Day 8 - Alesund

We are still in Alesund today. We are not leaving until tomorrow night. It was so windy though, it felt like we were at sea.

It was a rainy, windy, crappy day. Martha didn’t feel well this morning and stayed in to “work.” So I ventured out on my own. I was looking for the church I could see from the boat and I finally found it up on the hill. But alas, it was locked.

On my wanderings I noticed you can see the path we walked down from Mount Aksla.

I wandered around for a bit but finally gave up as it was pouring rain. It is not too cold here, 45-50 degrees but we cannot seem to escape the wind and rain. A shopkeeper told me this is not their season. They are more spring and summer. This is Northern Norway’s season; but we aren’t going to make it there. We are turning south when we leave here.

People are still really pissed off that the Captain took us straight into a Category 2 hurricane. Apparently, he should’ve known about it and we should’ve waited overnight in Amsterdam or gone into a harbor way sooner. But no, we were two hours late leaving the first port and two hours late leaving the second port, so he was trying to make up time. I don’t know much about boats, but apparently the use of bow thrusters in open water should have been another clue that we were in trouble. But I agree the Captain should’ve known better. It’s not like hurricane force winds came out of nowhere.

And this made Martha laugh yesterday but we forgot to include it. That is a very low threshold, “probably.”

At dinner, we met Carol from Carolina, a self proclaimed Beach Bum. She was a delight. She gave us olive shells (she had a whole pocket full to give out) and told us how to shine them and keep them in our pockets for good luck. She said she was “switched on” and hopes that we can be that way too. Rock on Carol from Carolina!! I want to be you in 20 years.

We generally head to the Explorer’s Lounge after dinner. It’s laid back, soft music, and just a chill vibe. Until the girls who work behind the bar “help” the regular guy spice up his set. Then anything can happen. And it cracks me up that they’re reading the lyrics off their phones.