Crossing the Arctic Circle

The clouds were still here when we woke. Rain clouds, sleet clouds, snow clouds. A miserable looking day, but we all settled in optimistically after breakfast hoping for a break. It was a good day to do the washing, a fully automated system here, and it's free, so it was great to get a mundane chore done without missing anything spectacular. We were fortunate enough to watch 6 Norwegian Eagles and a squall of seagulls feeding behind a little fishing boat as we cruised past, they are a  massive bird with a wingspan up to 2.5m.

The highlight today was crossing the Arctic Circle. The rain cleared and a teary sun poked  through for about 30 minutes, perfect timing for us to be out on deck and observe the beautiful steel globe structure that has been erected on the rock that marks the exact line. Of course a little fun was to be had with that and Max took part in a ceremony to mark the occasion where he ended up drinking a spoonful of cod liver oil and won himself an engraved 'silver' spoon as a souvenir.

My lens has broken... Irretrievably, and trying to find a new lens reading Norwegian  websites is pretty difficult if you don't speak the language.  Luckily a fellow photography enthusiast nearby has helped me interpret what I need to know and I should be able to buy a new (and better) lens to replace this one. Hopefully my travel insurance will cover the old lens and will offset the cost a bit when I get home.

The sky cleared for an hour or two to reveal a change in scenery. The Gulf Stream sweeps along this part of the coast and the snow is only to be seen higher up the mountain slopes, grass and trees still with leaves appear on small areas of farmland where people raise sheep. No lights tonight, the clouds are back.  Our last chance tomorrow night, thank goodness we saw them on our first night, how lucky we were.