Day 5 - Ålesund Norway

We docked in Ålesund late last night. After breakfast we headed out to tour the city via tour bus. The only group available was the early tour which started at 8:30, and of course it was still dark at that time. The tour was to run about 90 minutes, so we would get back to the ship when the sun was just rising. It was raining and there was some wind, but the tour was actually quite enjoyable as we got to see the town lit with the seasonal lights and by 9:00 am it was dusky and easy to see the historic sites. Getting pictures with my SLR was hard, so I used the trusty iPhone.

Mountains between the Fjords

The city's art nouveau architecture appeared after a fire destroyed much of the city in 1904. Over 850 houses burned down. Near the place where the fire stopped spreading was a house that was untouched. It is the white house at the top of the hill in the picture below (with the white flagpole on the left of the house). More than 50 architects and builders designed the new city, which spreads across several islands, in the art nouveau style that still graces Ålesund today.

The municipality of Ålesund occupies seven of the large outer islands in the county of Møre og Romsdal: Hessa, Aspøya, Nørvøya, Oksenøya, Ellingsøya, Humla, and Tørla. The town centre is located on the islands Aspøya and Nørvøya, while Hessa and Oksenøya contain residential areas. There are also many other smaller surrounding islands.

The second largest island, Ellingsøya, used to be accessible only by boat or by road via Skodje Municipality, but the undersea Ellingsøy Tunnel was built in 1987 to make traveling between the island and the town center more convenient. The tunnel is 3,481 meters (11,421 ft) long and was upgraded in 2009. Our tour guide lives in Ellingsøya and she mentioned that her daily commute from her home to her place of work was reduced to 5 minutes from the one hour prior to the tunnel opening.

Our next stop is Tromsø, but another north sea storm may impact our plans.

Day 4 - Storm at Sea

We had an unscheduled 'entertainment' activity last evening (actually, early morning of the 13th).  The ship ran into a fairly large wind storm at about 1:00 AM. With winds of 65-85 mph and gusts of over 100 mph, the sea churned with swells of 50+ feet!! Not surprisingly the brand-new Viking Vela (this is only the 2nd voyage since it was delivered to Viking from the Fincantieri S.p.A., Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy) was listing and rocking quite violently. Most everything in our cabin was tossed around and lots of the furniture, bar equipment, liquor bottles, dining room tableware, books on shelves in the atrium, and just about anything else not attached to the walls or floor in the public areas went flying throughout the ship. Our closet doors were damaged as they swung uncontrollably back and forth on their sliders, but other than that, everything else seems to be fine.

Captain Rune Loekling had to turn the ship into the wind to minimize the rocking and swaying and because of that we started heading west and southwest, opposite the direction we should be sailing. Finally, at about 2:00 pm the winds died down a bit (to only 45-55 mph) and the swells got
smaller (20-30 ft).

Captain Rune decided it was best to anchor at Ålesund (at least I think that is where we are headed) with the assistance of two tug boats. This means our second port-of-call, Narvik (#3 on the map), will not be made and so our excursion to Katterat Station was cancelled. 

The captain and cruise director tell us that we can finally leave out staterooms by 5:30-6:00 this evening for dinner service at the various restaurants (we were served breakfast and lunch in our rooms).

Here's to better conditions tomorrow - although another, smaller storm will hit us while anchored in Ålesund. Hey - all this extra entertainment is a bonus, right?

Soldiers Delight Star Party - This Saturday, Jan 18!

Soldiers Delight Star Party - January 18, 2025

Come out and join us for an exciting discussion of what's up in the winter sky. As I am currently on a cruise ship sailing up the Norway coast in search of the Northern Lights, I will not be your host for this session. Our WASI president, Skip, will entertain you!

ORION BATTLES JUPITER FOR CUSTODY OF THE TWINS!

Join us for an epic battle of the Titians as we start the New Year. See Jupiter the king of the planets go toe to toe with Orion the King of Deep sky wonders in a battle to see who will get custody of the twins (Gemini), While Venus and Saturn watch nearby and Mars eggs them both on. 

Make a comet to see where meteor showers come from and one lucky person will win a genuine meteorite.

You can find out about special local events by contacting us at https://www.westminsterastro.org/.

All programs rain or shine. Time machines will be provided by the Westminster Astronomy Club.

Activity: Making a Comet.

Date: Saturday, January 18, 2025

Time: 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. Eastern

Location: Soldiers Delight Environmental Area

5100 Deer Park Rd.

Owings Mills, MD 21117

Viking Cruise to Norway - In Search of the Northern Lights

In Search of the Northern Lights

Joan and I are currently on a Viking Cruise to Norway. It is tagged as "In Search of the Northern Lights" but, of course, that depends on a number of things - predominatly the weather and the Sun's activity. As we know, the Sun has been very active in the past few years (I was able to see and photograph the aurora back in October of last year from my home in Maryland). But the best places to see it are of course far north - hence our trip to Norway.

Currently, the solar activity is not all that strong (KP of 1.33). And, to further complicate matters, the weather forecast is for cloudy weather with snow almost every day. But, we'll keep an eye open! Regardless of the weather we are thoroughly enjoying the sightseeing and life on the cruise ship.

Day 1 - Jan 11, 2025
Our first port of call was Amsterdam, Netherlands. We took a canal tour today in sunny (and relatively warm day)

We are now sailing the North Sea for 2 days arriving in Narvik, Norway on the 14th.