Hytte of Bodil Fjelde & Rune Teisrud — August 3-4, 2013

When the Brunborgs and Shipleys left Morvik’s hytte (see last post) on August 3, we continued up the Number 9 highway to the vicinity of Hovden, where we visited the hytte of Bodil Fjelde and Rune Teisrud.  Of the friends we have made through the Brunborgs, we have known Bodil and Rune the least well and the least longest.  But you would never have known that had you been a fly on the wall during our visit.  They are both enormously warm and friendly people, filled with enthusiasm and optimism and good cheer.  Stand near them in a photo op, and you are going to get hugged.  They are a relatively new couple, living in a relatively new hytte that was designed by Bodil herself.  It is the largest and the most luxurious of the hytte we visited.  A large entrance room.  A large and high-ceilinged living room that features an enormous fireplace.  A lovely kitchen/dining room with a dining table that is “pushed out” into a bay with many windows.  A bathroom with running hot/cold water with a shower and a handsome sink both feed by a demand pump not dissimilar to the kind of pump we have on Tusen Takk II for our fresh-water washdown.  Electric lights powered by a battery bank charged by solar panels and a back-up generator.  A charming master bedroom with its own fireplace and a built-in bed, another bedroom, both on the ground floor, and a gazillion bunks in nooks and crannies upstairs.

We spent the night at the hytte.  Enjoyed delicious meals.  Drank micro beer and wine and Linie aquavit.  Went for a walk up into the hills above the cabin.  Lounged briefly in the area in front of the cabin and to the side of the storage building, after which we had a darts tournament with the target against the storeroom.  Guess who won?  🙂

Our sincere thanks to Bodil and Rune for their hospitality.

Morvik Hytte — August 2, 2013

On August 2, the Brunborgs and Shipleys drove up to the Morvik hytte, which is near the municipality of Valle.  Shortly after our arrival we were treated to a snack of pancakes prepared on an outdoor grill that was supported by a tripod.  We had two interesting walks during our stay:  one along a small river near the hytte, and another to the edge of a precipitous chasm that hosts a dramatic waterfall.

The walk to the river went through boggy land that supports flowers and blue berries and cloud berries.  The river itself has water so fresh that it is the temporary source of water for the hytte until such time as the underway creation of a well is completed.  On our way to the river we passed widely-spaced marked sites for additional hytte; the Morviks are one of first to build in the beautiful area.

Our other walk took us across a highway, and then to the unmarked beginning of a trail that led to the upper lip of a deep valley.  We circled around a branch and found ourselves looking across at a beautiful waterfall.  On our side, the wall fell essentially straight down, so the view of the area was spectacular.  Some of the hikers were a little nervous, perhaps heightened by the existence of a deep crevasse running parallel to and some meters away from the edge.  One day, some day, that whole lip will fall hundreds of meters down the cliff.  At one point the crevasse opened up enough for Rasmus to climb down into it and attempt to gauge its extent.  In other parts of the world, there would be a paved path to the area, and an admission gate and fee for such an awesome attraction.  Here, there isn’t even a sign; just a small path that indicates that at least a few people know of its existence.  I love Norway!

Later that day we had a great meal that featured roasted pork and boiled potatoes and broccoli and cauliflower and carrots and a delicious gravy.  And then a very special treat: multer og krem (cloud berries and cream) for dessert. To read about multer, click here.

The hytte has plenty of places for sleeping; the Brunborgs and Shipleys spent the night as guests and then had another bountiful Norwegian breakfast before heading off to the next hytte.  It had been a great visit with a couple that at first, years ago, we had thought of as friends of our friends the Brunborgs, but that we have since learned to think of as, simply, our friends.

To learn about our experience at the next hytte, see our next post.

Skretting’s Hallandvik hytte — August 1, 2013

On August 1 we drove to Hallandvik, in the municipality of Søgne, the location of the nearest hytte of Ingunn and Per Skretting.  (They have two hytter!  We have twice enjoyed being at their Bortelid hytte on New Years Eve!)  After a welcoming toast, we had a pleasant walk over the property of the hytte.  It was another beautiful day in southern Norway, so when we returned to the hytte we lounged on the impressive newly improved and expanded deck, where Ingunn served Norwegian waffles.  I spread mine with raspberry topping, and could scarcely stop eating long enough to snap a few pictures.  Yummy.  Later, we went for a more extensive walk through part of a public area to the south of the hytte, along the rugged shore of the sea in an area called “Hummervika” (Lobster Cove).  On our way to the area, we passed by the house where Ingunn was born.  Turns out the area is dotted with her relatives.  When we returned to the hytte, Per challenged us to a game of bocci.  He was well on his way toward totally humiliating the rest of us when we were saved by a brief shower.

