We continue to sail north in leisurely steps. The weather is a bit more changeable 🌦️ ... so little rain and lots of sun obviously can't go on all summer ☺️. Without sun, it is also immediately a bit colder. Daytime temperatures vary between 9 and 18 degrees. Oh well, we are already getting used to it and I honestly wouldn't want to trade with temperatures above 30 like in the Netherlands now 😅.
We make nice contacts with other sailboats sailing around here in the north. With the Polaris Helvetica🇨🇭(and Kathrin's workout classes that I take 2-3 times a week), with the Polar X 🇦🇹, and with the Liajnad 🇱🇷 😊. The Ziggy Stardust (HR49 from Bruinisse) is also on its way to Tromsø and we will meet there or in Svalbard 😊. This gives us a different feeling than the period before; we live more in the now and more in the here. This sailing area is our “home” for the next few months and that feels very good 🤗🤗.

As our last stop along the Helgeland coast, we head to the beautiful Svartisen glacier. This glacier reached 10 metres above sea level as recently as 2007. Now the glacier is a lot higher and it is in the same place it was in 1949. Every year the glacier can grow because so much snow falls here.
It is a beautiful place to lie overlooking the glacier 🏔️😃. In the evening, Markus' Austrian boat Polar X arrives at 11pm. Now with his wife Marian joining them. In Brønnøsund, we had agreed to have a glass of wine with each other next time. We immediately kept that promise with our own wine and delicious freshly smoked salmon from the Polar X. We chatted until 1 am 👍😊.

The next day is dry and sunny. Good timing to undertake the climb to the glacier. What a fantastic “hike” of over 3 hours with considerable climbing and scrambling. But we can make it all the way to the glacier 😊👍❄️🏔️. Once back on the boat, we sit and relax in the sun and have dinner outside. We go to bed early 😴.

We leave early for the 56 nm to Bodø. We try to sail as much as possible but that means a lot of sail changes as the wind is rarely constant for longer with the high mountains around us. The engine regularly joins us. We meet German HR40 Hullu Poro on the way and he takes a nice picture of us as we sail out of the fjord (first picture below) which he emails to us 😊. Perhaps we will meet them up north. Bodø is another special landmark. This town is the springboard to the Lofoten and further north. We find a spot sheltered in the inner harbour well protected from the strong wind that will be there for the next night and day. We immediately go on a scooter (Toine) and bike (me) to a larger shopping centre to pick up the new Phillips airfryer 3000 (with two baskets) we had ordered online. We're going to enjoy that a lot, also as an alternative to the gas oven (which I make a lot of breakfasts in). Especially in the coming winter, cooking less on gas will save on humidity in the boat. We immediately try it out with chips in one basket and frozen Brussels sprouts in the other (to complement the delicious sushi we brought back from the mall). The Polar X also arrives here a little later.

The next day, it is still dry in the morning. After my online workout class by Kathrin, we bike back to the mall to buy a mat and a fitness elastic band. In the afternoon, we take the bus back and forth to Saltstraumen with Marian in the pouring rain. In that stretch of water, it can flow at more than 20 knots (the fastest flowing stretch of water on earth). Fortunately, we don't have to go through this by boat. We get soaking wet, but it is impressive to see. Once back in Bodø, we both go to the hairdresser and we are very happy with the result 👌✂️.

In the evening, we have a nice dinner with the Polar X. They are going to the Lofoten tomorrow. We decide at the last minute to leave already after dinner because the weather is (becoming) very calm now and tomorrow the wind is against us to go further north. The rightmost photo above was taken around 0.00. Unfortunately, plan A does not work (Kjerringøy is full of motorboats), and neither does plan B (a small anchor bay on the other side) because two boats are already there. Fortunately, plan C works. That's a nice spacious anchor bay where we drop anchor at 1.30 am and the sun is still shining 😊☀️.
When we wake up, the wind is already a bit in the bay as predicted. Time to move. The weather is lovely and sunny and we fancy a quiet Sunday. So we sail briefly to another anchor bay where we do lie protected from the wind. Toine organises all the official boat papers in preparation for our trip to Spitsbergen; it's a very useful job. I do the laundry, which can dry nicely outside. Until late in the evening, we sit outside in the sun watching F1.

