Spirit of Adventure blog

Almost smack bang in the middle between mainland Norway and Svalbard lies the rather remote ‘Bear Island.’

Why it’s called Bear Island is anyone’s guess, because apparently there are no bears on it and neither have there been since records began, but at least that must make daily life a little less perilous for its 9 residents.

We decided upon some scenic cruising during our passage southbound, and passed the island around half a mile off to give everyone a rare view of this apparent seabird sanctuary. Fortunately, the low lying mist cleared just enough to give us an idea of the rugged remoteness of the landscape here, as well as spotting some sea life and a lone anchored sailing yacht in one of the beautiful looking golden sand sheltered bays.

Southward we went onto Honningsvåg, a small town and fishing harbour located close to the North Cape – Europe’s most northerly continental point of land.

A glorious day dawned (well actually it didn’t really dawn as the sun had been up all night, but by dawning here I suppose I meant the drawing of one’s curtains) as we approached our little finger berth nestled in amongst the local fishing boats landing their catch.

Here it was all about visiting the North Cape and so various means of transportation ranging from bus to helicopter were made available for those to see it basking in an unusual amount of sunshine.

Once the Cape had been seen (or beforehand, for some) there were other trips here to enjoy, including one to nearby Mageroy Island to sample remote island life, a fishing trip to catch King Crabs for lunch, or a bird safari to search for puffins and the likes.

Fun and exploration had, and almost as if a switch had suddenly been turned by the weather Gods, late afternoon came about and clouds closed in bringing gusty chilly winds, turning the weather rapidly from glorious to quite wintery.

We headed out of the harbour and gave the North Cape a close sail-by so that a few of our guests could tick 3 boxes today: viewed by land, air and sea. Southbound we go, to the beautiful Lofoten Islands…

Kind Regards
Captain Kim Tanner