Northern lights cruise part 5. Still at Tromso

27/02/2014. Thursday. Weather cloudy

Bl**dy alarm went off at 7am. Only 5 hours sleep. Fell like a zombie and look like one too! Turned over and slept till 8.30am and up to breakfast for 9am. Still got grin on face and conversation at breakfast was all about last night. The majority of fellow passengers went on the Boudicca tour to a base camp about an hours drive away. More light pollution at that camp so not as good a display.  Some less hardy souls returned on an earlier bus and missed the best part of it! Fools!!!! Hope for their sake that another opportunity arises in Alta.

Leaving for Arctic tour

The Arctic Highlight tour was at 12.45pm so had to meet in Neptune bar by 12.30pm. Lunch before
we went so within 2 1/2 hour of breakfast had another meal. Groan... waistline expanding rapidly. Very good excursion. First to Arctic Experience center. Brilliant wide screen film showing the beauty of Norway landscape and mountains. Almost felt you were actually traveling over the fjords and mountains by helicopter. Not for those that suffer from motion sickness!! Then a small Aquarium with arctic fish and aquatic mammals  followed by another spectacular Aurora Borealis film.

.Back onto the coach for a 20 minute ride to our next stop the Tromsdalen Church and Arctic Cathedral.  A huge stained glass window on the Eastern side of the church showing the return of Christ. Just stunning. Had 30 minutes to look around before heading off to the cable car.

Tromsdalen Church white building in the distance.

View from the church

Some of you may wonder why a lot of my photos appear to show either dawn or dusk even in the middle of the day. Well daylight returned to this part of Northern Norway mid February having disappeared in November and now gives off this wonderful soft glow. The midnight sun depends on how far North of the Arctic circle you are but in Tromso it roughly appears on the 12th June and doesn't set again until July 1st.
.
 The cable car ride up to Storsteinen ( big rock) viewpoint 420 meters above sea level was breathtaking. Views to die for. Saw the peaks of Kvaloya on Whale Island. Visibility was good and walked along the top where both of us nearly went arse over tit! fell over.  Extremely slippy and should have put our ice grips on. Slight mishap to one of our party. Sat in the restaurant having a coffee and the chair collapsed. She cut her head badly and had to be carted off to hospital. Been reliably informed that no real damage done. Hope she makes it back to boat as we sail at 22.00 hours.

Boudicca is in the center

Peaks of  Kvalowa Whale Island in the distance

Bit more snow this high up.

Have a slight problem with my hands. Captain very concerned about the Norovirus so we all must use an alcohol disinfectant to sanatize the hands. Now have cracked skin on knuckles which hurts like hell every time I use the stuff. Have to suffer in silence as no one allowed into dining room or public areas without useing it.  Have resorted to just rubbing it on my palms so better then nothing. Also getting too used to eating huge meals and no longer feel bloated. Bit of a worry as stomach will think my throats been cut when we get back to normal eating on the 8th.

Entertainment was by the ship company dancers theme being Legends. Another spectacular show.
Usual quiz after the show ( third) and copious amounts of alcohol drunk. Bit of dancing toward the end of the evening.

Jim and Jennie

  Bed by midnight. Left Ian drinking with Peter and Jean. No idea when he returned as dead to the world. ( Very soothing to hear the drone of the engines and the rocking of the ship. Wonder if we could rig something similar on Free Spirit.)
Boudicca sailed at 22.00 for Alta

To be continued...........