Day 060: Torshavn, Faroe Islands
Position: N 61º 58′ 00″ W 006º 50′ 00″
Weather: 15ºC wind southwest 35kts, waves 3m
Last Port: Oslo, Norway
Next Port: New York City, USA
Status: At Sea
From the Navigator
This morning just before 0700 we will pass between the islands of Nolsoy and Streymoy as we make our final approaches to Torshavn on the Faroe Islands. Shortly after we will embark our pilot at 0715 and anticipate being alongside our berth at 0800. Once everyone is on board we will let go our lines and thrust off the berth and initially set southerly courses back through Nolsoy Fjord and once clear alter course to the west north west passing between the islands of Hestur on our starboard side and Sandoy on our portside. Once clear of the islands, we will set a south westerly course out across the North Atlantic Ocean.
Sadly, we bypassed the Faroes. The weather was bad and getting worse. The ship channel here is only 100 meters wide and with 35 knots of wind on the beam an approach to the pier was just not possible. The other thing you should always consider when coming into port (or flying to an outlying airfield for that matter) is the forecast weather for your time of anticipated departure. Sure we might have made it in this morning, but with freshening wind and forecast weather progressively worse it made sense to start our transit to New York City a few hours early. The Faroes are just beautiful from sea and the fog held off enough to snap a few nice pictures.
Passing the point enroute Torshavn we spotted this light. Soon after the marine layer started to drop down, consuming the visibility. The sea here was very confused, as the high pressure had been keeping the seas down despite over 30 steady knots of wind during the last 24 hours.
The town of Tórshavn, Faroe Islands. It reminded Ed of towns along the Alaskan coastline as well as villages in Siberia.
If you look carefully you will see water cascading down the face of this cliff. We saw several waterfalls but could hear nothing over the blowing wind.
An island about to be lost in the fog as we clear the harbor. The early departure means our transit to New York City will be done at a slightly slower speed of advance (SOA).
Fog is the order of the day at high latitudes in the summer months. Ever present, soft and white, glowing fog. It obscures everything with a blanket of moisture that does not drench – it soaks. We have been making fog signals on and off all day due to the restricted visibility.
