tiistai 24. syyskuuta 2013

September 24th 2013


Across the Arctic Circle
66° 33,000' N, 170° 34,307' W


Today, on the 24th of September at  06.45 UTC, s/y Sarema crossed the
Arctic Circle, and the Northern Sea Route aka the North East Passage is
finally behind us. The passage was icier than we had hoped for, the winds
were stronger than we had expected, and it took us far longer to traverse
the passage than we had anticipated. At times we were cold and tired, and
especially towards the end of the passage, frustrated and stressed, but
this is exactly as it should be in a truly Arctic Adventure.



As a result of our achievement, one of our crew members received an
honorary title. Since Latte is one of the very few dogs in the world, if
not the only one, who has circumnavigated the North Pole, as of today,
she'll be called Latte the Polar Dog!



Though we still have about 800 nautical miles ahead of us and the
notorious Bering Sea to cross before we get to Alaska, it's time to
celebrate. We just opened a bottle of Russian champagne, so come raise
your glass with us. “Cheers!” everyone or as we say in Finnish “Kippis!”


All That Splendour!


The day we crossed the Arctic Circle was spectacular in many ways. The weather was absolutely gorgeous after so many cold and grey days, and as we were sailing near the coastline, we could see dozens of humpback whales feeding close to the shore, there were walruses swimming near our boat, and thousands of seabirds everywhere, clearly on the verge of migration. In the evening, when darkness had set in and the stars had come out, the magnificent lights of the Aurora Borealis were glowing all around us. We had seen nothing like it while traversing the Northern Sea Route. This was so like in Alaska, and the very reason why we were going back there!


After all that splendour, we feel confident that the one thing that has worried us for quite some time i.e. our expiring cruising licence, will be sorted out in Providenya without difficulty.




1 kommentti:

  1. Riitta ja Pekka, onneksi olkoon!
    Te olette nyt ainoat ystävämme, jotka ovat tämän kierroksen tehneet. Melkoinen taidon ja sisun osoitus. Palataan sähköpostilla myöhemmin asiaan... Jaakko & Seija
    P.S. lähdetään nyt pariksi kuukaudeksi Lagosiin.

    VastaaPoista