Archive | M/V Dirona RSS feed for this section

Vestland is Norway’s newest county, established on January 1, 2020, and lies directly south of More Og Romsdal county. After departing Vestland’s administrative center, Bergen, we spent a week cruising coastal Vestland between Austevoll and Lammavagen. We’d already explored much of inland Vestland, including Nordfjorden, Sognefjorden, and Hardangerfjorden but hadn’t spent much time in the…

We returned in January to the beautiful city of Bergen, made even more so with a fresh coating of snow. While there, we enjoyed several walks through the winter landscape, particularly at dusk and dawn. We also refueled, restocked and learned about an awesome new piece of winter gear, shoe grippers, a wonderful invention that…

We spent the darkest and most northerly part of our Norwegian winter cruise, from early December to early January, in the the More Og Romsdal region directly north of the headland Stad. This area encompasses several major centers, including Alesund, Kristiansund, Andalsnes and Molde, plus spectacular scenic destinations such as UNESCO World Heritage site Geriangerfjord,…

Winter storms arrived frequently in early January as we continued south from the headland Stad. We travelled in calmer weather and stopped at Helleviksundet and Resesundet, pictured above, as the systems passed through. In calmer conditions we made a tender trip through the complex islets around Resesundet, and in the stormier weather completed some boat…

When we returned back south of the notorious headland Stad in early January from Haddalsvika, conditions were so calm that we continued along the exposed outer coast rather than taking the more protected channel past Maloy. It was our first time passing the Krakenes Lighthouse, pictured above, on the western coast of Vagsoy, where several…

After exploring Storfjorden, we made one more stop in the Ulsteinvik area as we proceeded south. This time we anchored to the southeast in Haddalsvika, surrounded by dramatic winter scenery, and completed our tender tour of the area on another cold but clear day. Below are highlights from Jan 4th, 2021. Click any image for…

Geirangerfjord, a branch of Storfjorden, is one of the better known and popular fjords in Norway and is part of the West Norwegian Fjords UNESCO World Heritage Site. Full-sized cruise ships regularly travel the waterway, as do the Hurtigruten coastal ferries, local ferries and countless other commercial vessels. A lesser-known branch of of Storfjorden is…

At 46 nautical miles long, Romsdalsfjorden is the ninth-longest fjord in Norway. The fjord forks into three main branches at the island of Veoya, once the main medieval trading center between Trondheim and Bergen where the 12th-century Medieval Church of St. Peter still stands. The three main branches stretch past the towns of Molde along…

After heading south from Trondheim, we made two brief stops before spending Christmas Eve and Day in Kristiansund. We walked through town on Christmas Eve, including a pass through the Mellemvaerftet shipbuilding museum, and woke up on Christmas Day to a beautiful snowfall. That morning we made an extensive tour of the area by tender,…

Dirona spent five weeks in Trondheim in 2018 as part our making of a trip back to the US, and we really enjoyed Norway’s third-largest city with its university-town vibe. We were on our way south during our previous visit, and this would be our turn-around point on our second Norwegian cruise. Although we didn’t…