Easter Cruise
On Easter Sunday, I sailed with the new Smyril 2 ferry on a cruise around the Faroe Islands. The cruise was sold out, with about 800 people on board. The reason they scheduled the cruise for Easter Sunday is that the ferries don’t run on that day. The Smyril 2, is a new ferry, only about 6 months old.
We left from Tórshavn, sailed around the southern end of Streymoy , then north between Vágar and Streymoy, and along the cliffs to the northern end of Streymoy. The northwestern sides of the islands are nearly all sheer cliffs, and these cliffs are filled with nesting birds during the summer months.
Next we headed east, along the northern cliffs of Streymoy, Eysturoy, and Kalsoy. I was hoping that we would continue around the northern islands, since I have never seen them from the sea. Instead we returned in the Kalsoy Fjord, between Kalsoy and Kunoy, and on south between Borðoy and Eysturoy, back to Tórshavn. The weather was misty, foggy, and rainy in the Kalsoy Fjord, and I didn’t take many pictures there.
Most of the people got off the ferry in Tórshavn, but I continued with the second half of the cruise to Suðuroy. We sailed on the west side of Sandoy and Skúgvoy, with views of the Dímuns in the distance. Then we continued along the western cliffs of Suðuroy, all the way around the southern end of the island, and back along the eastern shore to Tvøroyri. It was dark by the time we got to the tip of Suðuroy, so I didn’t get any photos of the eastern side of the island.
I had rented a room on the ferry, and spent the night on board in Tvøroyri. In the morning, the ferry made its normal morning trip to Tórshavn. We continued north along the western sides of Suðuroy, Lítla Dímun, Stóra Dímun, and Sandoy, finally returning to Tórshavn. By the time I had finished my morning coffee, we had sailed past all of Suðuroy, so I didn’t get any photos of the western side of Suðuroy. My excuse is that it was still pretty dark. My camera and I both needed a rest. I got some photos of the Dímuns, and then sat in a comfortable, reclining chair and looked out the window at the passing scenery. The next thing I knew, we were in Tórshavn. That was a fast return trip.
Since I had missed church on Easter Sunday, I drove straight back to Fuglafjørður in plenty of time for the 11:00 service on Easter Monday.
Several people asked if we had good weather on the cruise. As you can see from the photos, we had every possible kind of weather, except hot sun. We had blue sky, clouds, sun , rain, fog, snow, wind, and calm.
Okay, I am finished with these ramblings, and all of my pictures have been loaded, so enjoy your tour around the spectacular Faroe Islands. You don’t even need to get wet and cold.
April 19th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
Wow! What a great cruise! And fun to see my uncle’s house in the Velbasta∂ur pics.
You know it’s funny that you refer to “isolated Velbasta∂ur” in the photos. It sure does look pretty isolated. And it is so peaceful to stay there. No hustle and bustle. But it’s a 10 minute drive from there to the center of the capital (and largest city) in the Faroe Islands (Tórshavn). In the States, you’d call 10 mins outside of city center anything but isolated!
Can’t wait to see the rest of the shots. I hope they continue doing these cruises. I would love to do one myself the next time I visit.
April 19th, 2006 at 8:23 pm
Jenny, these shots are unbelievable, and thanks for the wonderful Torshavn coverage especially. What a treat — I haven’t even gone through all of them yet and look forward to doing so in a leisurely way a little later. You are much appreciated by those of us with wanderlust for the Faroes!
April 19th, 2006 at 10:42 pm
ooh I especially love the North Sea batch. Lots of haze and mood. It’s so sad, I have never seen most of the islands from the sea. I have only seen what you see when you approach Tórshavn on Smyril (from DK) and what you can see from the Vestmanna bird cliff coat tours (highly recommended). I would love to see some of these other sights that I am so familiar with, from the ocean.