Today has been a day of firsts for Wind Horse and crew. Hence this celebratory afternoon desert while underway heading north.
We have just completed our first 4000 hours on the engines. That is 4000 hours over four years of cruising part time. This represents something in excess of 40,000 nautical miles of comfortable passaging.
Next, this is the furthest north we have ever been, 69 degrees 22 minutes to be exact as we currently sit at anchor.
To put this in context, the photo above is at 69 degrees 11 minutes north, the previous Wind Horse record (Disco Bay, Greenland) last summer. It is a touch warmer in Norway (the lead photo shows water temperature still at a balmy 49F (9.5C).
This is the third and to us most exciting first of this trip.
We’ve had three previous eagle sightings in Norway, all at too great a distance to photograph. We caught this bird with a 400mm lens, in poor light, and what a thrill to watch him watch us, before he decided on a snack.
We’ve been hanging out in the Vestralen Islands (immediately to the north of the Lofotens). More on these fascinating islands shortly.
Posted by Steve Dashew (June 14, 2009)
June 16th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Steve and Linda,
the cream for the cake – that’s ok.
But what do you take with the mouse??
Hubert
June 16th, 2009 at 10:10 am
Hubert:
Closest we have come to eating mouse was a dinner of fruit bats many years ago in Papua New Guinea. Cheryl Schmidt, our hostess, prepared the little critters in an awful tasting wine sauce (or maybe it was the bats we didn’t like). That sort of put us off bats (and mice).
The cordless track ball mouse is a great help as we can control the nav computer when seated or standing. So, it is safe from the cooking pot for a while.