Svalbard 2015-7: Sandøy, Å & Reine

Day 8: July 6th ~ Sandøy, Å & Reine in the Lofoten Islands
For some reason I made very few notes for today, & all about getting up & breakfast. That means any script from 0900 onward, & for 3 different trips in the Lofoten Islands, is only reliant on my memory. 
So ~ here we go!

Pic 1: Taken at 0330 July 6th 2015

Although I got up in the night & nipped on deck for the 1st pic of the day, & got up again at 20 to 7 (see pic 2), as it turned out, we'd crossed the Arctic circle at 0631, & I'd missed it. 
I wonder if any other of the 43 passengers on the Polar Pioneer were up with camera in hand to record the moment?

The 'Nessie-like' lumps of rock in the next pic were just on the horizon at 0638.

I actually got out of bed at 0725, then speedily dressed, & was down a deck for breakfast only a little late. After eating & drinking with my fellow PP guests, I went above & got a couple of photos before we all got into the zodiacs. 

The 'Nessie' lumps

This is what they look like on max zoom

Gary et al checking out the bird-life around the Røst islands

I was in Gary's zodiac when we bounced towards Sandøy.

From the side of the zodiac

As you can see from the pics, my fellow cruisers had some serious photographic hardware. Some had >1 camera with them: presumably set for speed for photographing birds in the air, & at mag.zoom for those up on the cliffs, or on the water: there were loads of rafts of puffins & other auks.

Auks are notable for their ability to "fly" under water as well as in the air. I don't know what happens underwater, but they have to flap their wings very fast in order to be able to fly normally. They look cute when flying: a bit like a man in a suit in a hurry ;-)

On the northern side of the island there was sight of some town or other over the waves. It may have been Røst? To our right there a memorial to some Italian sailors on the Sandøy hillside.

Cock-eyed sea & the Sandøy beach.
It was not a sandy beach ;-)

Apparently ~ in the 1430s, there was a mega storm,  an Italian ship got into difficulties in the Channel, & a lifeboat of Italians drifted north towards Norway.
They came ashore on Sandøy, which is part of the Røst chain of islands on the southern tip of the Lofotens.
The tale is that they lived on the island for some weeks before being discovered by a sheep farmer from the island of Røst. He took them home, & when they returned to Italy after the winter, they spoke well of Norwegian hospitality. 
A bit of a trade connection ensued, & cod was exported to Italy where Norwegian salted cod became a key ingredient in Baccalà.
According to the Puffin Post, the PP kayakers went ashore & got a closer look at the Querini monument. However, the Post talks of the island as Vedøy & not Sandøy, so ~ as Google shows the Querini monument is on Sandøy, I think someone got a bit mixed up?? 
Anyway, here's what Google had to say about it: Querini,  a Venetian nobleman, was shipwrecked in the North Sea during the early winter of 1431, while on a voyage from Crete to Flanders. One of the lifeboats with survivors from the wreck drifted ashore on the uninhabited island of Sandøy, just off Røst. The survivors were found in a very poor state of health in January 1432. They stayed on till spring, and then left on ships carrying stockfish. The Italians’ narratives of conditions on Røst at the time is one of the most important accounts we have about the lives of ordinary people in Northern Norway during the Middle Ages. A monument to commemorate Querini and his companions was unveiled on Sandøy on 10 July 1932.

The Querini monument ~ from Google

I think these could be cormorants?
The RSPB website shows they have yellow cheeks?
Um ;-p

I also found out someone had composed an opera about the event: jokingly referred to as the only opera about salted cod!

The kayakers catch us up

More cormorants

Further on round the island we saw a Lot of sea birds and even some white-tailed sea eagles. I say 'and' because ~ although they fish in the sea, they don't swim in it like everything else we saw. I know some PP-ers got photographs, but by the time I had zoomed in enough, it had flown off each time. Ah well!

2 more cormorants looking like the avian version of meerkats

Oh look! !   A load more cormorants ~ I think ;-p
Until someone says otherwise, I'm calling this pic
"A Cluster Of Cormorants"

A bit of coloured seaweed

This might be a black guillemot, but don't quote me!

Descendants of the sheep owned by the 1432 farmer?

Razorbills & their guano on a Sandøy rock

Their chests are as white as their guano ;-p

Shame I wasn't zoomed-in more

It took me ages on Google find out these birds were Razorbills!
I knew they were Auks ~ thanks to our PP lectures, but which ones? ;-)

This would be great if it wasn't for the guano!
A great view (from most angles) of
their beaks & little white belts

Thanks to Google Images, I now know :-)

Having gone right round the island, the PP comes into view

Back on-board, we head north towards Å

We get closer to Å, but  .  .  .

the 'Nessie' islands to aft are shown to be a long way apart

Mantles of green & late snow on the hillsides

We approach the village of Å

According to Wiki, Å comes from the Norse å meaning stream or small river, & it's pronounced O or eau (the French for water).

The glimmering sea to port behind us

The 1st zodiac goes to Å .  .  .

while the rest of us hang over the rail & enjoy the view

Quite a few of the crew went ashore here as well as the guests, so there was a longer wait than usual for a zodiac. 



