Sunday is our weekly big cleaning day, so far all our longer crossings seem to align perfectly. Arriving on either Saturday night or early Sunday morning. It’s so nice to do a good clean of the boat after everything has been tossed around for a while. And so we also spent this first morning in Torshavn cleaning Guppy’s in and exterior. Much to my surprise, we had lovely weather. Sunny and calm, which is rare in these regions. We also celebrated Alex his 3rd birthday! We had a lovely stay in Torshavn, going for small walks, enjoying the local swimming pool on a rainy day and one day we woke up with the royal danish ship Dannebrog moored 50m from us. It turned out to be the yearly visit of the Danish Royalty to the Faroe Islands and it seemed that the entire population of Torshavn was gathered on the quay. We were also presented with some Faroes flags and joined in the festivities. Some of the group even got to shake hands with the king and queen and told them they were sailing on Guppy. It was a very nice surprise and a good end to our stay in Torshavn. We continued sailing to Midvagur. A short and fast sail. And as often in the Faroe Islands a mix of upwind, downwind, very calm and very choppy seas! The current in between the islands is very strong and turbulent, creating eddies and often unpredictable seas. I also think it’s part of the fun of sailing here as it’s challenging, very satisfying to get all the currents right and feel like we’re flying from place to place. But of course also very important to stay very alert. The students enjoyed it very much, standing in the bowsprit as Guppy jumped over and sometimes under the waves until we got into calmer waters again.

In Midvagur, we did a small hike to the Witch Finger, Trøllkonufingur, a 313-meter tall monolith on the coast. The name comes from a local legend about a witch trying to throw the Faroe Islands to Iceland. From Midvagur our journey continues through the fjord to Vestmanna, just a few hours of sailing but challenging with the changing winds in between the mountains. The rain, clouds and sun once again giving us a really magnificent light show on the rugged and empty mountains. A pilot whale surfaced right next to Guppy but seemed to be in a rush, later that day we understood why.. As we tied to the wharf in Vestmanna the harbour master welcomed us in and apologised for the delay on answering the VHF and coming over. They had just had their first cath of Pilot Whales since two years and it was a very busy day.

Of course I did know that this is still a practise in the Faroe Islands and done between June and August so the chance is always there to run into it, but it still did come as a shock. Had I known, we may not have gone to Vestmanna, on the other hand, avoiding it does not solve anything at all. It did bring up some interesting conversations onboard and we did get to talk to the locals about it as well. Learning more about their culture and thoughts on the matter. It’s always very different to be in a certain situation rather than reading about it or seeing it on the news. Needless to say I much prefer to see them swimming in the wild.

While in Vestmanna we also celebrated Marie’s birthday with a fun dressup party and movie night.

From Vestmanna we had planned to sail to Eidi, mooring there so we could hike the Slaettaratindur. We left early in the morning to take the best advantage of the current. This time around the wind was east, which made exiting from Vestmanna to sea a lot smoother than last year! Last year we had a very light westerly breeze but against the strong current it stil created some seasick-making waves.. Our plans to sail to Eidi did not work out as the royal ship Danneborg was moored in the harbour and no other ships were allowed in port. So we continued sailing along the coast trying to find a place in Fuglafjordur but there was another visiting yacht and no place for us so we continued a bit further again. Finally finding a very nice place to moor in Leirvik. The harbours here are often not that big and have only place for one or two yachts. They are also controlled and made by the fisherman and often free to moor and use the water which is very nice 🙂 We received a warm welcome in Leirvik, some of the inhabitant had figured out who I am and what I had done as a teenager. The news spread fast and we had a lot of the villagers come and visit us throughout the weekend. They were all very respectful and we ended up having some nice chats.

Our time in the Faroe Islands is almost over. Looking at the weather maps, we decided that Tuesday afternoon would be a good day to leave, waiting for a small to pass before setting sail. We sought a bit more shelter from the wind and rain during the passing low in Klaksvik. On Tuesday morning, we hiked up Klakkur. A beautiful and not very long hike with a 360 view of the fjords and surroundings.

And now, on the way to Norway! 🇳🇴