Tern's Travels

Tromso, 69.39N, 018.57E, FURTHEST NORTHERN POINT
2-5th July, Sunday - Wednesday
Tromso was another 75 NM north of Bjarkoy and we had the choice of going the adventurous route around the west and north of the island of Senja, which shelters Tromso from the severe
north west weather, or the more sheltered route east then north. We had chosen the adventure route when we looked at the forecast on the Friday night but changed to the inner leads
in the morning as NW wind and rain was due on Sunday. As is often the case, there was insufficient wind to sail, much but at least the scenery is spectacular, though the mountains are
less spikey and steep, more rounded and snowy with forested foothills. We anchored overnight behind a small island bird sanctuary where noisey kitiwakes and ducks were the dominant
species. There was another British boat in the anchorage who we had seen a few times and we had some photo opportunities as we both sailed (some of the way)to Tromso on Sunday morning.

We were very excited to actually reach Tromso, our most northerly destination, just under 70deg N. There is a guest section of the marina, which is right in the town centre, so it's
very convenient for seeing the town and provisioning although it has no showers or laundry facilities so we carried on looking bedraggled throughout or stay. Tromso is often described
as the Paris of the North, and it certainly has a lot of hotels, bars and restaurants, all extortionately expensive though apparently busy and thriving.Once over the excitement of
reaching Tromso, however, we realised the climate is harsh even in mid summer, with rain, a little snow and a cold north wind shaping our visit. The weather makes you appreciate the
art galleries and museums, of which there are many, and we chose the Polar Museum on the water front in which to spend a cold, wet Monday afternoon. It was fascinating and gave a good
perspective on life in the far north and the lives of explorers such as Amundsen and Nansen, in particular, being the two most succesful Norwegian polar explorers, but you needed a
strong stomach for the hunting displays, with every type of seal, walrus, whale, Artic fox, musk ox and polar bear hunting methods graphically portrayed. We very much enjoyed, however,
the excellent photograph gallery which specialised in documentary photography and had 3 exhibitions running in addition to the permantent displays which featured hisoric photos of
Tromso and it's people and "then and now" photos in black and white compared to videos of the same places now (with mountains of snow in the streets!)

So, had the weather been lovely I'm sure we would have been tempted to stay longer, but we decided to take advantage of the north wind and start our journey south again. We had a
superb day's sailing to Finnsnes where we chose to stop for the night because it had showers, a laundry and fuel: wonderful.