25th January 2025

January 25, 2025

A bit of an at home this Saturday.

A lot of the passengers headed out early for an excursion to Vesterålen, I did have a bit of fomo initially but I also knew we had some pretty good things to see whilst on board today.

Fairly relaxed morning until just after 10 when the ship was able to pass through a dredged channel just prior to the small port of Risøyhamn.

The channel is about 4.8 km long and was completed in 1922.

It was constructed to give Hurtigruten easier access to the North, prior to this the channel it could become so shallow that horse and cart could cross, not great for ships.

For the next few hours the landscape was nothing short of spectacular.

As we continue after a quick stop in Sortland, these beautiful hills become glorious mountains.

Its been another superb day and just before 2pm we were witnessing an extraordinary sunset.

Not long after 2pm, we stopped in at Stokmarknes.

This is where ‘The Coastal Express’ has its beginning in 1893.

There is the Hurtigruten Museum mearly metres from where we berth.

The museum is described as a ship in a bottle building as it houses the retired ship MS Finnmarken launched in1956 and retired in 1994.

It was donated on condition it was housed in a museum building within 12 months: they succeeded.

We only had about 45 mins to scurry around the intact ship.

Peeking in the cabins and lounges.

It appears one of the ‘salons’ is currently a working cafe.

It’s kinda dark now but we are sailing through the Raftsund and we are treated with waffles and troll cream, delicious.

Also a concoction of hot chocolate and snapps, purely for its warming properties.

Captain also takes us to the entrance of the tiny Trollfjord, we couldn't go any further than the entrance as another ship was sitting comfortably in there.

I reckon our driver would have been a bit cranky that they didn't come out.