and even embarking on organised hikes to viewpoints and the likes.

Another day’s exploring complete, it was time to weave through the fjords overnight to our next destination of Tromso…

Kind Regards
Captain Kim Tanner