The Vesteralen Islands

We had a fascinating morning.

We disembarked and joined a bus at 8.00 am in Harstad. It was still dark.

When we arrived at the beautiful church it was beginning to be the early stages of dawn. It was stunning. We had a short service, in four languages. Then a museum, and then, as it grew to proper daylight, we headed further into this magnificent group of islands.

It became full daylight but most of our photos still looked black and white. We had a photo stop and then went to join a ferry to Sortland.

En route we saw reindeers and moose (but bus shots don’t do them justice.)

The scenery was amazing (see blip)

We rejoined our ship around 1.00 after seeing the dramatic fjords and frozen rivers and lakes.

It was breathtaking.

Last night we saw auroral activity. We could see the arc and a little movement but no colour  to the naked eye. Those with tripods and very long exposures have captured a record, and are sharing photos of what we saw.  We have seen the Northern Lights, but are under no illusions that colours and drama is a rare phenomenon. But we still hope.