Update, we have gas (new regulator) and water (new tap set) thanks to hero engineer Peter aided by his team of Kirsty, Patrick, Virginia and Mary...Sea Fever has had a good cleaning and we are having showers followed by dinner on board, hopefully two courses with chocolate to follow due to lack of alcohol...we were too late at 3:30 to buy it!!

24th June.... still. And over to guest author Kirsty!

Is it really still 24th June? 3 days squeezed into 2, and counting. We might even get 4 days into 48 hours yet. Watch this space.

This day started yesterday really with all the errands and mending. Trying to get everything arranged before we need to stay in LYB for the whole weekend which isn’t our ideal destination. But much success and we are back in action. Ship shape in fact.

After a wee boat pow wow and passage planning, we decided on a good sleep before leaving, then sneaking out at 0600 before the next cruise ship came in. So, all except Kirsty, went for a stroll at 2100 in the sunshine. Then, returned in the nick of time..... incoming cruise ship at 11PM Saturday not 11AM Sunday. Ooooops. Not fancying a further weekend in LYB, we slipped and left immediately. A wee stop to fill up for fuel and water, Sea Fever is now homeless. A rib wanted diesel and we didn’t fancy rafting up for few hours. But, beautiful night, the potential for sailing in the midnight sun and with some dampness forecast we decided to start sailing 7 hours early. Straight into watch system and yes, the sun was bright, warm (!) and high in the sky at midnight. Heading off towards Forlandsundet and to anchor in Eidembukta. Skipper quote... ‘we just go along here a bit further then hang a right towards the north pole’

Again, light winds and sunshine although the sails did get an outing and the donkey (engine) has been turned off for some of the passage. Fabulous to hear just the sound of the water on the hull. Lulling me to sleep when I’m off watch at 0630. So much so that I didn’t even notice the anchor going down or us arriving in Eidembukta on the west coast of the main island at 0845. Then a very quiet, sleeping boat until 1300. Lunch for some of the crew (Mary’s red lentils) and breakfast for others (bread and jam for big sleepers Virginia and Kirsty).

Now we are sailing up the west coast of Svalbard, having left at 1400, heading to see if we can spot Walruses. Fingers crossed. There is Moroccan bean stew on the stove, hot drinks available and a shiny new tap so full service is resumed. Oh, and stunning glaciers, mountains and the colours, or should I say lack of colour, in the more or less monochromatic mountain and sea scape. Spiky peaks all back stone and white snow with light grey sea reflecting the now light grey sky. A white deck, white sails. This certainly feels like a cold and very wild place.