Inside Passage

I never paid much attention in geography and so I didn't know that Norway had an inside passage. It's a narrow waterway that extends right up the coast and allows you to sail through the start of the crinkly bits. It's an absolutely beautiful journey with snow covered peaks on either side. Last year in Arcadia we sailed on the sea side and I'd assumed that Boudicca normally uses the sheltered internal passage because she's only small. I sat next to the customer relations officer at dinner last night. We are old friends from the episode when someone tried to build a gym above our cabin on a previous cruise. She told me that Boudicca usually uses the sea route because of the cost of employing the pilots who are an essential safety feature along the inner route. Apparently after our force 11 gale more bad weather was expected in the open sea and the captain contacted head office and insisted on using the sheltered passage. Who says an ill wind never blows any good.

Last night sailing down the inside passage towards Tromso we saw the Northern Lights. We'd escaped from the singer in the show to our cabin and heard an announcement from the captain that he thought conditions were about right to see the Lights. We got all the kit on and went on deck, waited a while, went back to the cabin, heard another announcement, put the kit back on, went on deck and so on until on the third or fourth try there they were. Swirling clouds of fluorescent green plasma drifting across a clear sky. In a few minutes they were gone but at least we've seen something even if it's overcast for the next few days.

I've got one of those tubes of material you put over your head to make a face mask or a balaclava. It's a sort of designer accessory for fashion conscious bank robbers. On one of our frantic dashes to the top deck I stood by the rails trying to get this thing over my head without any success. I gave up and when we got back to the cabin I discovered I'd picked up a pair of Janet's tights by mistake. It was dark. I think I got away with it.

Dave