July 13 - Svolvaer, Norway

 This was a pretty quick stop port.  We arrived around 7 am and left at 1 pm.  Plus it was a tendering port, so that shortens time.  There were only 3 tours on offer and we selected the RIB tour of the fjord.  A RIB is an inflatable boat that goes really fast and skims along the water.  First we had to get the appropriate gear on.

At breakfast we saw this interesting little boat (photo taken through the dining room window).  We weren't sure what it was for.

Then along came the answer - it's a tow boat boat.  

The dock area with our orange tender in the lower right,

Another gorgeous day where a jacket wasn't needed.

And here we are, ready for the RIB adventure complete with goggles pushed up on our foreheads. I believe RIB stands for Rigid Inflatable Boat.

Getting down into the boat was the hardest part of the whole thing.  Those suits were really warm and it felt good to finally be off.  Each boat holds about 12 people, and we were last on so we got the bench seat in the back.  Everyone else had sort of saddle seats where you held on to the handles of the seat ahead of you. We headed up the fjord and made a couple of stops at islands where sea eagles hang out.  They mostly feed from the fish markets' scraps where they don't have to work hard.  Our guide threw a bunch of frozen fish near them, and they mostly just ignored it.  Sometimes the juveniles would make an effort, and even the seagulls would give it a go.

The eagles are mostly brown so they really blend in to the scenery.

We did a bit more touring of narrow fjords and old fishing posts that are now mostly converted to short term rentals.

When we weren't zooming around the fjord, we got rather warm in the outfits.  It was another gorgeous day with no clouds and very little wind.

Our two companion boats,

They really get moving and the drivers loved to make very sharp turns which made me laugh, while hanging on for dear life.

Back on board we got lunch at the pool buffet and then I went to the lecture by Michael Fopp about the Turpitz, the German warship that terrorized Allied ships along the northern coast of Norway.

We had a respectable 13/15 for a point in Trivia.  Missed the family name of Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz (Gale) and the number of ribs in the human body (24, or 12 pairs).  Then we were able to do our weekly family Zoom with the other Bazzano siblings on the West Coast and it was surprisingly good quality - just as good as at home.  Which is amazing considering we're in a moving ship half-way around the world from them.

Another lovely dinner in Compass Rose.  During dinner we ran into a fog bank and the fog horn is now blowing every 2 minutes.  The TV channel with the camera looking out over the bow of the ship shows nothing but gray.  Hope there aren't any fishing boats out.  

Well, there's no sunset tonight.  Officially, sunset tonight is at 12:09 am and sunrise tomorrow is at 12:09 am.  Blink, and you missed it.  It is pretty much full light all night long.  Takes some getting used to.  The captain said we won't see another sunset for about 5 days.