Calm sea allowed us to go to the quay

2000-7-28 09:06MET 24mm f/11 ; 1/125" 200ISO ; pol 34·16Kb 1864·1193

Early the next morning the wind dropped and it started snowing heavily at times. The sun slowly returned around noon and by then there was a layer of 5 to 10 centimetres of snow on the beaches. Such snowfalls are rare in July, even here. The temperature usually stays between 2 and 6 degrees day and night in late July, but this year it seemed to stay around 0. The sea was now calm, and we towed the boat to the quay. Bente and Karl-Peter caught their flight and we were then four left on board.

We had to get help for our engine problems. Olav, a mechanic from Kings Bay, was willing to have a look at it. Kings Bay is the former coal company which still owns the town. He could not find the fault but agreed to make another try the following day.

It was Friday night and the town's "dive" was open. We had to check it out. Besides, we were on a holiday which is about having a good time. The pubs are far apart in this part of the world, but if you can get to one there is plenty to drink and it's cheap.

Barbara had been busy in Ny-Ålesund that day. She had worked here before for 13 months and had some contacts. We had now permission to borrow a motor boat until 8 o'clock Sunday morning, which was good news since our dinghy couldn't be used in rough sea or go very far. Besides, we had been invited to a cabin in Krossfjorden some 20 miles away for a curry dinner this Saturday night. While Olav the mechanic and Arne the skipper were working on the engine, Barbara, Jos and I went to Krossfjorden.

The cabin was called Camp Zoe. Among the six people we met there were Helge and Jon Steinar. Helge, who was working in Ny-Ålesund, had hired his friend Jon Steinar for doing some work to repair gears in Ny-Ålesund. There were some gear problems. When he heard about our engine problem, he offered his help.

The night in Krossfjorden was excellent. The sun was shining again. Hot food and plenty of drinks softened the chilly wind. By early morning all were tired, and it was about time for us to get back to Ny-Ålesund, roughly 90 minutes away by motor boat. We were back on board at 6 o'clock.

Our body clocks had now adapted to sleep from early morning to early afternoon. It was perfect. Every day it had been sunny in the evening and night, whereas squally weather and snow were typical for the mornings and early afternoons.

While we were at Camp Zoe, Olav and Arne had not been able to find what was wrong with the engine. Helge and Jon Steinar, however, arrived Sunday evening, and Jon Steinar proved his skills. Before midnight the broken part had been identified. We needed a replacement, and that by Wednesday the latest if Jon Steinar was to replace it, because he was going back to the mainland Thursday. To get a part shipped from Oslo to this outpost in such a short time can be tricky, but we had to try. Since it was Sunday night, we couldn't do anything before the morning. Well, except to celebrate that the fault had been found.

Some wine and half a bottle of whiskey later I remembered just in time that there was a partial solar eclipse this night. I got my photographs. As usual, the night was sunny until morning when the snow and squally weather returned.

Posidonius holds that mists and winds and clouds reach to a height not less than 5 miles from the earth, but that from that point the air is clear and liquid and perfectly luminous, but that the distance between the cloudy air and the moon is 250,000 miles1 [Pliny, Natural History, II.85] 1This distance is quite correct

Midnight sun eclipse

2000-7-31 01:42UT 500mm·1,6 f/8·1/1,6 ; 1/60" 200ISO 10.000ND, UV 7·16Kb 1784·1197