Costa Rica is one of the most amazing places on the planet, a green nation with one-quarter-of-a-percent of Earth’s landmass and 5 percent of its biodiversity of species of flora and fauna.
And it also extends from sea to shining sea, with the port of Puntarenas on the Pacific where Viking Sun docked this morning and the port of Limón over on the Atlantic side. In between is the cordillera, the mountain range that is an extension of the Canadian and American Rockies to the North and the Andes to the South.
I went with guests up into that spine in the middle, to the Los Angeles Cloud Forest Reserve. We left hot and sunny Puntarenas and spent the day in a cool and drizzly rainforest.
Here is some of what we saw:
The beach at Puntarenas in the morningThe fog and mist descending on a garden in the hills aboveButterflies in the cloud forest And hummingbirds at a sugar trough
Costa Rica, like Panama–and Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Mexico, the United States, and Canada–has ports on both the Atlantic and the Pacific.
There is only one canal, though.
The other countries have done the best they can with roads and railways to transfer products from one ocean to another.
Puntarenas here in Costa Rica was once the country’s principal port, but it was on the wrong side when it came to trade with the east coast of the United States, the Caribbean, and Europe. Over the past century, a railroad and then highways were built to climb up and over the Continental Divide to bring bananas, other agriculture, minerals, and more from one side to the other.
Modern Costa Rica has devoted much of its economy to sustainable and green industries and ecotourism. And the country–not quite perfect in its government and social services, but far ahead of nearly all of its neighbors–is doing well,
In fact, they have their own all-purpose expression of contentment: Pura Vida. Think of it as “all is well” or hakuna matata. It is impossible to use it wrong: Pura Vida!
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Matarani is the place we parked, but it was not the destination for most of the guests aboard ship. From the gritty mining and export piers here, a fleet of buses departed in the morning for the two-hour-plus drive up into the altiplano to Arequipa.
Matarani, home to about one million, is the deep south of Peru, a thin strip of desert with the Pacific Ocean to the west and the spine of the Andes to the east. In Peru, only Lima is larger–much larger–with nearly nine million inhabitants. We’ll visit that coastal port in a few days.
We’ve been to Arequipa a few times, and so we’re declaring a vacation day aboard ship. We have been on the move almost continuously since March.
Arequipa, about 75 miles or 121 kilometers from Matarani, is up in the foothills of the Andes, at altitude 2,350 meters or 7,710 feet.
The trip follows a two-lane highway thick with trucks and buses and thin with asphalt and guardrails.
It’s a dramatic setting, and also about as close as many cruise passengers are likely to get to landlocked Bolivia.
And it’s not Mount Fuji in Japan, either, but it probably could pass for it in a movie background. Looming over the city is the El Misti Volcano, rising to 19,098 feet or 5,821 meters above sea level.
It is a stratovolcano, the type that is somewhat like a pressure cooker. It lets off a bit of steam every once in a while but mostly sits around in seeming quietude until it explodes violently.
And yes, it is still active, it last major eruption in 1985.
Here are some notes and photos from a previous visit.
ON THE ROAD
AREQUIPA: LA CIUDAD BLANCA
All photos and text Copyright 2019 by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO PURCHASE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF ONE OF MY BOOKS, PLEASE CONTACT ME.
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Now available, the revised Second Edition of “Henry Hudson Dreams and Obsession” by Corey Sandler, for the Amazon Kindle. You can read the book on a Kindle device, or in a Kindle App on your computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.
If you would like to purchase an autographed copy, please see the tab on this page, “HOW TO ORDER A PHOTO OR AUTOGRAPHED BOOK”
Here’s where to order an electronic copy for immediate delivery:
It’s hard to have more contrast in one day than we did today, and that’s an extraordinary thing.
After a day at sea sailing north, we arrived early this morning at the port of Iquique in Chile, an uncommon sight in this place. They receive only about eight cruise ships a year here.
And then I went with a group of guests from sea level– because that is where oceangoing ships generally sail– up into the altiplano, the high desert. About two hours drive brought us into the Atacama Desert and the spectacular Huasco Salt Flats.
