Sunday 24 June 2018

Silver Spirit Norway, Day 10 - Option B

With thanks to Silversea for this Norway cruise
More photos to follow when the wifi is faster
Unusually, the Captain made an announcement quite late last night, to reassure concerned passengers guests that the half-hour or so of pronounced shuddering we had been experiencing  was nothing to worry about: it was just some sort of mismatch between propeller speed and open-sea waves (he gave a more technical explanation). It happened again early this morning, though, and this time he admitted that since we're now back in the shelter of the fjords, it's more likely to be a propeller malfunction and that divers will be inspecting it when we arrive in Tromsø this evening. 

And that's the other thing: our call at Hammerfest has been cancelled because the "awful weather" made using the tenders too dangerous. Not that it feels that bad: it's grey and cold, and dampish, and sadly the tops of the peaks are hidden - but there's nothing much in the way of motion. Believe me: my stomach would tell me if there were. The Silver Spirit is big and stable enough to cope with much worse than this, I'm sure. A swell does certainly make getting into the tenders quite exciting, though, especially as so many people on board seem to have mobility problems. I've never felt so spry, in comparison; and seeing so many bent backs all around me is doing wonders for my posture.


So today was all about extra activities: an interesting lecture about the Arctic convoys during WWII, familiar territory to me from the Alistair Maclean phase back in my youth; a movie in the theatre ('Darkest Hour' - bit of a theme going here?); spa stuff, games and so on. Regular readers 😃 know that I did not take part in all of these . None of the passengers guests seemed especially bothered about missing a port, though probably like me, they were all hoping we'll be literally back on course tomorrow.


The afternoon passed pleasantly with wandering around the ship for random snacks and drinks, popping out at the bow to be shocked at the strength of the wind, and its coldness, and turning up at the Panorama Lounge for a binge session of games: Name that Tune, Bingo and finally Trivial Pursuit (second with 19/25 today - damn not knowing the name of South Africa's new president) which was hugely popular, with folding chairs being brought in for all the extra people.


We dawdled along the fjord, past high black rocky peaks, a border of green along the shore with random scatters of holiday houses, an unexpected oil rig, plunging waterfalls, plenty of Indian snow right down to the waterline, and endless forest. Finally we arrived at Tromsø, a town spread out along the shores of the fjord, an elegant bridge linking its two halves, one of them topped with two honestly frighteningly steep ski jumps on top of a hill. There was a message from the Captain that the divers will be inspecting the propellers in the morning and that, if they find a fishing net tangled around one of them, we'll get to eat the contents.


Highlight of the day was dinner with June and John in Atlantide, swapping travel stories that included jazz, shoulder injuries, horses, rhino and gorillas.

1 comment:

the queen said...

Trim so - isn't that the best place to see the aurora?

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