Friday 3rd March 2017

Early this morning we docked briefly at Harstad in the Vesteralen Islands. It's a beautiful day.

Here we are having breakfast - there is always a wide range of things to choose from.

Here's the reception area. Further on is the gift shop.

If by any chance you're not satisfied with the full board catering in the main restaurant you can "upgrade" and eat here in the "fine dining" area. You can just see the king crabs in their tank awaiting their fate!

This morning there were fantastic views all along the way going through the Vesteralen Islands.

We saw this sea eagle.

At about 11.00 we stopped for a short while at Risoyhamn to load freight.

There is an impressive bridge here linking the Islands of Hinnoya and Andoya.

We arrived at Sortland about 12.30 where another fine bridge links Hinnoya to Langoya.

The views are so fantastic we've just been sitting around looking out of the windows.

I'm sure that we have been very lucky with the weather on this trip. Lots of clear skies giving sun in the daytime and views of the Northern Lights at night. Last night The Lights were particularly spectacular.

We stopped at Stokmarknes this afternoon where the Hurtigruten Museum is situated. Part of the display is this redundant Hurtigruten ship.

We took a brief stroll around town.

We were soon back on Polarlys and on our way again.

There is marvelous mountain scenery in the Vesteralen Islands. These peaks are on the island of Hinnoya.

As the light was starting to fade we entered the narrow channel which separates the Vesteralen Islands from the Lofoten Islands.

These mountains are on the Lofoten island of Austvagoy.

There was a beautiful pink glow in the sky.

As it was getting dark we passed the entrance to the very narrow Trollfjord. At this time of year it is too dangerous for the Hurtigruten to go through this fjord due to the risk of avalanche and rock fall.

It is dark now and we are just about to dock at Svolvaer - the "capital" of the Lofoten Islands.