The flats are at about 3,830 meters above the sea, or about 12,565 feet.
We had a bright sun and tolerable temperatures and pink flamingoes and llamas and alpaca. Oh, and I took some pictures….
The altiplano is home to some of Chile’s abundant mineral wealth. It all began with saltpeter a century ago, used at first for gunpowder and then as a fertilizer.
Today, copper is king, along with valuable metals and minerals including molybdenum and lithium. That last substance is an essential component of batteries for things like cellphones and tablets.
Our trip back to the port in the afternoon was delayed because of a convoy of some of the largest machines on land: mining excavators, gigantic dump trucks, and support equipment.
They would make great beach toys.
Here’s some of what we saw today:
The Cerro Dragón sand dune reaches to the edge of the growing city of Iquique, a reminder of how tenuous many of the coastal ports of South America are The little town of Pozo Almonte sits at the foot of the altiplano, its history bound up in mining in the hills. The small place draws its name from the Battle of Pozo Almonte of the Chilean Civil War of 1891 between Liberal (Balmacedist) and Congressional forces. The Congressional victory eventually led the junta gaining control of all of northern Chile. A monument to the men of Pozo Almonte who went to the mines…and the women…
The Huasco Salt Flats (Salar del Huasco)
The Huasco Salt Flats, at 3,800 meters or 12,500 feet above sea level. The surrounding mountains reach thousands of feet higher, some capped with snowThe rumble of thunder in a place that receives very little rain
Rules of the Road
The copper mines built the roads into the hills, and regularly shut them down to move equipment
All content by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved. If you would like to purchase a copy of a photo seen here, please contact me.
As is typical for coastal towns in this part of the world, dawn arrived gray and cool. By midday, it brightened just a bit, and then–almost as if controlled by a clock–the sun broke through at 2pm. By 6 tonight, we can expect warmth and a rising wind.
Except for the occasional semi-tropical storm, local weathermen don’t have an awful lot more to talk about.
Viking Sun at the dock in Coquimbo, Chile
I went with guests on a trip up the coast to the market town of La Serena, perusing unusual fruit the locals call tuna, known elsewhere as prickly pear.
The region’s climate is somewhat close to that of the Mediterranean. Chilean wine is better known than their olives, but both grow up in the hills. A local favorite is aceitunas sin amargo, large black olives said to be without amargo or bitterness.
A vendor at the market in La SerenaThe hilltop Cruz del Tercer Milenio (The Cross of the Third Millennium), with an observation platform up high, reflects the predominantly Roman Catholic background of Chileans. It stands 83 meters or 273 feet tall, which allows the Chileans to claim the highest cross of South America. (In case you were wondering, Christ the Redeemer on Corcovado Hill in Rio de Janeiro stands only 30 meters or 99 feet tall. And in any case, it’s a statue, not a cross.) At the other side of the bay, seen to the right in this photo, is a handsome mosque constructed by the Kingdom of Morocco as a cultural offering; there is only a very small Islamic population here. The minaret is modeled on the famed Koutoubia Mosque in Marrakech, Morocco The afternoon sun fills the Explorers Lounge aboard ship in Coquimbo
All content copyright 2019-2020, Corey Sandler. To obtain a copy of any photo, please contact me.
The content of this blog is entirely mine, and is not endorsed or approved by any cruise line or other entity.
Viking Sun was one of the largest structures in town on our visit to Valparaiso, the Valley of Paradise. The town was lively and happy to see us, although signs of recent civil disturbances were there to remind us of recent parlous times.
Viking Sun at the dock, seen from Valparaiso’s Sotomayor Square. The central statue commemorates what Chile considers its greatest military achievement, the War of the Pacific, the defeat of Peru and Bolivia in the Atacama Desert east of 1879-1883. Peru lost its southernmost territory to Chile…and with that came massive deposits of copper that today is part of the backbone of modern Chile. Bolivia, which allied with the losing side, lost its only outlet to the sea. The war is long over, but the three countries remain somewhat short of cordial in relations, or at least in their view of history.