What will be our next destination? Further north along this coast are too few places where we can lie well with our size boat. So we decide to “cross over” to Svolvær in the Lofoten. During the night, the wind in the anchor bay is already picking up (with fall winds due to the high mountains around us). We sleep a bit restlessly, dragging the anchor, but we are anchored like a house. In the morning, the wind is still strong when we leave for the 36 nm to Solvær. We start with reef 1 in main and genoa and quickly reduce this to reef 2 in both sails when we see 31 knots on the counter. Just under half an hour later, there is no wind at all 🤔. The outlier is probably due to the fall winds from the mountains. And now we are suddenly sailing in the middle of a low-pressure area with no wind. The last hour we can sail again with light wind. This is sailing in Norway 🇳🇴☺️.

Once in Svolvær, it rains for the rest of the evening and much of the night. The next morning, we see good warm “active floating suits” hanging in a shop by the harbour. We had been looking for those for a while. They are widely used by locals (including fishermen). Nice and warm and with buoyancy should you fall into the water. We also buy good warm gloves that fishermen use and in which you can still use your hands. Toine buys a “bear hat” for the real cold. Svalbard, here we come ❄️🌊😊. The Polaris Helvetica has now left Tromsø for Svalbard and we follow them closely ☺️. We also regularly see nice pictures of the Dixbay already sailing around Svalbard❄️😃.

It is dry for a while so we venture up the “devils staircase” overlooking Svolvær. Halfway up (at 200m) we call it a day. It becomes overcast and the path does not improve. We've had our work-out again 👍💪. In the afternoon, we sail on to an anchor bay around the corner where we are in the middle of rugged nature with lots of sea eagles flying around there. What a beautiful sight 🦅🦅 👌.

Our next destination is Trollfjord. A narrow fjord with high mountains with snow on top and sea eagles flying around. What a beautiful place. We lie there alone (at the jetty of the hydra electricity station) until early evening. Apart from some small cruise ships and ribs sailing in and out of the fjord. The cruise ships can just turn around🤔.
Then the Liajnad comes in and cosies up next to us. A Najad 451 with a nice American couple on it who, like us, have just started a trip around the world and have similar plans. We chat pleasantly over a cup of tea; I'm sure we will run into each other more often 😊.

They stay another day and we move on at 9 o'clock to sail just with the current through the narrow Raftsundet. Once out of the sund we can sail high on the wind (bft 4-5) and with a reef in both sails we spray through to Stokmarknes on the island of Hadseløya. By now we have arrived in the Vesterålen. You can think of the Lofoten as the long protruding thumb of a hand; the Vesterålen are above it and can be thought of as the four fingers (protruding islands in the Norwegian Sea). The Vesterålen are very similar in nature to the Lofoten but are less touristy. We will skip the Lofoten for now because we will save that for late summer when we return from Svalbard.

Stokmarknes is a nice place with a good vibe. Perhaps a good place to come back to in early spring 2026. In the afternoon, the sun breaks through with even blue skies, ideal for the brisk walk to the big transmitter mast at 500m altitude, with some snow 😄 and 360° views 👍😊. When we go to bed at around 0.00 hour the sun still shines brightly trough the windows. Luckily we do have good blinds for the windows.

Stokmarknes is also the “birthplace” of the “Hurtigruten” ships (Norwegian for “fast route/service”). The Hurtigruten began as a fast mail and passenger service along Norway's inhospitable northern coast in 1893 and has become Norway's national pride. It used to be indispensable for communication and supplies; today it is a bridge between tradition and tourism, and between residents and visitors. Shipping also played an important role in the Second World War. The Hurtigruten Museum in Stokmarknes has created a museum in and around one of the old ships. Fantastic to walk through. We have seen quite a few “Hurtigruten's” sail and stop in the places where we stopped ourselves. It is a combination of a small cruise ship and a ferry. You can go along for a short trip or for a longer one and book a cabin. We will definitely use it once this winter.

Now we will first continue north to Tromsø on our own boat. There, Marinthe will arrive in just over a week. Immediately after that, we will embark on the trip to Svalbard at the next weather window. Time is flying and we are looking forward to going to Svalbard 😊.