The rest of the afternoon is a blur of friendly conversation and delicious food and drink.  I remember many glasses of wine.  I remember a bowl of various fruits.  I remember a delicious dinner, and more wine.  I remember an enormous bowl of cream with blueberries and strawberries and raspberries.  I remember strong coffee.  But most of all, I remember the warmth we always feel when we spend time with the Skrettings.

The Andersens and Ny-Hellesund — July 31, 2013

On July 31 the Brunborgs drove us out to Høllen, a village in the municipality of Søgne in Vest-Agner, there to visit the Andersens in their award-winning restored home before joining them on a round-trip ferry ride to Ny-Hellesund, a small island with a big reputation.  Like many other Norwegians, the Andersens also own a hytte, but they had just arrived from a visit to Austria and were scheduled to depart for Denmark on the next day, so a visit to their hytte was not possible.  That was certainly no sacrifice for us; their Høllen home is a spectacular blend of old Norway and modern appliance.  After some coffee and some conversation and a quick tour of their house, we walked down to the pier at Høllen to catch the local ferry, which makes a number of stops at local islands.  Our destination was Ny-Hellesund, where a “Verftet” (shipyard) has been converted into a destination for tourists that features expensive lodgings and a fancy restaurant named “BØLGEN & MOI”, the 9th restaurant created by Trond Moi (chef) and Toralf Bølgen to bear their names.  We arrived to find that the fancy indoor restaurant was not open for lunch, but that service was available in several (windy) patios.  The prices reflected the upscale aspirations of the place; most of us ordered the fish soup, which costed 240 Nkr each but was indeed delicious.

After our lunch we ducked briefly into the interior of the restaurant, where we found innovative settings of the glasses and silverware.  We then explored the relatively-new trail that winds around the little island and offers some spectacular views of the surroundings.  Rain chased us back to the pier, where very shortly the ferry arrived to take us back to Høllen.  On the return, we took a very short side trip through a narrow cut that had us passing by monograms left by Norwegian Kings on Helgøya.

Back at Høllen we had coffee and strawberries before saying goodbye to Terje With and Mika, two remarkable people who found time in their hectic schedule to keep a two year old promise, and to do so with grace and class.  We are very grateful.

PS:  Two days later the newspapers were all filled with accounts of the visit of the Bill Gates family with the Crown Prince and Princess of Norway.   Where did they meet?  On the island of Ny-Hellesund and the Bølgen & Moi restaurant.  We missed them by one day!  (I bet they got to eat inside!)

Sail to Seim Hytte — July 30, 2013

In October 2011, we celebrated the 60th birthdays of Tove Brunborg and Barb in southern Spain.  We were joined by Barb’s friends Monica and Lynn, and by a number of couples from Norway.  On the last day of that celebration, the Norwegians presented to Barb an amazing gift: an invitation to host us in Norway at each of their “hytte” (cabins) on our next visit to Norway.  We are here now to take advantage of that incredible opportunity; each of the next several postings will be our account of those visits.

On July 30, the Brunborgs and Shipleys were taken by Terje Seim in his auto to Lillesand where we joined Rasmus and Kari Morvik on their sailboat while Terje drove back to his home. The goal of our sailing trip: pass along the skerries of southern Norway until we reached a bay near Randesund, where we would land at the seaside hytte of Terje and Kirsten Seim and experience some Norwegian hospitality.  It was a beautiful day to be out on the water; the enclosed photos only hint at the wonder of the trip. We also saw many attractive seaside hyttes, many interesting Norwegian water craft, and several pairs of wild swans.

It is common for boaters to stop at one or another of the rocky skerries for a break, and indeed we did so, stopping for a delicious lunch of cold boiled shrimp, which we peeled and ate on bread with mayonnaise.  For dessert we had fresh strawberries — abundant at this time of year in this part of Norway, but nearing the end of their season.  The sea bottoms are rocky here, so the usual method of securing a boat near a skerry is to take it alongside and tie it to the outcropping, an operation that is often facilitated by the presence of steel rods that have been pounded into the rock in order to create more-or-less permanent attachment points.  We chose a small island near Burholen that even had a picnic table.  Later we passed a rocky wall at Sunsodden where two Norwegian Kings had left their golden signatures.

When we arrived at the Seims, we were welcomed with small glasses of Cuban rum, an echo of the rums we served to the Seims and Morviks when they paused on a Caribbean cruise to spend a day with us on Tusen Takk II in the British Virgin Islands last March.  We enjoyed seeing the Seim hytte and the lovely area and enjoyed participating in the warm conversations.  Later, a yummy and attractive appetizer followed by grilled salmon with all the accompaniments.  Later still, creamed fresh strawberries for dessert.  Shamefully, I was too busy enjoying the meal to photographically document the main course.