The famed Floral Clock of Viña del Mar is currently a clock with no hands in the midst of Chile’s season of social and political protests, mostly in the big cities of Santiago and Valparaiso. The mostly young protestors object to economic conditions that tilt in favor of the very rich, alleged corruption that favors officials in the government, and other problems in a country with a still-fragile democracy.
A tough way to earn a living: street buskers juggle, dance, and perform acrobatics at intersections.
At the eclectic Fonck Museum in Valparaiso stands one of only three Easter Island moai located away from the remote island. Easter Island is today part of Chile, although it is about 2,000 miles or 3,000 kilometers to the west in the middle of the vast Pacific Ocean.
All content copyright 2019 by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.
Even professional travelers need a vacation from time to time. And as I often tell people, when I am away I do not want to feel at home.
This winter we checked off one of the boxes on our to-do list. We have been to the far north many times, but this time we made a specific plan to revisit the top of Norway at the optimal time of year to view the Aurora Borealis.
The Northern Lights (and the Aurora Australis, the Southern Lights) are glowing almost all the time, but they cannot be seen in the daylight or when there is heavy cloud cover. In the winter the sun never rises above the horizon for six to eight weeks which gives a whole lot of dark.
And some places on our planet receive significantly stronger solar particles than others: the Aurora Zone is a belt that sits at roughly 70 to 80 degrees above or below the Equator. Too far north and the angle to the lights is too thin; too far south and the odds of seeing them are very slim.
One more thing: in the far north, March tends to have less cloud cover than earlier months in winter.
So we went to Norway for nearly a month.
Here is some of what we saw:
Northern Lights Near Tromsø. Copyright 2019, Corey Sandler. All rights reservedNarvik, Norway. Copyright 2019, Corey Sandler. All rights reserved.Snow People, Tromsø. Photo by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.Bergen in winter. Photo by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.Tromsø under a blanket. Copyright 2019, Corey Sandler. All rights reserved.Landing at Oslo. Copyright 2019, Corey Sandler. All rights reserved.
Why I Travel. Copyright Corey Sandler, all rights reserved.
If you would like to order a print of any of my photos, please contact me using the link at the top of this page.
Viking Sky set sail from Bergen, Norway March 14 on an extraordinary wintertime search for the Northern Lights.
We made our way up the wintry coast of the beautiful nation of Norway, one extraordinary sight after another, reaching our northernmost port of call at Alta near the top. The seas, the snow, the sky were extraordinary.
And then we turned back toward the south for a few more stops before our ultimate goal of London’s cruise port at Tilbury.
We almost made it.
You can retrace our journey in the blogs I posted, using the menu at the left side of this screen.
Corey Sandler in Tromsø, Norway 8 March 2019.
As most of the world knows by now, Viking Sky got caught up in a vicious storm just off the coast of Norway, avoiding disaster through the professional work of ship’s crew and heroic efforts by Norwegian rescue services.
Our night to remember offshore of Molde ended our cruise unexpectedly.
We left the ship at 5am and flew from Molde to Oslo, and from there on to London and back to the U.S.
Bleary-eyed and exhausted, I still could not resist carrying my camera onto the plane for some final photos of the Norwegian winter. Here is some of what I saw:
Unless otherwise indicated, all photos by Corey Sandler; all rights reserved. The photos presented here are low-resolution and small size. Please contact me if you would like to obtain higher-resolution versions.
Viking Sky departed Tromsø to begin our voyage back to the River Thames and the Port of Tilbury near London still aglow with the warmth of the cold Norwegian north.
Instead, something wicked our way came.
Heavy winds caused us to cancel our scheduled call at Bodø.
Then Captain Bengt Gustaffson chose to sail along western Norway’s spectacular inside passage where we would be somewhat sheltered from the winds and high seas.
Somewhat.
By Saturday noontime we were in a gale, with 40- to 50-knot (45 to 55 mile per hour) winds, and 9 meter (29 feet) seas.
And on the inside passage we had little room to spare. In some places the channel was only a few hundred meters wide.
We entered the notorious stretch of coast known as Hustadvika, a shallow 10-nautical-mile stretch with hundreds of islands, reefs, and skerries.
