Ocean Majesty to Spitzbergen

Hi All

Well back from another trip to Norway, yes Norway again! Actually we were both of that opinion calling in at old familiar towns and cities, but this trip had another string to its bow! Spitzbergen and the land of Polar Bears!

Back to the beginning and our first time with Page and Moy on Ocean Majesty leaving from Harwich another first for us as well. Being so close to Ipswich we decided to take the lovely girls from Fred. Olsen Cruises out to lunch as a thank you for their help when cruising on their ships. It was great to finally meet up and put faces to emails and phone conversations.
Anyway back to Page and Moy, we left in glorious sunshine which was a real treat unfortunately by the time we got to our first port of Floro the weather had changed and we had a very wet welcome back from Norway.
I guess this must be why the waterfalls are so large and powerful! I kept the people in shot to give you some idea of scale and this is probably only half the actual size of this magnificent sight.






I had already done my opening lecture on understanding your digital camera to two(yes two) packed audiences, impressed I can tell.....well to tell the truth the theatre on the Ocean majesty can only accommodate half the passengers so everyone has to do two lectures back to back and identical. I could do the back to back but identical, no chance!




While I was photographing the waterfall above a couple of keen photographers from the ship, did what all photographers do.....walked right in front of me and the others taking the scene. Great news for me I had an image from the cruise I could manipulate on my next lecture. I have adopted this as more the norm now as I find it more interesting to passengers to see an image they may have well taken and see what improvements could be made.
























Before and after, thanks again lads!

The next day was much brighter, unfortunately we were at sea, we all hoped this was not going to be the theme for the cruise! We went past the Arctic Circle Monument and the infamous Mount Torghatten, a large mountain with a hole straight through it, very strange. we were now in the land of the midnight sun, really confusing to the old brain box, still out taking images under near daylight conditions at 2 in the morning. it is an extremely weird sight to see the sun move toward the horizon only to bounce back up before it disappears. Did not manage to get my usual wildlife fix on this cruise, with just this fleeting glimpse of a ??? help!, but I was very pleased with the Fulmer formation team that graced us with their presence.

Onto Honningvag and the North Cape Monument. I have photographed this in almost all seasons now with this being the the final part of the jigsaw, a shot at 11:30 pm!Then the bit I really signed on for Spitzbergen. The day at sea was terrible weather with thick mist down to hardly any visibility. This was not a gentle mist that might add interest to photography this was a pea souper. but on the morning of the arrival in Longyearbyen, Spitzbergen, brilliant sunshine,thank you, thank you.

Snow covered mountains and a treat of wildlife that just didn't seems to be shy of man, with Mary taking pictures by my side. Ticking all the boxes for me. Mind you, the image with the mountains and Spitzbergen industrial side paints a different picture.

Ahhh about the Polar bear. Yes it is a real polar bear, it's just a dead stuffed polar bear. Quite upsetting to see such a magnificent beast put here for the tourist...well not really it appears this one and others like it came into the town scavenging for food. these are huge powerful animals, not the warm and cuddly creaturs most of us think they are. In the next image this brings home just how real the threat is, a family man out shopping with a high velocity rifle ready for action.

A couple of the shops we went in had a sign "The fur products in this store are already dead, please leave your gun at the counter"

Had to get the shot of the stretched limo, WOW what a hen or stag weekend that would be?

Then on to the Magdelana Fjord with a truly magnificent sky to cap it off. The fjord culminates in a huge glacier which we managed to get quiet close to, well it felt that way, anyway.Another great excuse for a few panoramic shots that I can stitch together in my next lecture.

Now this is one of those nice rarities, someone asked whether Mary and I would like a shot together, so here it is. Amazing these pull down backgrounds you can get these days!

We finally had to say goodbye to this manificent place, wonderful in the brilliant weather we had but a bleak and desolate place through the winter. Next stop Tromoso, mainland Norway, I must have been here half a dozen times and at last I finally got into the Arctic cathedral, an amazing structure which Tromoso is famous for. We had docked just over the bridge from the Cathedral so a quick walk and we were there. WOW fantastic design outside but left you feeling a little disappointed inside.

