In Arctic Waters Part Three Crossing The Line

In Arctic Waters part three - crossing the line

Our voyage continued north through the Norwegian Sea, crossing the Arctic Circle and on into the Barent Sea via an initiation ceremony



Along the way passing hrough some tight navigation spots and where the Tirpitz was sunk.






Time to complete the mission and catch fish in the stretch  featured in the documentary about the fishing community in Viednes that got us interested in visiting here in the first place.
I had thought Bait would have to be sourced from the buffet but teaming up with Norwegian Oscar sailing with his Grandmother showed me that lures were fine and even in the briefest of port stops fish could be caught down the side of our boat.



A steady number of Coalfish, Codling and occasional Pollock jumping on the lures













Onwards we sailed to Kirkenes on the Norwegian/Russian border where the signs are also in Russian



A King Crab fishing trip was next



Our guide explained that King Crabs are not native to the area, introduced by the Russians and lacking their natural enemy the Wolf fish they've flourished. Even so fishing for them is carefully regulated.



Our guide explained why the King Crab is closer to the the lobster family than other crabs



Before preparing cooking and serving





With peeler this big we'd be needing bigger hooks for the return leg!



















As we crossed out of the Arctic Circle ( marked by the globe on the rock) the sea state began to deteriotate








The waves kicked up and the boat fell silent and the dining room was deserted

skillfully negotiating the complex, hazard strewn Norwegian coast our captain resorted at one point to suspending the anchor beneath the boat to improve stability, even so we returned to Bergen on schedule, tired but happy after a terrific fishing trip er I mean Honeymoon!

Like your pictures Paul. It looks a bit cold than the 23 you were having earlier.

Amazing pal

Fantastic that
Certainly a trip you'll always remember

Kirky's Dad wrote:

Like your pictures Paul. It looks a bit cold than the 23 you were having earlier.

Yeah from 23 in Bergen as we set sail it dropped to -1 In Kirkenes, somehow though it feels more comfortable than in Rhyl, it's a dry cold that doesn't get in your bones like here. That said it can reach -50 In Kirkenes - you can stay in an ice hotel brrrr!

They took us out crab fishing on a rib, but in the Winter they take you on a snowmobile and you fish through a hole in the ice.

Norway's shops seem to have the temperature turned up incredibly high, perhaps an extravagance coming from their oil and gas finds. In Hammerfest and probably elsewhere, the pavements are heated!

Notbad wrote:

it can reach -50 In Kirkenes - you can stay in an ice hotel brrrr!

Welcome to married life

Congratulations again on finding the perfect Woman, and for the great reports and photos.
Did you get to see the northern lights at all? I saw them once from our house at Cilcain, just a rose / violet blush to the northern sky, and missed them once in the far north of Scotland when staying at a B&B, the landlady said "did you see the northern lights last night" Grrr, I would not have minded being woken.

I had a trip to Bergen some 50 years ago with a school friend, we did a bit of fishing from the rocks in a fiord with similar results to you, just using metal lures

Congratulations again Tina and Paul, what a memorable trip, I doubt Splash Point will seem so appealing again after that.

Thanks guys!
I saw the lights from Prestatyn a bit back, just an indistinct green glow over the Wirral that I thought might even have been from Liverpool! However a chap was there taking open shutter pics which appeared in the news next day and they were full of colour!


In our cabin there was a switch allowing us to choose whether to be woken if they showed at some unearthly hour, then on nights 3 and 4 the announcement was triggered and we headed for the aft observation deck.

What I saw looked green, others saw only grey, the first occasion was a bit indistinct but on the second the lights were stronger and "danced"
 I gave up trying to capture them on my camera with a night setting and a moving boat is not a good platform for open shutter work anyway but I got these better results using my phone, difficult to do them justice really but yes we saw the Northern lights!





Haven't stopped thinking about our trip - see the gallery for more pics of it. Whilst we were crab fishing on the border with Russia we could hear gunfire. We were reassured it was only a NATO exercise which accounts for the large naval presence.  Seems to have rattled the Russian aircraft carrier not so far away in Murmansk looking at the news today!

That was something special well done the pair of you.