two in the blue

After a couple of days of diving in the fjords north of Tromso we have finally reached our last anchorage before the big passage. Right now we are sitting in Løksfjorden (70°01’73N; 18°41’63E) while the last vestiges of a weather system thrum through the rigging and utterly perforate the entire yacht with the odour of the dried fish factory who kindly lent us their floating dock for the night.

Tomorrow is the big day – high seas will be our playground for the next week as we make way to Svalbard and the ice! Please send your best weather charms our way and hope for fair winds and following seas for us!

Goodbye civilisation and hello high seas and adventure. The ship is loaded to the gunnels with provisions, fuel, water and food; all systems are functioning perfectly; and we are loaded to the eyeballs with dreams of adventure and derring-do.

We have a couple of days of diving ahead of us in the fjords north of Tromso while we wait out a weather system passing to the north of us … which is actually a bit of a relief. A couple of days away from the hustle of the port will do us both a world of good as we unwind in preparation for a long crossing where sleep will be rather hard to come by. Not to mention the fact that we are both very tired of running all over Tromso looking for someone who might just stock that essential but obscure piece of equipment – always the small part that no-one ever knows even exists until it breaks down and brings the whole system crashing to a halt!

We will continue to be blogging while under sail of course, though from now on we are dependent upon the satellite phone for uploads (I hear a collective sigh of relief at the termination of my long rambling entries). We really hope everyone does comes along for the voyage… we are saying goodbye to civilisation for a while, but it would be great to have you all traveling with us …albeit it virtually!

The past month has seen Widdershins either high and dry getting fitted out for the coming voyage or tied firmly to the dock whilst last minute preparations are completed. Yesterday, however we finally cast off the lines and headed out into the blue! Just a short trip this time to make sure all systems are working, but it was definitely nice to finally put to sea! We spent last night anchored in a quite bay and got in a quick dive to try out all the dive gear that is cluttering the boat.

Now we are back in Tromso again getting last minute provisions and waiting for a weather window to hit the high seas! Looks like we might not get away until Monday due to a nasty weather system passing through, but then the sails will be unfurled and we will cast our worries to the wind. Meanwhile we plan to get a few more dives in around Tromso and start our biodiversity monitoring program using ReefLife surveys.

In between the various boat related jobs we have also been meeting the locals and learning exactly how Norwegians interact and subsist off the regional coastal environment. Yesterday Leonie was given a fantastic tour of Halvor’s Fisk (www.halvorsfisk.no) and learned all about the uniquely Norwegian process of converting dried fish into sumptuous dishes. All this will go into a book at the end of the trip looking at how people depend upon the sea, and also a cook book exploring local cuisine. On this stop we exited with a delicious recipe for Turfisk that will definitely be added to our repertoire of on-board rations.

After a long lonely few weeks getting everything on Widdershins ready for the trip yesterday I was finally joined by Dr Leonie Suter (take note of the very fresh and shiny new prefix). After a series of close flight connections she arrived on a fresh Tromsø afternoon very much in need of the coats and warm clothes that were taking their own little holiday …. it seems that the luggage (full of very important and expensive equipment) had disappeared into the parallel universe that sits like a parasite at busy airports waiting to prey upon unwary suitcases. And of course they only select the most important ones! Hopefully the luggage will arrive today but there still seems some uncertainty as to where it exactly is … I hope the gnomes of that parallel world (Lostluggopia) aren’t interested in diving equipment.

Meanwhile Leonie and I are in the process of provisioning for the big trip so we are stocking up on dry-goods, powdered milk, tinned veggies and all the tucker we will need for a long leg at sea. Wheels of cheese and chocolate are the main demand from the Swiss delegate while I am still trying to work out to keep a couple of kilos of fresh steak in our tiny fridge.

Last time I painted the deck of the yacht Leonie complained that it was a rather drab and dark colour… well … aided be a shortage of selection in the paint shops of Tromsø, she no longer has grounds to complain! Spent the day painting the deck in “souvenir blue”, presumably named by someone whose entire memory of a holiday kept reverting to the blinding blue deck the boat they took for a sail on their holiday.  Well it’s not too bad I guess, and on the grey, cold, Arctic days we merely need to look down to get a dose of tropical blue to warm us.

Another strange thing about painting – or perhaps more about my particular style of painting – I never seem to manage to complete a job without getting thoroughly covered in paint. I know I could wear gloves, but the boy in me rallies and cries “what’s wrong with getting a bit dirty!”.  And since I’m still all alone here in Tromso who could possibly complain that a certain unmentionable part of my anatomy is bright blue following a short toilet break  …