10 Aug.2016; Geiranger, Norway.

Well, the winds died down and so did the waves but much later than forecast and not after showing us that the “venom is in the tail”. I do not know if that translates exactly the right way into the English, it might be “sting is in the tail”, but you will get the meaning. In the cause of the afternoon the waves deepened out and reached 10 to 12 meters (30 to 36 feet) at times and the wind peaked at 56 knots. That is serious stuff and although the Koningsdam is turning out to be a very good ship in bad seas, you have to be respectful of such ferocious weather and treat that weather gently. Otherwise there will be damage to the ship and much worse damage to its occupants.

Then, late in the evening, the winds eased off and the waves started to die down, but it had affected the schedule again. First the storm had caused us to stay longer in Amsterdam and to re-arrange the cruise and now we could not keep the schedule once again. It was still possible to keep the noon arrival time at Geiranger but only if the service stop at Hellesylt was cancelled. And then as captain the need to make a very difficult decision: Will you deprive 300 guests of their tour or will you let the other 2300 guests arrive at least an hour late at Geiranger? And of those 2300 more than 800 were going on tours which might have been put in uncertainty as well.

As unpleasant as it is, if safety is not the overriding concern, then the need of the majority prevails and quite rightly the Captain opted for bypassing Hellesylt. Those who were now without a tour received their money back and/or were offered the option of another tour.

By the time we left the open sea it had completely come to rest and nice weather prevailed once again. Even the rain only brought out a few drops instead of the big showers which were forecastd.  We picked up the pilot at 0800 hrs. and then sailed into the fjord and managed to be at the anchorage location at 11.30 and had our tender service going by noon time. As scheduled and as planned, although it had taken some suffering to do it.

The Seven Sisters. Water coming down several hundred feet straight into the fjord.

It is acclaimed that the cruise into Geiranger offers some of the best scenery in the whole world, including looking at some of the highest waterfalls as well. These are called the Seven Sisters, for obvious reasons, and we sailed by them just after 11 am., shortly before coming to the port, and of course when you think you have everything under control, there is always something else. In the fjords, you try to sail in the middle and when there is opposing traffic both ships will go a bit to starboard and make room for each other to provide a safe passage.

Why do they always have to sit in a location where the big ships HAVE to go ?

What did we find in the middle, right in our way?  A group of canoe’s admiring the scenery without a care in the world. So we honked the horn but it took several blasts before they got the hint that we did it to alert them. They moved a few tentative strokes and then sat happily waving to all the guests on deck.  I do not think they even realized in what sort danger you can be in when you come close to a huge ship with a strong wake. This was some sort of sightseeing/ paddle tour and the tour leader should have known better. Hopefully the Pilot was later able to contact the canoe company and raise some hell with them. So the Koningsdam had to slow down to what was safely possible and had to make a wider turn than would normally have been proper seamanship. From previous blogs you might remember that we call these people “six pack navigators” but I do not think that this applies in Norway with alcohol being so expensive here. Some other salty words come to mind.

And so the big ship curved around them ensuring we made no wake.

The main anchorage at Geiranger had been damaged last year (where you drop the anchor and tie up the stern to the shore) and thus the ship had to stay further out and drift on the engines. From there we run a full tender service with all the six ships tenders. Tonight we will sail at 10 pm. and then arrive tomorrow at noon time in Bergen.

For me the most fascinating house in Geiranger Fjord. All by itself. Perched on the top of the mountain. I do not envy the newspaper boy who has to go there every morning on his bike.

You will read this a day later than normal, as the mountains sides of Geiranger Fjord are so high that there is no internet communication at all, until you are at the entrance again.