The winds picked up, and at precisely the worst possible time the ship’s four engines–generators which produce electricity for the ship’s propellers and most of the other functions of the vessel–shut down.
UPDATE: Norwegian maritime authorities say the engines shut down automatically because sensors detected low lubricating oil levels. The problem was apparently caused by the unusually rough seas and motion aboard ship. In a statement, Viking Cruises said it accepted the finding and would make appropriate changes to procedures across its fleet.
Viking Sky began to drift toward the rocky coast. With just moments to spare, Captain Gustaffson managed to put down two of the ship’s anchors and we lurched to a halt.
Viking Sky in trouble, seen from the shore in western Norway
No power, rolling seas, high winds. There was significant damage to most of the public spaces on the upper decks including the pool grill and World Cafe buffet. About a dozen people sustained injuries.
Very quickly came first the crew broadcast, “Code Echo”, the call to alert the crew to an imminent emergency.
Perhaps a minute later, about 1:30 in the afternoon, the blast of the ship’s whistle: seven short and one long.
After a lifetime of travel and hundreds of cruises around the world, it was the first time I had heard the call to muster stations in a real emergency.
And up on the bridge, two things occurred: the captain issued a mayday call to Norwegian authorities and an abandon ship order.
The winds and seas were so rough that it was decided not to use the lifeboats immediately.
Norwegian rescue helicopters were on the way to pick up 20 guests at a time and take them to shore.
By pick up I mean just that: guests were hoisted one-by-one from the dark, rolling, and cold upper decks of the ship. It was a process that required nearly an hour for each copter and at times there were two in service at different locations.
Guests gathered in the ship’s main restaurant were quickly scattered when water breached the window wall. Some guests were swept along with the water and furniture.
That muster station was abandoned and cold, wet passengers were moved to join the rest of us.
At the other principal muster station, the Star Theatre, we put on our life vests and listened as the captain and other officers detailed the plan. But the dark, wild night meant the evacuation was very slow.
The helicopters could not land on the ship’s deck and they had great difficulty with the gale force winds. The guests who were evacuated were hoisted up to the hovering machines.
The operation was suspended several times when the weather became too treacherous. And just to add to the drama, a second ship, a small freighter, also abandoned ship nearby, and helicopters were diverted because some of their crew were forced into the cold, very rough seas.
As we waited for groups to leave our ship by helicopter, a small flotilla of ocean-going tugboats headed out to lend assistance.
It was not until about 1 a.m. that the first tug arrived, and conditions were too rough to allow her to fully attach to our ship. A second and then third tug came with dawn, about 5:30 a.m.
The purpose of the seagoing tugs was to assist the ship in maneuvering, and to be on standby if the engines were to stop again.
Finally, after about 475 of the 900 passengers had been brought to shore by helicopter, the captain decided we were safely secured to the tugs and could proceed to shore with the rest of us.
And so we did.
We had been at our muster stations from about 1:30 Saturday afternoon and remained there more than 22 hours.
When we slowly moved to the dock in Molde, the shoreline was filed with locais, many waving Norwegian flags.
We were safe. Grateful for the efforts of a fine crew. And ever more appreciative of the strength of nature in Norway and the gracious help of its people and its superb rescue services.
This cruise is over, two days early. It will take a while to repair some of the damage to the ship. But our spirits today are high: the morning after the night to remember.
Safe travels to all of our guests. I look forward to sailing with you again somewhere, sometime, in calm seas and fair winds.
In the morning, after the all-clear, passengers returned their life vests to a celebratory heap in the theatre.Photo by Corey Sandler
Captain Bengt Gustaffsonposes with some of the crew who served all night to help keep guests safe.
Photos by Corey Sandler, 2019. All rights reserved. All contents copyright Corey Sandler and Word Association; this website is not produced or endorsed by Viking Cruises.
A Norwegian rescue helicopter lands near Molde with passengers taken from Viking Sky. Svein Ove Ekornesvag / AP)
Although it snowed a bit during the night, hints of what pass for summer in northern Norway are evident: patches of asphalt that have been white for months, slush on sidewalks, and even some bare skin on the walkers and hikers in Tromsø.
