twangster

That lady has been swimming laps for at least 30 minutes so the pool can't be that cold.

It's colder up on deck 12 in the wind now that the sun is hiding behind some clouds.

Almost time!

A couple of days ago the Wash & Fold laundry bag appeared. This is now also the Crown and Anchor laundry perk bag. The CAS deal used to be a plastic bag that you could cram creatively. That’s a lot harder to do with a paper bag, it tears easily. Hmmm. Maybe bring plastic shopping bags to cram and insert into the paper bag? I guess that defeats the reduce plastics on board movement. Thoughts?

We reach the Arctic Circle around 6:30pm tonight but the blue nose ceremony will be in 45 minutes at 1:30pm.

Straight from my phone.

Lunch with a view The word "sale" on a sea day always generates a crowd. Add "Wine" in front of that and it's busy up here!

Noon update from my balcony. This has been the view all day from the port side. 20240605_120655.mp4 Dress code tonight is Norwegian Blue.

Here is a video of the Bird Safari tour from our stop in Honningsvag. Mind you my focus was taking still photos so the video is just a collection of video clips taken in between my primary picture taking effort. It does provide a glimpse of a small Norwegian fishing village and the concept of the Bird Safari tour. Bird Safari Honningsvag Norway.mp4

On this glorious sea day I've had a chance to go through some additional photos from my phone from Honningsvag and while on the Bird Safari. Norwegian Stock fish drying on a rack.

There has been security incident on board I feel compelled to address. I’ve had money taken from me and the security team refuses to assist. If you see this man, he is not at all lucky and he has my money!

I have found Casino booked cruises have their own set of rules. They can sometimes do things that defy the normal well known rules. In some cases it depends if the casino promotion is still in effect. Call and ask.

Day 7 cruise compass: JW May 30 day 7 cruisecompass.pdf Highlight of the day: Blue Nose Arctic Crossing Ceremony You have travelled all the way to the Arctic Circle, today you can officially plunge into the pool and become a member of the Blue Nose Society. This ceremonial occasion will be taking place on the poolside, hosted by Daniel your Cruise Director and Bern your Activities manager. 1:30 pm, Pool Deck, Deck 11.

Day Seven - Sea Day Progress report: Sea conditions: Pretty great. The mountains of Norway in the distance.

I met the owners in 2017 on a Celebrity ship. They participated in the enrichment talks. Fascinating talks and extremely interesting hearing the USCG regs to convert it to carry passengers and her perspective as a fisherman's wife. I then did the excursion myself. There are no king crabs near Ketchikan. They bring up crab pots on board with snow crabs. The king they have on board in the tanks aren't local from Ketchikan water.

I think the Cormorant act like statues, barely moving, so the Eagles lose interest in them. Seriously where ever I go Cormorants are always just standing there. 😂

I’m completely unqualified to answer your question. There was another eagle versus scenario in another region and for whatever reason it was similar.

New party trick. Yell “Whale!” in a bar on the ship.

On the mini bus ride from Honningsvåg to the North shore there was a pre-recorded narration. If was done with a classic Norwegian dry sense of humor. I enjoyed it and it helped pass the time. One tree was anchored in place for a movie. The local dogs line up taking turns. The queue is typically 2 hours. Something like 2,300 residents and our female voice of the recording advised against using Tinder. She tried she said. No one was on it. 🤣 If I recall correctly Honningsvåg has the midnight sun beginning May 12 through July something. It’s becoming a popular winter Northern Lights tourist destination.

The problem with my photography is that I have a workflow to go through taking the RAW images and color grading them individually. I'm thirsty and need to find a bar, but here are some quick pics

In summary, the rain was a bit of a bummer but it didn't really stop me from thoroughly enjoying this visit to one of Europe's largest bird colonies. Now back to @Hoopster95 for breaking news!

All those Puffin nests in the cliffs mean there are Puffins in the water looking for a meal to bring back to the nest. Just as there are thousands of nesting birds in the cliffs there are thousands of birds in the water. They go on and on as far as the I could see.

Except the cormorants ignore the eagles and the eagles ignore the cormorants.

Eagles on the move high in the sky sent the colony into a frenzy. Eagles have their own babies to feed and some of the eggs and small babies in the colony are their prey. The other birds go into defense mode and take to the skies in the thousands. The sky above us became dark with countless birds. The little white dots are Puffins and other sea birds on their nests high in the cliffs. There are thousands.