Hinlopen

I have to start the blog today with a very very very important message (my youngest son is 6 years old today): GRATULERER MED DAGEN JOAKIM'EN MIN!!!!! MAMMA ER VELDIG VELDIG GLAD I DEG!! KOS DEG MASSE OG HILS TOBIAS. STOOOOOR BURSDAGSKOS FRA MAMMA. (Og ja, jeg HAR kjøpt med noe fra Svalbard :-) ).

Today we are sailing southwards through Hinlopen. We have been north of 80 degrees (!) and it's snowing... It's a bit weird, several of us left the main land wit 20 degrees on Sunday, Rakel went from sunny Croatia to Svalbard within a few days, and today we are experiencing snow. Exotic? What was really exotic was the sight of walruses and whales. The north side of Svalbard has a rich wildlife/animal life, and we knew the chances for seeing them were good, but still, the sight of them was impressing. I will never forget. Pictures will come when we are within VSAT coverage again.

Another thing with the northern parts of Svalbard is the large number of cultural monuments. I was almost bewitched by Per Kyrre today, when he explained why Sorgfjorden was named Sorgfjorden, and why there is an old grave there. I will have to make a long story short: One day in 1693 there were 4 French marine vessels approaching Sorgfjorden. Two of them positioned themselves outside the fjord, while two of them sailed in an attacked a large Dutch whale hunter fleet. Around 20 whale hunters were able to run away in small rowing boats, a large number were killed and 11-12 were captured and taken as prisoners of war. Ludvig 14th had ordered this attack because he was at war with the Netherlands, and he wanted to hit their economy. A large part of Netherlands economy was dependent upon the whale hunting in the high north during that period. It's facinating! When we sail along the Svalbardian coast I get the feeling that it's so desolated that noone could possibly have been here before, but in reality there has been a lot of activity around the island for hundreds of years....

The discussions around the table have been a bit more lively today :-) The numerous cultural monuments, the rich animal life, the almost non-existence of detailed sea maps, ice conditions and poor communication infrastructure (MF, HF and Iridium)...there are a lot of considerations to take. However, it seems like they all can manage to be friends within the end of the day :-)

Today I would like to introduce you to Halvard: Halvard Pedersen is 34 years old (1976 was a good year... :-) ), he lives at Svalbard/Longyearbyen, working as an adviser in environmental protection at Sysselmannen. He 's been there for 4 1/2 years, and loves Svalbard for its fascinating nature. Actually, the day before he joined us at KV Svalbard he returned from another mission, where a team has been removing garbage from the beaches of Svalbard. This is something that is done every year, and many people participate. Halvard would like to send a message home: "Svalbard is nice, but even nicer when you are here , Marthe and Nora" :-)

Hasta la vista, you will hear from us again :-)