Narvik is ice-free year-round due to the warm waters of the Gulf Stream that run along the west coast of Norway all the way to Svalbard. This makes it an ideal shipping port for exporting Swedish-mined iron ore. The scenic Ofotbanen railway that transports the ore from Sweden to Narvik is one of the reasons…
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Hurtigruten
The Hurtigruten (meaning ‘Express Route’) is a system of coastal ferries, founded in 1893, that run between between Bergen in southwest Norway and Kirkenes in the far north near the Russian border. The ships operate as both cruise and local supply ships, making nearly 70 stops on their 11-night round trip to transfer cargo and…
Svalbard
Svalbard, lying 600 miles from the North Pole, is about as far north as a person is likely to get without being a polar research scientist. Despite the thousands of visitors who arrive annually in cruise ships and by plane, the area still has a real wilderness feel. The scenery is spectacular, with little evidence…
Storsteinen
1,381ft (421m) Mt. Storsteinen dominates the skyline east of Tromsø. An easy half-hour walk from the guest harbour leads to the cable car Fjellheisen, where we rode to the top for sweeping views of the area. Below are trip highlights from June 13th, 2018 in Tromsø, Norway. Click any image for a larger view, or…
Battery Bank Life Expectancy
Most battery manufacturers specify battery life expectancy in terms of number of cycles at a certain maximum discharge level. Transforming this data into the expected or remaining battery life for a house bank is challenging. In measuring the number of cycles, for example, what depth of discharge qualifies as a “cycle”? Our house bank consists…
Tromsø Polar Museum
Tromsø was the starting point for many polar research expeditions during late 1800s and early 1900s and the Polar Museum there has excellent displays on the topic. On our second day in Tromsø, we spent the afternoon at the Polar Museum and explored the town more on foot, both from high above and along the…
Tromsø Arrival
A couple of years after first planning it, we finally arrived in Tromsø, Norway. At 69°39’N, Tromsø is the most northerly destination we would bring Dirona this year. With a population of 67,000, the city is the largest in northern Norway, with the highest number of pubs per capita than any other in the country—our…
Continental Shelf
The continental shelf runs within five miles of the Norwegian coast off the island of Andøya, 25 miles north of Stø. As we crossed, the sea bottom plummeted from 350 feet to 1034 feet in a short distance and continued down to over 3,000 ft (900 m). The deep cold water at the continental shelf…
Dronningruta
Dronningruta is a strenuous (for us) 9-mile (15km) mountain loop walk between Stø and Nyksund with exceptional scenery. Dronnigruta means “The Queen’s Route”—the trail was named in honour of Queen Sonja of Norway who walked the trail in 1994. The pictures we’ve seen of the trail in the summer look beautiful, but the previous night’s…
Finnvågen
With some calm weather in the forecast, we departed Eidsfjorden to cruise the dramatic west coast of Langøya. We anchored for the night at spectacular Finnvågen, where we hiked ashore and toured the area by tender. The Norwegian scenery continues to impress us. Below are trip highlights from June 6th in the Vesterålen islands, Norway….