When we left the cathedral I managed to talk Mary into walking on further and getting the cable car for another panoramic of the city. I had to presuide her as we have done it before. but we were both glad we made the effort as our car had some guys with very large rucksacks....well actually parachutes..Kool! Honestly what the Norwegian will do not to pay the return fare! yes they take the cable car up and then just walk off the mountain and float down to the car park and do it all again. Simple, brilliant fun and a great photo opportunity.

Then onto the Lofoten Islands and this time we had to tender to the shore, but well worth it as we escorted a trip to the beautiful village of Nusfjord where I manged to photograph these great jellyfish, without a polarising filter, I just managed to have the reflection of a house in shade to get the desired effect.

Loads of very noisy Kittiwakes(I think?) well they were noisy whatever they were! this one has the caption of "What time do you call this?"But he must have had flowers or amazing charm as within a minute they were cuddled up.

Lectures were going really well and I had asked to do an extra one as I had so much I wanted to share with those who were interested, which seemed to be most of them.

Just had to put an early morning shot in and here it is. Taken at 1 minute past midnight like I said crazy, the sun still hasn't set. Technical detail, whether you want it or not, actually do you want me to include more hints and tips with technical notes in future blogs? just let me know keith@tigpud.com ISO 400 55mm lens f 5.6 @ 1/80 sec. On a moving ship, but of course.

Next stop Andalsnes and Mary got mobbed by Arctic Terns, well I say mobbed they were carrying a fish around, well all the males were. So can anyone help with this question were the birds trying to show off to the females as they held the fish for ages and flew around with it?

Now I was walking around exactly the same area as Mary and never got mobbed, the only difference, and I don't know if this is significant Mary was wearing a red top and I had black on. Also I had a camera with a large lens to repel all invaders, another great use for lens!

Escorting again but this time on a journey by coach first of all and then a scenic railway trip, through the Romsdal Valley, back to the ship. Fantastic scenery but hardly anytime for photography.
We called in at the Troll Wall, which is the tallest vertical rock face in Europe, 1100 meters from the base to the summit at its tallest. At its steepest, the summit overhangs the base by nearly fifty meters. Believe it or not they have made it illegal to jump off it, who in there right mind would........well actually what an adrenaline fix to end all fixes!

Look it up on the Internet to see why it has been banned.

Then onto Molde, now I haven't mentioned the weather that much, but we have been really lucky up to date, with poor weather when we are at sea and it doesn't matter and good days when we are on land. Almost perfect cruising! Molde, then actually broke the mould, the weather was pretty awful, actually raining and lots of it, back to why they have great waterfalls in Norway I guess.

Escorted a group on the Atlantic road, an amazing feat of engineering but on a bleak, water soaked day, just a drive up and down a road with bridges.

Then our last port of call, Good old Bergen! Well as I mentioned in my last Norway blog, Bergen I swear is Viking for wet!

Although it wasn't actually raining, well yes it did a bit, but not much really and having been here so many times before we were ready for it.

No trips this time we have done them all and wanted to explore the areas for ourselves. we found some wonderful places that had eluded us in the past. I guess it's like going to any city several times first you do all the usual sights and then just start finding out more about the places the local go.

Talking of locals the guy in the shot above was playing with lots of toy boats, or probably he would have called them models. These were amazing like the Airfix ones I used to make but he had fitted motors and an ingenious system of holding fireworks that spat out a barrage of gun fire to sink the other vessels, presumably from the other fleet. good theory and entertaining to watch as the ships never went where they were supposed to go and he never actually hit another ship!

But take a look at this guy. He was of oriental origins and to all intents and purposes dressed as a Pacific fleet captain...........in Bergen..........Norway!

Well looking back on the cruise, I look back very fondly on my time on Ocean Majesty. There were a few issues with timings and the final leg back from Bergen to Harwich was.........different. We had to anchor in a fjord 12 miles away from the North Sea because of a force 11 yes 11 that's one off hurricane severe gale. Raging in the North Sea, so we arrived over 12 hours late which made the last day very long, indeed.

I offered and got the opportunity to do a slide show of our trip and then we commandeered the theatre to have a slide show of Norway through all seasons. This went down really well, hopefully not because they had no where else to go?

Finally looking back on another trip to Norway.....well.......BRILLIANT a wonderful country with spectacular scenery and friendly English speaking people.

Until next time, take care

Keith