Wesley went to North Norway for a magnificent experience.
Hello Pieter,
The trip to the north with ship Noorderlicht was simply magnificent! It was a very good experience.
Ship:
The ship was well equipped with nice cabins, plenty of showers / toilets and a nice bar / living area. The crew was amply present: 2 skippers (because the ship had to be in maintenance the following week and 1 skipper sailed extra to view the ship), 2 expedition leaders (because a 2nd expedition leader was trained for future trips), cook (with a lot of experience) , always cooked in ships and pampered us 3 times a day) and then 2 crew members for guidance.
It was very pleasant with captain Floris (did you have to say hello) who is so committed to his ship Noorderlicht. He is very proud and wants to keep the boat in good condition. He said that next year there there would be a thorough renovation of the ship.
Group:
The group did indeed consist of a variety of people: family with 3 children of my age, 4 Brits (one couple and a woman with her cousin, 2 Americans, 3 Swiss, 1 professional photographer, 2 Germans.) I slept with a German on my room that was a little younger than me The photographer on the trip was of course a nice bonus, because he gave a workshop to photograph Noorderlicht, he also gave us a lesson in composition of photos.
Trip:
The trip is mainly performed with the sailing ship working on motor. According to Floris, the distances were too big to be covered by the sails. They therefore choose to sail with the engine. In this trip, however, we were able to sail the last day with the sails, because there was enough wind and the distance the next to last day was not that great towards Tromso.
In the first days we had beautiful locations to view the Northern Lights well. The images taken by the photographer were really great. Day 3 and 4 we were able to observe the orcas well as the humpbacks, where on day 4 we even saw the "feeding" of the humpbacks, where they came with their heads above the water while they were gasping for herring. Really unique!
The variety of beautiful locations, northern lights and whales, as well as the extensive lectures / workshops in the evening after supper, made a very varied journey against my expectations.
Conclusion:
It was indeed a more than pleasant experience, where everyone is speechless from the beautiful images that were taken. Markus (the photographer) even advised me to plan my next trip to Antarctica ... (but that is not cheap, so save up). The images of Markus from Antarctica were more than worth it. So I will soon visit you again to book Antarctica!
Thank you for the wonderful experience!
If you need more information for other travelers, then you can give us a call.
Best regards,
Wesley
