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16. Juni 2024

Arctic waters

Ballstad, one of the bigger towns on the Lofoten. Not the nicest place...

...but with a great view into the mountains.

After an hour of theory about the dry suit diving, which is new to us...

... we jump into the fresh water.

The water is surprisingly clear and there are many small animals...

... like fishes...

or crabs.

At a depth of 25m there are still remains (one cylinder engine) of an old fishing boat

It even has more creatures than we encountered in the Mediterranean :-)

Various jellyfish (with stinging threads).

And starfishes with different numbers of arms

The of the biggest problem in the arctic waters are the sea urchin. Due to very fast rising water temperatures...

... they have no natural enemies (the fishes go deeper to colder waters) any more and eat very fast all the kelp, which is the most important oxygen producer on earth). Once a year the divers collect therefor as many of the sea urchins as possible.

After the second dive at the latest, we learned to keep our feet lower than our bodies (balloon effect with head down if you are not careful with the dry suit).

After the lovely dive, it was time to get to work. The rudder hydraulic pumps stopped working (luckily not until just before the harbor entrance).

First we exchanged the autopilot pump.

And than the 45 year old helm pump.

It was quite laborious to dismantle the old jammed pipes.

We were lucky, to get all the spare parts in just one week.

Besides, there were also some smaller jobs to be done.

We only had arctic temperatures in the fridge. Outside and in the boat it felt more like Spain...

The interesting mountain Skottinde, which is clearly visible from the harbor. From the side it has great similarities to our Matterhorn :-)

Evening climb...

...to Skottinde.

Some minor climbing spots.

Selfie with the drone on top of this impressiv wall.

It looks quiet steep...

...but there is a not so difficult trail...

... from the other side.

Early the next morning the long-awaited visit of the border guards and customs officers arrived. They were friendly und just checked the papers and safety equipment.

In the afternoon we headed 10km to Leknes (bigger city) to buy food...

...and lots of local wool for Daniela.

Many transports in the area are carried out by helicopter. Landing sites and directly adjacent streets (5m from the blades) are not cordoned off for this purpose.

Memorial for the fishermen who never returned home (unfortunately it still hapens every year).

After all the work was done, we headed 20km with the bike and e-scooter to the trailhead...

...which leads up to Himmeltindan, one of the highest mountains of the Lofoten (962m).

Actually, access to the highest point is restricted because there is a NATO radar station there. Unfortunately, we didn't understand the sign...

Old shooting and defense towers.

The radar station is kept inside the mountain. And the access is via a very long lift inside the mountain.

From up here, you can see...

...almost all montains of the Lofoten islands.

On the foot of the climbed mountain, there is Hauklandstranda - supposedely the most beautiful beach in whole Norway. For us there were definitely too many people...

...and we went for a swim in a nearby mountain lake, which was surprisingly warm.

Oystercatcher on the beach.

One of many washed-up sea urchins. They range in color from yellow to red to blue.

Last nice evening walk, before the first storm of this season arrived.

Due to the bad weather we took out the Dingy to fish in the protected bay.

The harbor is almost two kilometers long and is home to many fishing boats and a shipyard where they are maintained.

Today we needed a lot of patience - it looks like the fish don't like the bad weather either...

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