When it was time to leave, Kari and Rasmus again boarded their boat, and the Shipleys and Brunborgs caught one of the many clean and efficient buses back to Kristiansand.

The first of our hytte visits had set high standards for the series!

Trinidad to Ogge, Norway — July 27-29, 2013

We flew out of Trinidad late afternoon on July 27, on an overnight flight to Gatwick Airport, London.  We then used trains to schlep ourselves and our luggage to London City Airport, where we caught a flight to Kristiansand, Norway.  Our good friend Lars Helge Brunborg picked us up at the airport, and took us to the Brunborg’s flat.  By this time it was near midnight, so Barb and I were tired puppies, having had little sleep in the last 24 hours.  When we finally arose on the morning of July 29, we joined Lars Helge and Tove for a typically Norwegian breakfast:  delicious slices of bread spread with one or two items chosen from yellow cheese, brown (goat) cheese, jellies, sliced meats, pickled herring, tomato slices, red pepper slices, cucumber slices, hardboiled eggs, mayonnaise, and other spreads.  Then we travelled some 45 minutes, for our first visit to the Brunborg’s relatively new cabin in the Ogge Gjesteheim, near Vennesla.  At the conclusion of our visit we had a delicious “lunch” at the Gjesteheim of salted lamb, boiled potatoes, and mashed rutabaga.  On our way back to Kristiansand, we passed by a famous source of bottled water:  the Voss company.  Surprisingly, the bottling factory bore no identifying signs — no proud banners — no self-promoting posters.  Wonder why?  Perhaps because the water that is packaged into expensive bottles in fact is extracted from a well, much as water is extracted from wells across the world.  In fact the same well is the source of water to the village Iveland.  But, to be fair, the aquifer being tapped is alleged to be especially fine.  To learn more, see here.

Trinidad — July 3-27, 2013

We had a bumpy and slow cruise down from Grenada to Trinidad.  Currents were against us, and our usual 13-hr trip took 15.  We had arrived in Grenada with only one stabilizer working, and were unable to effect repairs for the lack of parts.  On the way down to Trinidad the other stabilizer failed.  Wind and waves were pretty much directly on the beam, so yes, the ride was miserable.  Parts were waiting for us at the Trinidad customs, and the stabilizers have long since been repaired.  If you are wondering, yes, I still feel stabilizers are very good things, and that TRAC is a great company with great products.  We left Grenada at about 1 am on July 3.  Before departing, Barb had gone to bed early, and I hadn’t gone to bed at all.   I took the first watch, and then retired when Barb took over at about 4 am.  While I was still sleeping, and after the sun had come up, Barb crossed paths with a big tug followed by two huge “vessels” that at first she thought were stationary oil platforms. Fortunately, she chose to divert our path and avoid passing between the tug and the platforms, for it turned out that the tug was towing the platforms!

We spent about two weeks at a slip in Crews Inn, keeping busy with chores and socializing with all of our cruising friends who feel, as we do, that Trinidad is the best choice for waiting out a hurricane season.   We got some more swimming lessons from Hunter (Arctic Tern) in the Crews Inn pool.  There were potlucks at Crews Inn and Coral Cove, and bake ‘n’ shark and swordfish nights at the Wheelhouse Pub.  And later, after we were on the hard at Peake Yacht Services, more potlucks at marinas and nights at the Wheelhouse.  And a special noontime dinner at the Hilltop Restaurant, located in the Trinidad and Tobago Hospitality and Tourism Institute, where students learn the elements of food preparation and presentation by doing.

Every late afternoon we were serenaded by Kiskadee, a common bird in Trinidad whose call is said to resemble its name, although to my warped ears it sounds more like “subterfuge”.   And passing high over the Chaguaramas marinas, flying from the high ridge on the north to the high ridge on the south, are noisy Orange-winged Parrots, sometimes in single pairs and sometimes in bunches of pairs.  There are many things in Trinidad that are special; Kiskadee and pairs of squawking parrots are among them.

We were scheduled to move from Crews Inn to Peake Yacht Services on July 15, where we would be hauled at 1 pm.   When we arrived at Peake’s dock, there was a large commercial boat in the spot, so we circled in the anchorage for nearly an hour while emergency repairs were completed on the obstacle, and while circling we snapped a few pictures of interesting vessels in the anchorage.

