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On October 18th at 11:40 a.m. (Norway time) the Hurtigruten vessel “Lyngen” – to be re-named National Geographic Explorer – officially became ours. That was when the certificate of acceptance and delivery was signed, and command of the vessel was turned over from the Norwegian Captain, Knut Storø, to our own Captain Leif Skog.
This moment culminated just over two months of a whirlwind of activity: the initial inspection by Director of Technical Operations, Brock Bullard; the followup inspection by a team led by Sven Lindblad; negotiations with the owners; the initial concept drawings; the construct of the deal.
Parallel to all of this activity, in anticipation of a positive outcome, other preparations were in motion throughout September and early October. Some key personnel, including veteran Lindblad Expeditions Hotel Manager Patrik Svardmyr and Chief Engineer Gary McCoy went aboard to start gaining some familiarity with the ship. The Lindblad marine operations team, led by Captain Mike Jones and Dwayne Stevens, began the painstaking process of the documentation and procedures that needed to be in place once the vessel was turned over. Trey Byus worked long hours with a team that included Captain Skog, Expedition Leaders Tim Soper and Bud Lehnhausen, and Sven Lindblad – all in all representing many decades of expedition experience – to start developing itineraries for the new ship.
Within just a few hours of the official handover on October 18 the vessel was under way with a Lindblad Expeditions crew, en route from Leirvik, Norway to Gothenburg, Sweden to begin the refurbishing. By Saturday, October 20, the demolition phase had begun in earnest. All of the existing passenger decks will be completely gutted, to be replaced by totally new cabins and public areas, to create what we intend to be the finest expedition ship afloat, worthy of the name National Geographic Explorer.
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