We are preparing to head south to our last two ports of call in Norway before returning to the River Thames and London.
We went for a walk in balmy 0 Celsius (32 Fahrenheit) today:
Back aboard ship, the huge LED screen in the Atrium displayed some photos of the Northern Lights. Some guests, I am told, may even pose in front of the photo and try to pass it off as the real thing. Nice try…
All photos by Corey Sandler, 2019. All rights reserved. All contents copyright Corey Sandler and Word Association; this website is not produced or endorsed by Viking Cruises.
Back in Tromsø, we spent all day looking at the dark and gloomy sky, wondering how–or if–we were going to catch a glimpse of the Aurora once more. The skies never cleared here, but off we went nevertheless, with a guide promising cloudless skies two hours away…just across the border in Finland.
Sounded like a deal too good to miss. I have been in Southern Finland many times, in and around Helsinki on the Baltic Sea and in Karelia, just above Saint Petersburg in Russia. But we were headed for the region of Storfjord, near the town of Skibotn in far northern Finland.
Sweden was neutral during World War II, although the nation traded with both sides. Finland began the war fighting the Soviets in the Winter War with some success, becoming a proxy of Germany for a while. Later Finland fought against Germany, with the Soviets pushing them in that direction. By the end of the war, Finland was once again fighting–and losing–to the Soviets.
The Germans used the region as one of their land gateways to fight the Finns, and this was the only part of greater Tromsø that was not all but burned to the ground by the Germans.
Today it is a very, very remote place with mixed populations of Norwegians, Sami, and Kvan peoples.
And us. As promised, the skies were clear on the Finnish side of the border. Unfortunately, the bright supermoon and a weak solar wind gave us only a glimpse of the lights. But for me, no voyage of exploration is without discovery.
Here is some of what we saw; for more, see my blog entry for 7 March below.
All photos by Corey Sandler, 2019. All rights reserved. All contents copyright Corey Sandler and Word Association; this website is not produced or endorsed by Viking Cruises.
We are back in Alta once again, the northernmost port of call on this cruise in search for the Northern Lights.
Altafjord at Alta when clouds cleared on Tuesday.
We knew this already, but we received reinforcement in our understanding of the fact that the search can sometimes be quite difficult. A week ago, they danced and shimmered and moved against a clear back sky. Last night, the sky was nearly completely covered with clouds, but three hours of waiting at the ski resort at Storsandnes finally revealed a teasing reminder.
The next morning, groggy from a long night out on the search, we went into the city of Alta.
The Northern Lights Cathedral in Alta, a decidedly modern structure, is meant to evoke the spiral of the Aurora Borealis.
Within the Northern Lights Cathedral in Alta.
In the Sentrum of the city, a winter festival featured handsome ice and snow sculptures; the rest of Norway is much the same.
All photos by Corey Sandler, 2019. All rights reserved. All contents copyright Corey Sandler and Word Association; this website is not produced or endorsed by Viking Cruises.
We are back in Narvik during the peak of the Winter Festival, the Vinterfestuka. Sundays are always sleepy in places like this, but town very much felt like the morning after the night before.
We did, though, see buses pulling up in town collecting locals heading to church and the parties to follow.
The festival celebrates the construction of the railroad that connects Narvik on the Norwegian Sea to the interior of Sweden at Kiruna about 1900. That railroad was built to haul iron ore from Sweden to the coast and mile-long trains still rumble over the mountain pass to town daily.
The loading station for LKAB, the mining and railroad company that transports iron ore from Kiruna, Sweden to Narvik for loading onto waiting freighters
It was that railroad that attracted the interest of the Germans and the Allies at the start of World War II, and a major naval battle was fought in the narrow bounds of the fjord in town. Nearly all of Narvik was burned to the ground by the Germans when they eventually retreated near the end of the conflict.
Festivalgoers wear special clothing: black trousers and a flannel shirt with vest for the men; a long black skirt and colorful shawl for the women.
