Nordfjorden, Lovund and Traena, Norway
It is near to midnight now. The sun stills sits high in the sky although it is masked behind a tall turret shaped islet. All around celebrations are in full swing. It is Midsummer’s Eve in the land of the midnight sun. Our watches say it is time to sleep but our bodies rebel in disbelief for until the sun sets our internal clocks are set for activity. Although one must wonder how much more could be packed into one delightful day.
The Arctic Circle began our day, an abstract line marked by an ornate globe on the shores of Melfjorden. It marked mid-day and then again post-dinner we seemed tethered to this boundary. True, it was a different sphere on tiny Huso Island, that brought us to evening time but for many the crossing was a significant passage in their lives.
Blue eye holes in a masked gray cloudy face peered from above the jagged mountain peaks as the ship squeezed between the towering cliffs of Nordfjorden. The walls closed in and waterfalls tumbled to the water’s edge. Rocks, rounded by icy glacial scouring hosted a ragged carpet of moss. Steep slopes stood naked, stair-stepped by exfoliation scars and striped with dark intrusions. Glaciers fingered over the ridges displaying blue and craggy faces. Bowl shaped cirques marked where they had been in times gone by. The blue and navy water beneath us was broken only by our wake and by a porpoising seal that seemed bent on out-performing any real cetacean in a height and distance leaping trial. On shore carpets of wildflowers glimmering in the sunshine greeted our exploring eyes. The intertidal hosted its resident fucus fronds while the near shore beach was thick with lush green sea sandwort (Honkenya peploides). Roseroot flowers of yellow progressed to seed heads of red. Splashes of color among the green lead us to a young birch wood where bramblings sang and bluethroats hid. Tiny yellow kayaks dotted the fjord head and Zodiacs carried orange vested guests into icy waterfall mists.
As the afternoon wore on and the ship sailed onward, binoculars searched the sea and shore. Strange, contorted islands with asymmetrical jagged tops or flat plateau-like crowns buffered us from the open ocean. Their eccentricities were accentuated further by mysterious extensions rising skyward, the fata morgana created fairy castles that were really crashing surf. Our destination, Lovund Island looked much like a chocolate kiss. Zodiacs ferried us to a floating dock in a prosperous fishing community. Armed with cameras we marched like a band of determined explorers in search of a population of a different sort. Fresh green fern fronds filled the spaces between white-blossomed rowan trees. We climbed higher, around tumbled boulders of gneiss. Far above the town we sat soaking up sunshine and watching puffins come and go with their strange bumblebee-like flight. Arctic skuas elicited cries of terror as they harassed these alcids for fish brought skyward from the depths. White-tailed eagles too searched for an easy snack.
Smorgasbord is traditional Scandinavian fare on this special night of the year. We ate our fill and headed out again. Not to dance in fields of flowers or drink to the days of summer but to explore the tiny islet of Huso in the Traena Island group. Here, kittiwakes nested on rooftops and fieldfares clattered their rasping call as we walked around the globe at the Arctic Circle.
