The Gulating, in Gulafjorden, was the site of Norway’s annual parliamentary assembly from 900-1300AD, believed to have been established by Viking king Harald Fairhair. After 1300, the assembly was held in Bergen, where the Gulating Court of Appeal still sits today. In 2005, a memorial erected on the site to commemorate the 1,000 years of…
Tag Archives | Nordhavn
Skjerjehamn
From the island of Fedje, we continued north to Skjerjehamn, also a popular summer tourist and boating destination. The coastal town is known for its many sculptures, including The Blue Garden, an outdoor sculpture trail and exhibit about aquaculture. After a 20-mile, 3.5-hour run, we anchored at the nearby island of Bjoroyna and ran the…
Fedje
The island of Fedje is a popular summer boating and tourist destination, with a large sheltered harbour and excellent trails ashore. Of particular interest to us was a chance to walk a section of the North Sea Trail, an EU-funded, international collaboration to create a network of hiking trails along the North Sea. Participating countries…
2020 Summary
As with most of the planet, 2020 was for us a year of plan changes, adjusted expectations and unpredictability. In several ways our lives have changed notably, but much remains the same. Along with many fellow world cruisers, we experienced the unique challenges of being a visiting boater during a global pandemic. But overall we…
God Jul
God Jul (Merry Christmas) from Kristiansund, Norway. We hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season and that 2021 brings a return to normalcy. James, Jennifer and Spitfire God Jul message above Kristiansund, Norway God Jul (Merry Christmas) from Kristiansund, Norway. We hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season…
CRUISING WITH OTHERS ABOARD
Our cruising plan is to head up to Kawau, across to the Barrier and down the eastern side of Coromandel to the Mercury Islands and Whitianga area.
Here is an edited version of an article we wrote appearing in the latest version of Pacific PowerBoat.
After a difficult covid 19-dominated year and with lockdowns hopefully behind us, the summer cruising season finally upon us and overseas travel options restricted for the forseable future, unprecedented numbers of boaties are expected to head out to enjoy the delights of their local cruising area and beyond.
While a few old salts enjoy the seclusion that boating can offer one of the great joys of the cruising experience for the majority of us is sharing our adventures with family and friends (guests). We really enjoy showing guests around and not only are they great company, but give old destinations new life as they often discover new aspects and notice different features of interest.
But while there’s nothing quite like mates filleting the catch together over a cold beer at the end of a great day and telling tall stories about the one that got away, there can be a different sort of a catch. Guests may not be used to boats and you may not have previously have all spent so much time together in such close confinement.
But while there’s nothing quite like mates filleting the catch together over a cold beer at the end of a great day and telling tall stories about the one that got away, there can be a different sort of a catch. Guests may not be used to boats and you may not have previously have all spent so much time together in such close confinement.
Some guests may be experienced boaties, but even they need to know the peculiarities of your boat (yes and even those of the skipper). So cruising with guests is made all the more enjoyable for all if they know what to expect and after being welcomed aboard are made fully aware of safety procedures, how things work, and the skipper’s basic “rules”.
If you’re planning to meet guests mid-way through your cruise consider that it’s generally much easier and cheaper for you if they come to where your boat is located rather than you needing to make major detours to meet them. It’s a funny thing that we seem to baulk at spending hard earned dollars on a ferry or taxi, but not even more for diesel.
With space limited on boats you don’t want guests arriving with bulky suitcases so discuss in advance what they should bring. Do they need to bring their own linen and towels? If you don’t like guests wearing shoes aboard your boat you need to provide guidelines on suitable footwear as well as clothing for the cruise (experience-based tip: guests always bring far too many clothes). Discuss food supplies to avoid duplication and to ensure any special requirements (which seem all too prevalent these days) are met.
Find out if your guests are prone to sea sickness. If they are it can be a problem for you as well as them so make some suggestions for medications to bring along. If they are bringing children do you have suitable life jackets?
If you intend to share costs it might be wise to mention this from the outset. For example we generally share costs for food, drink and fuel for the time guests are on board.
Particularly on a larger vessel it’s all too easy to overlook a safety briefing as being unnecessary, but a briefing demonstrates your competence as their skipper to guests and shows you are serious about their safety. Tailor your briefingto your guests’ experience levelsand at leastcoverthe location of life jackets, use of fire extinguishers, man overboard procedures and any hazards specific to yourboat. For some of our experienced guests I extend the briefing to include all aspects of taking command of the boat and use of the tender.
Most guests like to feel they’re part of the crew rather than passengers, so it’s often a good idea to encourage them to help with anything from anchoring to cleaning up after fishing to manning the barbecue. In open waters give them a spell on the helm.
Guests can be rightly concerned about weather patterns and sea conditions, so it’s best to fully explain each morning over breakfast the intended cruising plan for the day and relevant weather situation.
Two major challenging areas with guests aboard can be the heads and water conservation. Explain clearly to your guests exactly how the heads operate and what not to flush down them; dismantling a blocked head is not the ideal way to start a great holiday together! Also explain how your boat has limitations with fresh water compared with life ashore and the need to conserve water during showers (yes this particularly applies to the ladies).
Most guests find it important to be able to charge their devices – mobile phones, iPads, laptops etc and you need to explain how they can do this. We also ask guests to leave their phones off or in silent mode overnight to avoid interrupted sleep for others.
When having guests for more than a few days it can be a good idea to encourage them to do some exploring by themselves to provide some “time out” for all. Diane and I often take an early morning walk by ourselves for this reason.
By adopting some of the above suggestions your cruising experience with guests can be made a whole lot more enjoyable for all and with memories of a great cruise they will still be friends when they disembark.
Oygarden
The island group municipality of Oygarden lies direction west of Bergen and extends about 30nm along Norway’s exposed North Sea coast. The eastern shores offer protected coastal cruising, while the western sides see the full force of North Sea storms. The wave strength is such that the island of Toftoyna was chosen as the site…
Kjerrgardsosen
Kjerrgardsosen is a large, sheltered basin north of Bergen, with a nice hike nearby and excellent territory to explore in the tender. We arrived there after a 15nm run from Bergen on a beautiful, clear October day and spent three nights at anchor. We toured the area by tender, enjoyed a hike on the well-maintained…
Road Trip to Sweden
As an EU citizen and accompanying family member, we can stay in the Schengen immigration area for an unlimited time period. But if we stay longer than 90 days in Norway (and most other Schengen countries), we must register as residents. We’ve decided not to do that, and instead exited the country briefly to Sweden….
Return to Bergen
In the fall of 2020, we made our third major plan change of the year. We’d been enjoying our Norwegian cruising so much that, rather than return to Scotland in October, we decided instead to winter in Norway. From the anchorage opposite the oil rigs in Steinsvagen, we made a two-day run south to Bergen,…