Those of us coming from the ship wore our warmest winter clothing, any color, any length.
Here are some more scenes from Narvik today:
From here to there by road. Boris Gleb? That’s a town near Murmansk, Russia.
The ski hill above Narvik, seen from aboard ship
Gravestones of Allied naval and air personnel buried on the hillside at Narvik.
All photos by Corey Sandler, 2019. All rights reserved. All contents copyright Corey Sandler and Word Association; this website is not produced or endorsed by Viking Cruises.
The handsome city of Bergen reverted to form this morning, with dark skies and drizzle.
But we shall not forget yesterday, 13 March, when a bright yellow orb crossed perfect blue skies.
Friday March 15 was a more typical Bergen winter day with rain, drizzle, fog, snow, and a cold wind. (In summer it’s quite different: rain, drizzle, fog, sometimes warm.)
VikingSky at the dock, seen through the fog from the top of Mount Fløien
The historic Bryggen trading kontor of the Hanseatic League, seen from behind, a view often missed by tourists
An alleyway of Bryggen
Most of the historic 15th through 18th century structures of Bryggen were marked with animal or other symbols to help identify them to illiterate traders and merchants
As we depart Bergen to head north to near the top of Norway, we hope for clear skies and active solar winds as we sally forth once again in search of the Northern Lights. I hope you will follow me here in these pages.
All photos by Corey Sandler, 2019. All rights reserved. All contents copyright Corey Sandler and Word Association; this website is not produced or endorsed by Viking Cruises.
We have reached the conclusion of this cruise, with a beautiful sail-in to Norway’s second city, Bergen.
This is a place that gets a lot of rain. A lot. So much so that my large collection of photos from many visits we have made to Bergen contains very few flashes of blue sky. That ended today, a superlative day with hardly a cloud in the sky and cool weather for walking. And so we did.
Here is some of what we saw:
Viking Sky at the dock in Bergen
Bergen’s historic Bryggen district, the former home of the Kontor or trading post of the Hanseatic League.
Snow on one of the seven hills that surround Bergen.
Bergen’s train station, which connects up into the mountains to Voss, above Flåm, and from there on to Oslo on the other side of the country on the Baltic Sea.
We wish guests leaving us here safe travels, and look forward to meeting new friends on our trip back north up the coast of Norway.
All photos by Corey Sandler, 2019. All rights reserved. All contents copyright Corey Sandler and Word Association; this website is not produced or endorsed by Viking Cruises.
We arrived early this morning under a stunning blue sky and crisp air at Narvik, one of the locations of the most significant naval battles of World War II.
The reason for the modern port, which was also the lure for the Germans and the Allies, is the railroad that arrives at sea level from the interior of Sweden. More than a dozen mile-long trains carrying iron ore arrive most days to be loaded onto waiting freighters here.
In the runup to World War II, Germany (and the United Kngdom) were each receiving huge quantities of iron ore from Sweden, which remained mostly neutral throughout the war.
Germany sent in a fleet to seize the port and secure the railroad in 1939, and then the British sent their navy to try and displace them. Thousands of sailors and infantry on both sides died, and Narvik was pounded for most of the war. It was also the site of a concentration camp run by the Germans, holding mostly Yugoslavian and Serbian prisoners, most of whom died in the horrific conditions.
I went with a group of guests to the Narvik Krigsmuseum (the Narvik War Museum) to see some of the artifacts of the war and some exhibitions of well-intentioned hopes for peace. Then we made a visit to a cold, silent cemetery holding some of the British, Canadian, French, Polish, German, and others who died here.
Later tonight we sail back out to sea to head to Bergen, the last port of call on this cruise.
A sea mine recovered from the harbor at Narvik.Inside the War MuseumA cemetery of Allied and Axis and civilians in Narvik.Viking Sky at the dock in Narvik.Aboard ship, from the Explorer’s Lounge.In a reflective mood, the snow-covered mountains mirrored aboard ship.
All photos by Corey Sandler, 2019. All rights reserved. All contents copyright Corey Sandler and Word Association; this website is not produced or endorsed by Viking Cruises.
