So it happened that one of my Norwegian Instagram friends wrote me that the Hurtigruten ship, MS KONG HARALD, would be in Sortland tomorrow at 12:30am. This message was sent after midnight and accordingly I was a bit confused. Was tomorrow the same as today or tomorrow the same as tomorrow. I asked back and added that we were now going on a whale safari at 9:15. Probably both sides were a bit confused and my attempt to write it in Norwegian probably added to the confusion. 😊
After we had breakfast (we had shopped on the way the day before), the luggage was put in the car and off we went on the whale safari.
When we arrived, we were told that the whale safari had been cancelled due to bad weather and high waves out at sea. We had the choice to change our booking to Saturday or they would transfer the money back to us. Unfortunately, we had no choice, as we had to fly in on Saturday due to the pilots’ strike. So we chose the refund option. I felt sorry for Eva, as she was really looking forward to the trip. What now? The weather was not kind to us and so we decided to look for a rain jacket for Eva in the nearby outlet shop. While she was looking and trying on one or the other, I read my Instagram message from the aforementioned Instagram friend.
He asked: “Have you seen whales?”
“No the whale safari is cancelled.”
“Today is not good weather to go on safari.”
“Yeah seems like it, so we’re going to Sortland already.”
As I had not received an answer as to whether the KONG HARALD would be there today or tomorrow, I checked the Vesselfinder to see where the ship was. It was clear that the KONG HARALD would be in Sortland today at 12:30.
After Eva had bought a rain jacket, I asked if we wanted to try to be in Sortland at 12:30 and watch the KONG HARALD come in.
I was delighted that Eva agreed, as I was sailing north on the KONG HARALD in October 2021.
And to see the ship again now would be just incredible, if that would work out.
While I was sailing, I kept a constant eye on the arrival time in Sortland and added another 20 minutes to be on the safe side. Our breaks were arranged accordingly.
Suddenly Eva shouted, “Look at a Hurtigruten ship. Before I saw it, trees came up again and I couldn’t see anything.
“Now look, that must be the Kong Harald,” Eva beamed at me.
Then I saw it too. At least it was a Hurtigruten ship.
“Turn left now and maybe we’ll see it again.”
At the last moment I managed to turn left and so we arrived in Risøyhamn in the pouring rain.
And sure enough, there was the KONG HARALD at anchor. While Eva went to the quay, I looked around to see if I could buy a ticket for us and the car.
Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything and when I got to the quay, the KONG HARALD was ready to sail.
The obligatory photos were taken with us in the pouring rain in front of the KONG HARALD. In the car, I quickly posted a story with me in front of the KONG HARALD on Instagram and sent a photo to my Instagram friend with the comment “See you in Sortland”. After my sentence, I hoped that maybe he would wave in Sortland and I could see who was writing so nicely.