ICEALOT Redux

Back after one month hiatus.
As you might recall my last entry was at 62 degrees north and after crossing the Arctic circle (66 degrees) we lost most internet capabilities. I have to admit that not having internet access was almost as liberating as the wide open ocean. Luckily, I still had some email available, otherwise I would probably have died without contact with CD (my only land contact).
We crossed the Arctic circle at the Meridian on April 3rd. It was slightly disorienting- every direction looked the same (!) My camera died with the cold and the wind. I obtained some pictures from my roommate, co-worker and now close friend Lindsey. She is fantastic and made the whole trip one great fun adventure!
We had sailed for 16 days before we finally saw land on the horizon on April 6th. Norway came out of the fog and it was amazing. The jagged snow-covered mountains looked inviting yet ominous. I guess people pay a lot of money to see the northernmost point of Europe. It was awesome to think that we were paid to be there!
We continued sailing north, trying to avoid going into Russian waters. There are some smelters up there we wanted to sample along with Hammerfest (where a liquid natural gas site exists). We also sampled some fishing boats.
We had a 22-hour port call in Tromso, Norway. It was pretty fun hanging out with the crew off the boat where tongues were loosened by the not-so-cheap beer (actually quite expensive beer). We stayed out late, but I made sure to get up early the next morning to watch as we sailed past the fjords. Next we nuzzled up to Svalbard, specifically Spitsbergen, the biggest island of this archipelago.
Our goal was to get as close to the ice as we could which meant going as far north as we could. The Knorr is not an ice breaker, so the captain and crew were reticent about how close to get. We made it past 80 degrees north! That's the farthest north the Knorr has ever been! We had snow and that meant ice on the decks, not a good combination with a pitching and rolling ship! We managed beautifully, even if in order to stay warm we had to don our full mustang gear outfits- watch out fashionistas!
Being so far north the sun almost refused to set- I like to call it the nights of eternal sunset. It was hard to stop working when the light just continues and your internal clock stops working.
We considered going towards Greenland to see what we could sample, but the winds were not favorable. Instead we headed to that little volcanic island that is Jan Mayen- where? what? I know, I didn't even know it existed until it came into view, out of nowhere. It belongs to Norway and 18 people reside there at 'the weather station'. Crazy beautiful! We were very lucky to get a somewhat clear view; I assume that Beerenberg volcano is usually clouded over.
We sailed 3 more days around the Icelandic eastern coast and into Reykjavik. We called port on the morning of April 24th. As soon as we were tied up, disassembly began. We did that for two days and then we were done! Free to roam in the city.
Reykjavik and Iceland in general felt so safe and even though most people were not outwardly friendly, we managed to meet some interesting characters. One sad part about finishing up a long project at sea is that once on land most of us just wanted to relax, not rush to sightsee or shop. I was extremely glad that friends Roisin and Jason came all the way out there to visit and motivated me to go see some of the beauty that is Iceland. Below is the link for pictures, questions? send me an email, comments? post them!

http://picasaweb.google.com/Tapirrojo/Icealot