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We anchored on the west coast of Signehamna and, after dinner,
took two of the tenders toward the glacier. Close to the glacier itself, the
water was pale blue in color from the melting ice, and the sun’s rays (although
it was nearing midnight) broke through the floating bergs to create a million
shades of blue. All around us we could hear the sound of air bubbles being
released from imprisonment in the thousand-year-old glacier ice. The next day, we motored down to Lilliehööksfjorden where, with
the help of the bow and stern thrusters, Andre held Adèle just a few feet
from a steep cliff inhabited by nesting puffins, guillemots and kittiwakes. The
125-hp thrusters are designed for tricky maneuvers in narrow harbors, but they
work equally well on ornithological outings.
 Anchored at the island of Marstrand,
along the Swedish coast, the day after Adèle’s
christening. (Click image to enlarge)
Adèle is nearly as fast motoring as
with her sails set and we can cruise at around 13 knots. Whenever we were
motoring through shallow or poorly charted waters, we sent our tenders
ahead of us. Two of the tenders have echo sounders and GPS systems, which
continuously send their position, speed, course and depth to the chart
system on the mother ship. This means we always know where the tenders are
and how deep the water is beneath them. By directing tenders via radio, we
can "scan" our course ahead.
 The historic Karoliner soldiers salute Adèle at
her christening. (Click image to enlarge)
A couple of days later, all the guests disembarked at
Longyearbyen and Adèle headed full speed due south to Marstrand on
the west coast of Sweden, where she was formally christened. At the time of her
christening, she had already done more than 6,000 miles and been farther than
many yachts travel in a lifetime. I am writing this article in Lisbon. The sun is shining, our friends are
lying in the sun on deck or lounging in the deck chairs, and it feels a million
miles away from Norway and Sweden. But the fact is, the distance between
Lisbon and Göteborg is shorter than that between Göteborg and Svalbard,
where Adèle was put through her first challenging test and passed with flying
colors!
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