Northernmost Hurtigruten Port

The ship announces things all day long, but pauses everything except the northern lights at night. Our first night - I was still awake when they announced northern lights at 1 in the morning. Meg and I were both so excited that we jumped out of bed and raced out on deck. The dark sky, bright stars, and smudges of northern lights were magical - even if they didn't photograph well. 

We were still outside when we had a short stop in Mehamn, the northernmost hurtigruten port. There's a spot further north that people like to visit - North Cape - but one must take an excursion to reach it. So Mehamn, at just over 71 degrees is the furthest north that we will go. 

Hammerfest

The next morning, we had a long (1 hour 45 minutes) stop in Hammerfest. It was cloudy, gray and eventually raining, but we had a delightful walk around the harbor. 

No one will miss me in my rain pants!

Hot Tub
The ship has two hot tubs. They're free for anyone to use, and they're empty most of the time. Watching the snow covered mountains slip by from the comfort of the hot tub was amazing, even if getting out to the cold wind was challenging. 

Fjords and Whales
There was a report of minke whales, and I did get to see some spray/spout, but they were too far away to get a good look. But the sunset was plenty amazing.

From here, we start our journey south.