After our second day in Alta, we departed our northernmost port and headed through Altafjord to the open ocean. In the early evening we sailed nder the bridge and along the waterfront of Tromsø before turning south to run down the coast to our ultimate destination of Bergen.
Norway…is always stunning. Like this:
All photos by Corey Sandler, 2019. All rights reserved. All contents copyright Corey Sandler and Word Association; this website is not produced or endorsed by Viking Cruises.
Overnight we sailed around the corner and half a degree further north to Alta, at 69 degrees 97 minutes North.
It’s an isolated, cold place and the skies are gray this morning but we’re hoping for clearing and more shots of the Northern Lights near midnight.
A cold World War II cemetery in Alta.
All photos by Corey Sandler, 2019. All rights reserved. All contents copyright Corey Sandler and Word Association; this website is not produced or endorsed by Viking Cruises.
After dark I went with a group of guests north and west from Alta to Langfjordbotn, a tiny community at the end of an arm of the Altafjord.
An historical note: it was here that the German battle cruiser Scharnhorst hid from about 1941 to 1943 before sallying out for the Battle of the North Cape where she was eventually sunk.
Closer to Alta, at Kafjord, was the penultimate hiding place of the battleship Tirpitz, which was Winston Churchill’s northern obsession. The Tirpitz was bombed and seriously damaged near Alta, but managed to escape to another hiding place near Tromsø where she was eventually sunk.
Alta was heavily clouded all day, but our drive to Langfjordbotn brought us to a mostly clear place and there we waited for the appearance of the Northern Lights. When they arrived, they were very different from what we had seen earlier in the cruise: here they shimmered and waved like a multicolored curtain.
If you have ever wondered why so many cultures of the far north (including China, Japan, Russia, and Scandinavia) include dragons, look at the fourth image in the following series.
Here are a few photos I took. All photos by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved 2019. If you would like a copy, or like to use an image, please contact me.
Here be dragons
All photos by Corey Sandler, 2019. All rights reserved. All contents copyright Corey Sandler and Word Association; this website is not produced or endorsed by Viking Cruises.
We are out of the winter’s Polar Night, two months of near-total darkness. The day stretches about ten hours and the city bustles while the sun is visible.
And then it quickly grows dark.
All across the city, from our ship and from hotels, come wide-eyed visitors bundled up in nearly every piece of clothing they brought with them. They are headed into the countryside to wait and watch for one of nature’s most astounding sights: the Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights.
They begin as filmy greenish clouds and then grow denser and begin to dance. The human eye is particularly sensitive to green, and that is the tipoff to raise your camera skyward. And modern digital cameras take in all of that light and produce amazing images that will stay with us forever.
Here are some of the pictures I made during a six-hour trek with some professional aurora hunters:
Photo by Corey Sandler, all rights reserved 2019.
When you watch the aurora you understand how many human myths and beliefs were formed: dragons, specters, and pathways to the heavens.
All photos above by Corey Sandler, 2019. All rights reserved. All contents copyright Corey Sandler and Word Association; this website is not produced or endorsed by Viking Cruises.
Photo of Corey Sandler by Polar Adventures, Tromsø, Norway 8 March 2019.
March in Tromsø gives hope of the coming of spring and the possibility of summer here in the far north of Norway, well within the Arctic Circle.
I have been here several dozen times in summer when the sun never fully sets and the mountains are mostly green with a bit of white fringe on top. On this visit, we blew in with a snowstorm but by early morning it was a glorious day with blue skies and the whitest, cleanest snow imaginable.
Here is some of what we saw:
Clearing the aft deck of the ship and building a snowman, near the infinity pool which was unsurprisingly not in use.Inside, looking out at breakfast.Morning light in Tromsø.Across the harbor to the mainland of Norway.The sky above, the Sky belowViking Sky at the dock.A statue of the great arctic explorer Roald Amundsen, who used this port for many of his expeditions, checks on shipping traffic.
All photos by Corey Sandler, 2019. All rights reserved. All contents copyright Corey Sandler and Word Association; this website is not produced or endorsed by Viking Cruises.
