Our flight from Vancouver (YVR) had to land at Anchorage (ANC) for a brief crew change and then flew on to Nome Alaska (OME) where we were forced to wait whilst the ground crew arranged the two traffic cones that safely directed us about seven metres to the only door into the airport lounge room from which it was a tedious 35 second walk to the street exit and then next door to the community hall.  Our luggage was taken directly to the ship and so we had 2 hours to explore which seemed at first to be two too many.

But OMG, OME is fascinating . Houses lean all over the place. They are jacked up regularly as the shrinking permafrost moves they around. We walked to Old St Joes (St Joseph’s Church to the igorant) and had wonderful homemade soup and bread rolls. Then a shuttle bus took us 764 metres to the Museum where we saw a display of First Nation carving and regalia. We bought a set  of walrus ivory earing’s from a young local girl who had proudly set up shop amongst the more grizzled professionals. We then walked back via a display of sled dogs (not huskies) who had been in the famous Iditarod Sled race between Anchorage and Nome after which I looked at a gigantic stranded sea dredge used for mining the gravel sea floor for gold.

But then it was time, finally, nearly four years after we had to cancel this trip due to covid, Ilze and I walked together back onto a Hurtigruten ship in the high Artic. I don’t mind telling I shed  small tear, it has been such a long wait.

Needless to say it is classic Norwegian, impeccably clean, comfortable and a thing of great beauty. We missed the sail away as it was so quiet in moving off and we were busy unpacking and getting everything stowed away into the various nooks and crannies just intime for dinner and then bed. Sleeping logs came to mind as we missed our breakfast slot but it did not seem to matter. We have a full day at sea and a series of lectures that were mostly concerned about how to get in and out of Zodiacs with out dragging the staff with you when you fell in and being fitted for excursion boots, how to put on the immersion suit, life jackets and all the rest. We missed the bit about trying to get the boots off again but received a valuable tip from passenger who had remained on board from the earlier trip. She also told us that about a week ago the Nansen met up with the sister ship Roald Amundsen at sea up north and the crew had a happy times exchanging Zodiacs. Apparently US rules  do not allow any expeditions in zodiacs other than those made in America. Seems a ridiculous snub to a nation whose Viking ancestors crossed over from Europe in wooden boats long before Colombus.

We were just retiring for a post  desert free lunch nap when a staff member delivered a free birthday cake and bottle wine for my birthday.

 It seemed churlish to refuse.