21st July 2016. Sommarøy, island near Tromsø, Norway.
Darren needed to work today so I did some washing and some blogging and then went to sit outside on the grass overlooking the rocks and sea to watch the wildlife and update the blog. There are thousands of birds here.
Darren came over with some coffee and we were sitting watching the Arctic terns chasing off the gulls when I suddenly saw a small wake in the water and the small furry head of an otter swimming towards us. It disappeared as quickly as it appeared and I started to think I was imagining it. I kept saying that I wished I could see the otter again…… they say beware of what you wish for and I understand why now.
When I’d finished my chores I went back to my vantage point and sat down.
I’d just settled down when the otter reappeared. Suddenly another one came running over the rocks, dived into the water and started swimming towards her, I thought they’d start playing like the otters I watched in Canada but he had different ideas and jumped on her back and started mating with her.
The poor female otter was fighting to get her head out of the water for over half an hour and eventually after a sudden violent thrashing around in the water she let out a piercing scream and they both raced off in opposite directions towards the rocky shore. I’d been worried that he was going to drown her in his excitement so I was relieved to see her swim off to safety.
So much for the peace and relaxation of watching nature in all its glory, I wonder if this is how David Attenborough feels when he witnesses the ugly side of nature! That was more than enough nature watching for one day so I went back to the van to find some more chores to do!
In the evening we started to get excited as we noticed the sky gradually changing colour, hoping that we’d get to see the Midnight Sun tonight.
Our luck changed and tonight we were really lucky and witnessed the spectacular Midnight Sun instead of the glimpses through a cloud that we experienced yesterday.
We climbed up the hill and watched the sun spread red and gold across the horizon, it was magical.
We stayed up on the hill for ages watching the sky as the colours changed in their intensity and Darren couldn’t resist taking a photo of his 12 o’clock shadow!
As the colours began to fade we walked back to our van and at 1.00 a.m two very contented people sat drinking hot chocolate and talking about the beautiful sight we had just witnessed, life can’t get much better than that!
It’s strange to think that seeing the Midnight Sun and going to Sweden Rock were the only things Darren had actually planned to do on our trip and now we had done both! It turned into a bit of a rush to get here after we fell in love with Sweden but thankfully we made it in time. I wonder what the rest of our trip has in store for us?