Our time on the hard was hectic, getting the boat ready to be tucked away into secure storage, and all the more hectic by having to take time out to visit an ophthalmologist.  While working on the outside of the boat one day, I kept noticing flashes of light.  I thought someone was welding somewhere.  Later, while watching TV, I realized the flashes where on the edge of the field of vision of my left eye.  Fearing that I was experiencing a retinal detachment, I called the office of my ophthalmologist in Savannah, and was advised to see someone soon.  Next morning Barb did a bang up job of calling around and finally finding a doctor who could see me.  His examination revealed that I am experiencing vitreous detachment, a condition not nearly so serious as retinal detachment, and a condition for which there is no treatment.  But since one of my arthritis medicines can affect vision, and must therefore be monitored with annual checkups, I returned the next day and had the appropriate monitoring tests done.  We were very impressed with the doctor and his instruments and his final report, which incidentally found no evidence of ill effects from the medicine.  The doctor: Dr. David Maharaj, located on the third floor of the Good Health Medical Centre on Fitz Blackman Road.

I write this in the Trinidad airport on July 27, awaiting a flight to London on our way to Norway.   For more on our plans, see our “Plans” page in this blog.

We will do a fair amount of driving while in Norway and Ireland and the States.  Last year, I took a fair amount of grief from my better half when I forgot my drivers license back at the boat.  Since we had lots of driving planned, we had to have someone get on the boat and send the license to the States so that I could help with the driving.  So this year, just as we were approaching the Trinidad airport after the long ride in one of Jesse Jackson’s maxi taxis, Barb belatedly thought to ask, with a certain amount of steel in her voice, whether or not I had my license.  Before I could answer (truthfully) in the affirmative, her face turned ashen.  Guess what?   She had forgotten HER license.  Another disaster, right?  Then why am I smiling?

Grenada Fish Fry – July 1-2, 2013

When Dwight learned that we would soon be moving down to Trinidad, he suggested that he and Stevie provide some fish for a farewell fish fry.  And so it was that on Monday, July 1, the Terns and the Takks and “the boys” had an afternoon feast aboard TT2, a feast that included three snappers, a huge cero and three lion fish, as well as pumpkin and bodie beans, rice and beans, coleslaw, and fried okra.  Followed by ice cream and cookies.  Yummy!

On July 2 we moved over to Prickly Bay in order to check out of Grenada, and to stage for our trip down to Trinidad.  We noticed the tug Flying Buzzard busily salvaging the remains of Uisge Beatha, a 80′ 2010 sailboat that had tragically burned in the Bay on June 14.  Pictures of the fire can be seen at the blog www.ourlifeatsea.com.

We left Prickly Bay at 1:10 AM on July 3.  To learn about our voyage and our adventures in Trinidad, see our next blog post.

Grenada – June 22-30, 2013

We love Grenada.  No island feels safer.  No island has friendlier people.  Few islands are so free of pesky “boat boy” vendors.  No island (except perhaps Trinidad) has so many cruiser-oriented activities.  Terrific hikes: pleasant walks near the anchorages and more challenging treks up in the rain forests.  Regular “Hash House Harrier” hashes that are popular with locals and cruisers alike. Regularly-scheduled shopping excursions to the malls, banks, grocery stores and chandleries.  Special nights at the local restaurants.  Pizza night at the Tiki Bar at Prickly Bay Marina.  Friendship night at Le Phare Bleu.  Caribbean cooking classes at True Blue.  Jam sessions every Sunday at Whisper Cove Marina.  Hamburger night and pot luck night and movie night at Clarkes Court Bay Marina, which also organizes bi-weekly bocci tournaments, and on the off weeks, cricket games for all comers, even ignorant Americans.  (For a glimpse of burger night, in a YouTube production we had nothing to do with, click here.)  Occasional “dinghy concerts” in the middle of Clarkes Court Bay, with the audience arriving by free ferry service and sitting on a huge barge, or arriving by dingy and listening from their own vessels.