It didn't matter: the sun was out & it was a lovely day :-)

The view from the zodiac

My turn came, & we must've been going quicker than usual because there was a lot more spray to aft

Another view from the zodiac ;-)

There was an inviting looking hill just north of the harbour, & it was a bit of a shame we didn't have more time ashore.

The 1st Å pic at the marina/harbour

So I went the other way, meandering through town, & south past the fish drying racks & up onto the hill, taking photos as I went.

A bloke with a couple of cod?

The Å fish market

My foot adds perspective  .  .  .

.  . & a Norwegian adds even more!
This pic went in the Expedition book :-D

Afternoon in Å

Despite the date ~ July 6th, there was
still snow on the northern slopes

See the Google bit below about this

THE STAR GARDEN AT Å

The "star garden" is a small well arranged village owner’s garden at the centre of Å and was laid out about 1915. The garden was formed with one large star-shaped flower bed at the centre, other beds around the perimeter, and paths of white sand. A 1,5 metre high wall was set up to the north as protection against the cold wind and the beds were edged with rectangular slates.

Today the star cannot be found nor the sandy paths. Now there is grass at the centre, this is surrounded by the wide beds which were here earlier. What is special about this garden is that many of the original perennials remain because the garden was well cared for right up until the 1990’s. There are some rare species and old rose bushes. The garden is not extensive but is like a little treasure chest – full of surprises. About 40 different perennials can be found here. The garden at the centre of Å on Moskenes, & it is owned by the Ellingsen family.

The Å Stjernehagen

The writing on the side is Tran Damperi
According to Google it's the old cod-liver oil factory.
Well I never ! ! ! !

Inside the Å museum. Most PP-ers went here & stayed,
but I went back out into the sun

I found this Tourist map of the village

The road's-end referred to is the E-10 from Luleå in Sweden.
It's about 850k/530m long

I was a bit peckish, & can usually manage a goodie, so I nipped into a bakery for a bit of artisanal bread.

I remember asking him his name, but didn't write it down

My Å bread. It was yummy :-q

Drying fish-heads. Yuk :-(    Strangely, there was no smell!

At the bottom of the hill to the south of the village there were loads of fish-drying racks. As usual, Wiki came up with the goods :-)
Stockfish is unsalted fish, especially cod, dried by cold air and wind on wooden racks (called "hjell" in Norway) on the foreshore. The drying of food is the world's oldest known preservation method, and dried fish has a storage life of several years. The method is cheap and effective in suitable climates; the work can be done by the fisherman and family, and the resulting product is easily transported to market.

The view inland from the hill.
This lake fed the river running past Tran Damperi

The view north over the village

It was lovely up there :-))  

By this time it was nearly 5pm, but the sun was still high, & it was certainly warm enough for shorts.

The brown things in front of the trees at the bottom of the hill are the drying racks

The PP to the SE

The mainland is East ~ way beyond the horizon

An Å orchid

I think Heidi said this was a Rock Pipit  .  .  .

which are well camouflaged amidst rocks

I found the rock pipit on the way down the east side of the hill, & at the bottom there was a family having a BBQ in the trees.

This was the 3rd of the 5 photos I submitted
to make it into the Expedition Souvenir book

Back beyond the bridge, the tide had gone out a bit, so I sat with my feet in the clear water & took a couple of photos.

My feet & Tran Damperi

Then I made my way back to the harbour in the hope of finding ice cream.
No luck :-/

Russian crewmen Max, Sasha & Alexi:  Max was the
Radio Operator, but there were 3 guys called Alexandr,
so I'm not sure what Sasha & Alexi did!

I did find some of the crew, though. They were ready to get on the 1st zodiac back to the PP, & prepare for our sail to Reine.

Å from the zodiac

Not sure, but I think the 3 peaks are Amundsholmen?

Sailing north with Amundsholmen
framed by the PP crane

The penultimate pic of Å at 1939

Å ~ golden in the evening sun, 1 minute later

The journey to Reine was about 2 hours, & we had dinner in the interim.
I found the book The Long Way Round in the bar, & sat down to read it. It was about Ewan McGregor & Charley Borman's motorbike trip from London to New York across Europe & Asia.
It was a good read, & had maps. 
I like maps :-)
I was sufficiently engrossed that I chose not to go on the 3rd trip of the day: a zodiac cruise through the Reine fjords. Apparently, the zodiac with the Aus families in had a great view of a surfacing humpback ~ only metres from them.

A barge towing a raft of rocks.  Bizarre, or what?

I did go on deck, though, & got a nice shot of the inversion above a U-shaped valley, & some great atmospheric ones of the recession over the sunset-lit mountains.

I Really like this one :-))

From the souvenir photo-book we all got after the end of the cruise, I wasn't the only one on deck that evening, & Michael ~ the cruise photographer, took one of Reine which ended upon the front cover (I'd say 'see the final Svalbard blog', but ~ as I write this, it ain't written yet, & it will be a couple of months ~ probably? before it is!)

2300 hrs on July 6th 2015

The last 2 pics were taken on the mobile: the Panasonic being charged for the next day's trips to Trollfjorden & Fuglberg.

But that's another story!
OAO