Day 5 - Leave Kirkenes

Today was spent mostly on the ship. We boarded at about 12:45pm but did not leave as timed because someone had broken their leg off the ship and we had to wait for them. Eventually we departed the Kirkenes port at 1:30pm so we were a little behind schedule. Our ship was called Polarlys which means polar lights.

Our ship from the Kirkenes dock.

Dinner tonight was at 8:30pm so at the next port, Vardø, we went to the grocery to get some snacks before dinner.

Ice age characters promoting bread.

Reindeer jerky!  I bought some.

At 6:30pm an annoucement was made that the northern lights were visible so we scuttled up to the level 7 deck to have a look. We can't get enough of the lights, it was amazing!! I took some photos but this time without the tripod and on a higher ISO, they turned out a bit grainier but you can see see them here.

We had a short nap after that before dinner as we haven't been getting enough sleep lately. Dinner was allocated seating on table 26. We had dinner with the same elderly couple on our first night and another (not so) elderly couple. I would say they are in their late 40s or mid 50s. Both are British, lots of British people on board this ship. Our entree was fish soup, followed by a main course of reindeer steak (which tastes exactly like liver) with reindeer sausage, and cloudberry ice cream was for dessert. I particularly liked the ice cream and the berries. We were the only ones to finish our main meal, not everyone else was game enough to finish it. :)

Photos of northern lights from the deck

Tea followed after dinner then it was bed time. Very short day. Tomorrow we will go off on an Arctic Energy tour at the northernmost town, Hammerfest.