09 August 2010; Bergen, Norway.

At 0600 we embarked the pilot for Bergen as we were scheduled for a 0900 arrival. We did not need to be that early as we will be staying overnight here and that gives two days to explore beautiful Bergen and the surrounding areas. So we have some full day tours running here that will return to the ship at a time that we would normally be pulling out. Not today; we will have a quiet overnight, great for the guests and interesting for the crew. Although the local prices will probably keep the crew from having too good a time ashore. Bergen itself is lying in the shelter of two strips of coast line, facing a large open bay called the Byfjorden. Therefore it takes a while from both pilot stations to get to this port. Whether you come from the North (Fedje Pilots) or from the South (Marsteiner Pilots) you have to sail through an approach fjord which will lead to Bergen port. This port is sheltered from the elements, especially in the winter, and that made it possible that the city rose to become the 2nd city of Norway in size. If you talk to some inhabitants of Bergen, then they will claim that Bergen is the foremost city in the country, far ahead of Oslo. It is a rivalry not uncommon to other countries as well. In my own country there is Rotterdam and Amsterdam and never “the twain shall meet”. Being educated at the Maritime academy of Amsterdam and sailing for a company originating from Rotterdam, I know everything about that.

The West part of Bergen, where most cruise ships dock. Bontelabo and Skolten.

Thus we headed towards this city while passing summer houses and big mansions on either side of us on the shore. More interesting stuff came in the form of an oil terminal and several oil platforms under construction or under maintenance. The fjords in this area are ideal for this work, as they are very deep and once the Oil rig is inside, work can be carried out in good shelter from the elements. With the North Sea oil so near by, it forms an important part of the local economy and I have never been to Bergen without seeing at least one supply vessel in the port. This time there were several and they were occupying the regular passenger ship berths. Normally we would dock there, but as we were staying overnight we were assigned the Bontelabo berth, slightly more to the West. I did not mind that at all. It is quieter there from the ferry traffic and you can lower lifeboats without having to be afraid of swell from passing ships. Tomorrow some of those Supply ships will have to move as the Albatros and Amadea are coming in, and they will dock next to each other on opposite’s sides of that other dock.

Long stern lines to Bontelabo Dock nbr 1, if there is a bigger ship docked at nbr2. as the Prinsendam.

Last year when we were docked here, we were looking at some burnt down wooden ware houses and it was good to see that they were almost rebuilt now into apartment buildings and retaining the outside features from the old days. The distance to downtown is the same, as you now walk through the park (which in reality is an old Fort) instead of walking around it. The only issue with this dock is that it is much shorter than the length of the Prinsendam. Hence we are sticking out with the bow and with the stern. The bow is not much of a problem, as the dock there is only angling away lightly but at the stern the dock angles away at 90o. Thus we have to bring very long lines out to the other side where the next dock is. As it is company policy to run a few extra lines if a ship is staying overnight, the linesmen had a lot of pulling and walking to do.

The weather is forecast to be uncertain. It was supposed to rain today but it never did. Our first forecast for tomorrow indicated also rain, but it was then changed to sunny. So we will have to wait and see. However as there were no rain clouds, the sun came peeing through in the evening and we had a spectacular sunset over West Bergen.

Tomorrow we will see how changeable the weather is going to be.