We feel most at home in the scenic and tranquil anchorage at Hog Island, which we had learned about even before first arriving in 2007, courtesy of Ann Vanderhoof’s book “An Embarrassment of Mangos”.  (She has since authored another:  “The Spice Necklace”.  We enthusiastically recommend both.  Click here to see her blog.)  Through Ann and Steve (Receta), who we subsequently met and who we now count as dear friends, we met local Grenadian fishermen Dwight and Stevie, who often stop by on their way back for a chat and a snack.  Dwight free dives with a speargun to incredible depths, notwithstanding a gimpy leg caused by the bends back when he hunted with scuba.  Stevie mans the boat, keeping it near Dwight and desperately trying to clean the fish, sea cat (octopus), and lambi (conch) that Dwight brings up.  On good days he falls far behind on the cleaning so they often finish that job while tied to Tusen Takk II before coming aboard.  On one such day I watched as they cleaned lambi. Stevie had already punched the holes into the shells.  Now, Stevie was removing the lambi from their shells, and they were both cutting away the inedible “stuff” from the denuded lambi.  Watching Stevie remove the lambi was a revelation; I have spent tens and tens of minutes trying to extract one lambi, alternating between cutting through the hole and turning the shell around to attempt to pull the beast out.  Nope, stuck.  Try some more cutting.  Then try some more pulling.  Darn.  He has retreated in so far that I can no longer grasp his foot.  Several times I have had to give up and just bash the entire shell in order to extract the “good” part.  Stevie, on the other hand, gives one brief punch with his knife into the hole in the shell, and then turns the shell around so that the lambi can fall out of its own accord!  (See the series of pictures below to see one such removal.)  So adept is Stevie at this operation that he can even perform it when he is dog tired.  The pictures of the extraction were taken on a day when Stevie had been up until 4 AM celebrating a friend’s birthday.  Later, after coming aboard and a little snack, he fell sound asleep in his chair.

Barb did some noodling with the “girls” in Hog Island, but preferred to join me in noodling behind TT2.   “Join”, as in dragging me out to the water by my ear.  You may have noticed the dear girl is growing her hair out.  She asked me to document her progress on the eve of a visit to a hairdresser for a slight trim — see her portrait below.

One afternoon while we were lounging in the cockpit with Dwight and Stevie, Hunter and Devi swam by our boat on the way to their own.  I grabbed a snapshot to document the occasion: they were just finishing a swimming circumnavigation (1 3/4 miles) around the whole of Hog Island!  (Perhaps this helps readers to see why Barb and I are taking swimming lessons from Hunter!

St. Lucia to Carriacou – June 18-21, 2013

While we were waiting in Rodney Bay for a weather window, Barb was a busy beaver.  Every morning she announced on the VHF a water-aerobics noodle session and then led the class.  Every afternoon she practiced her swim strokes, sometimes on her own and sometimes under the tutelage of Hunter (Arctic Tern).  Inspired by her dedication, I finally resumed, after a long hiatus, my own efforts to learn how to swim.  With Hunter’s help I am finally making a bit of progress.  Barb also used our good internet connections in St. Lucia to work on finalizing travel arrangements needed for our upcoming trip to Norway (July 27-August 23), Ireland (August 23-30), Raleigh, NC (August 30-Sept 3), Savannah (Sept 3-12), Las Vegas (Sept 12-19), Bismarck (Sept 19-Oct ?),  Rochester, MN (Oct ?), and McFarland Lake, MN (Oct ?). Whew!

Barb, the poor girl, also had some major dental work done while we were in Rodney Bay.  Fortunately, Doyle’s guidebook mentioned the name of an excellent dentist in Rodney Bay, and soon enough Barb had a root canal and a new crown at a fraction of what it would have cost in the USA.

On June 19, while I was engaged in some chore or another, Barb took the dinghy in to Customs/Immigration in order to check us out of St. Lucia.  Questioned about our intentions concerning stopping at the Pitons, she naively answered the question truthfully, thereby incurring a hefty fee for staying in the St. Lucia Marine Management Area.  We left St. Lucian waters the next day, moving from a mooring between the Pitons to an anchorage off Canouan Island, St. Vincent to spend the night before continuing on to Carriacou.  As we passed by Union Island, I snapped a picture of the imposing Pinnacle, site of TT2’s and Receta’s successful summit followed by a delightful partaking of Union’s annual Maroon feast.  See our 2009 blog entry here.

We checked in to Carriacou/Grenada expecting to be able to immediately purchase duty–free diesel from the huge fuel freighter that is permanently moored off Hillsborough, but alas, both sides of the freighter were already occupied as we passed.  Huge ships that took all afternoon to fuel.  Never mind, we were the first customers next morning.  We took on 620 gallons of the Venezuelan diesel at $3.33/gal. that the enterprise is licensed by the Grenada government to resell.  The fuel is perfectly clean and we are very happy repeat customers.  Sailboats with tiny fuel tanks (but I repeat myself) need not apply; they only sell to volume purchasers.  Call Tanya at 784-529-5044 to check on availability and to make a reservation.  (By the way, we keep track of our fuel consumption:  since our last fueling the John Deere has used 2.11 gals/hr.)

The high-capacity pumps took less than an hour for us to take on our fuel, so we had plenty of time to get back out on the sea and get on down to Hog Island, Grenada.  To learn about our experiences there, tune in to the next installment of this blog.