We appear to have all engines operating again. We left Bergen on time at 11:30 pm with the quite loud accompaniment of a rock concert on shore. It was the celebration of midsummer, and folks were out in force on their small pleasure boats zipping around the harbor in all directions. There were even several bonfires along the shore which is a traditional way to celebrate the summer. By the time we went to bed shortly after midnight, the sun had actually set and there was darkness which we haven't seen in a number of days.
The trip to Stavanger was somewhat bouncy during the night, but we arrived at the projected time amid fog and light rain which we hope will clear off somewhat by late morning when our tours leave. Stavanger is Norway's fourth largest city and is the main place that supplies the off-shore oil drilling industry in the North Sea. It is a large port, and there are a number of large, strong-looking ships that we guess are the oil rig supply ships and one rescue ship in broad black and yellow slanted stripes. Also in port are Cunard's Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria.
My tour was a boat excursion up to Pulpit Rock in the Lysefjord. The boat was a catamaran and quite the nicest and most comfortable excursion boat that I have ever been on! It could probably hold eighty people, but there were no more than forty of us, so everybody had a good seat. Although the weather was cloudy with mist in the distance, my weather magic held until I got back to the dock where I got rained on getting back to the ship.
Lysefjord is 42 kilometers long and mostly 400 meters deep. The granite cliffs rise to about 600 meters high. Pulpit Rock is one of the most famous attractions in Norway. You often see photos of it taken from the air looking down at people standing on it above the fjord. The rock itself is separated from the mountain by a significant crack. This photo, of course, is looking at it from the other direction.
There is a herd of goats turned out to pasture at the base of Pulpit Rock in the summer. The excursion people give them treats, so whenever the goats see an excursion boat, they come trotting to meet it. Most everyone on our boat crowded the outside decks to take pictures of the goats. I do have one slightly blurry photo of goats, but it's not worth posting here.
After the photo op at Pulpit Rock, we continued a short way up the fjord to the Hengjane Waterfall seen here. Our boat pulled in right to it, and one of the crew caught some of the water in a stainless steel bucket and let anyone who wanted to taste it have some. It tasted like cold wet water to me.
Then we stopped at the Helleren Fjord Restaurant pasted on the side of the fjord at the base of a high cliff for Norwegian waffles with sour cream and jam along with coffee or tea. There was a tall teenager there in full Viking get up for people to photograph. Also there was a young boy with a fishing rod pretending to fish in the fjord. Aside from those slightly hokey bits, it was a lovely break in the tour.
WOW!! Both Queens just sailed right past us! The Queen Elizabeth sailed first then the Queen Victoria. Both were sent off by the local fire boat pumping five streams. It was quite a sight. Word is that one is starting a seven day tour and the other a fourteen day tour, but i'm not sure which is which. We will be leaving soon, but the fire boat disappeared while we were watching the other ships negotiate the narrow part of the harbor. That's okay. We had our fire boat welcome yesterday in Bergen.
And again, we are small enough that when we sail, we are going up the Lysefjord to Pulpit Rock before we head for Amstrdam. If I had known we were going to do that, I could have saved the cost of a tour, but I really won't mind seeing it again from our larger ship. This kind of extra touch is why I like sailing on smaller ships that can go where the big ones can't.
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