Midnight Sun Above the Arctic Circle

I went to the bar on the top floor (the 13th) of the Radisson Hotel for a glass of wine last night and…oh, what a view! It reminded me of the view from the Crow’s Nest in Anchorage (atop the Captain Cook Hotel) except Bodo has a lot more charm than Los Anchorage (everyone knows I love Anchorage but that’s not much of a stretch, really). Anyway, here are some iPhone photos (complete with a few funky reflections off the windows) of the scenery here in Bodo last night. So with apologies to Ed McMahon: heeeeere’s Bodo!

Looking southeast, out over the airport (and airbase)…

…then east over the football (soccer) stadium to some neat-looking peaks (gotta be some climbing out there)…

…and on to the northeast, where you can see the big, snow-covered mountains in the distance…

…now over the harbor and the mountainous islands just northwest of town…

…and finally south over the small-boat harbor and the islands through which we came from Shetland on Monday.

“Sunset” at this latitude at this point in June means the sun dips behind the mountains to the northwest for a bit.

Self-portrait in the midnight sun. The ’80s tune “I Wear My Sunglasses at Night” fits at this latitude.

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Dateline: Norway

The Norwegian coastline from several miles offshore. Bodo is vaguely visible on the waterline in the distance

Arrived in Bodo, Norway, (posts written en route are below) yesterday evening right after dinner. And appearances have turned into reality: it truly is stunning here…helped by bright, warm sunshine. Alaska-like mountains cut by fjords, offshore islands rising out of the sea, dolphins and whales bounding around the bay…I could get used to this.

It is, however, incredibly expensive. Eight bucks for a beer; $18 for a rum-and-coke! But the people are friendly and enjoying the northern summer with its 24-hour sunshine. All eight crew members adjourned to a waterfront bar upon arrival (I had a shower in the harbor facilities first: $5 for 10 minutes) where a couple of serious drunks took a liking to our group and provided some serious entertainment: tall tales of the area’s fauna, sparking up a joint on the patio, stumbling to get refills.

Approaching Bodo…a little closer this time

The bartender was a Brazilian guy named Tchiago who came to Bodo a few years ago to play professional soccer a collegiate career at UC-Santa Barbara. Now he tends bar while he starts up a surfing service in the area. You got it: surfing. He gave me the beta on breaks and a place the rents boards and wetsuits out in the Lofoten Islands — where we’re headed on Friday for the first of two, one-week cruises — so I’m cautiously optimistic that I can grab a wave or two while I’m here, though I can only imagine how expensive a rental board will be.

The Bodo harborfront in warm sunshine

One other observation: in addition to being a lot like Alaska — think Seward or Valdez, only Bodo is a MUCH bigger city — it’s also kinda like San Diego: fighter jets take off from the nearby airbase pretty much constantly.

The Bodo Welcoming Committee

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