Sandøya

Sandøya

More than a month without any blog posts, what happened?! Did life turn boring, with nothing to write about? Nope, we have the opposite problem: we’ve been on so many trips lately that there was not enough time in between to edit any photos, let alone write a blog entry 😀 I’m really behind now, but I’ll try to catch up as much as I can. First of all: a weekend trip to Sandøya (an island near Tromsø) two weeks ago. You can get there by ferry 3 times a week, but we went with our own boat from Ringvassøya. It took about an hour, you can see our route on the map below…

Map of our route to Sandøya, the place we camped indicated with a blue star, and in green our route to the top of the island

We left late, as Saturday was a rainy day and we had some things to do at home. We arrived at the beach shortly after midnight, and by then it had cleared up almost completely. The beach looked straight towards the midnight sun – beautiful 🙂

Setting up camp in the midnight sun The sun set briefly behind the layer of clouds, then came back again :)

It’s been unusually warm in Northern Norway since Mid May, and we are weeks ahead of schedule – everything is green already, and even the cloudsberries are flowering! They were beautiful, backlit by the midnight sun. With views like this, who wants to sleep??

Summer is several weeks ahead of schedule here, the cloudberries are already flowering! Panorama of the beach we camped on, you can see our orange tent and red boat on the far left

But finally at two in the morning we went to bed. It was so beautiful to fall asleep to the sound of crashing waves and singing birds, and we slept soundly until 11! We enjoyed a lazy breakfast on the beach 🙂 and afterwards we decided to climb to the top of the island, at 427 m. The views down to “our” beach were amazing…

A lazy morning and breakfast on the beach Starting our hike to the top of the island, looking down on our camp

We followed a ridge that also gave us views to the east side of Sandøya (where there’s a small village, but only 2 permanent inhabitants I believe!) and towards Rebbenensøya, with some very pretty clouds…

View towards Rebbenesøya - lovely clouds! Paul on the way up, in the background you can see one of the houses on Sandøya

We then went straight up to the top of the island, on a very steep slope. It wouldn’t have been doable on a rocky slope, but it was covered in small bushes which give more grip. We first reached the (radio?) mast on top of the island, and from there you can look straight down to the beach we camped on – it made me dizzy! From the mast to the actual top is a huge almost-flat plateau which is great fun to walk on 🙂 and the views are incredible, here towards Sørfugløya (Southern Bird Island).

View from the top straight down to our camp - it made me dizzy! Paul poses in front of Sørfugløya (Southern Bird Island) - I took a similar photo of him in front of Nordfugløya (Northern Bird Island) just a few weeks ago :D

We didn’t meet a single person all day, the only signs of life we saw were some boats passing by. In the cairn on top we found the usual “guestbook” where people write about their experiences – and here we found out that 5 people had been to the top earlier that day 😀 Such a small island, but we never saw them.

Posing with the cairn on top. We didn't a see a soul all day, but according to the book 5 people had been to the top that day! Sørfugløya and some impressive clouds

There are some really steep drops near the top, with views to more sandy beaches. I think you can guess where the name Sandøya comes from 😉 We could see all the way from Rebbenesøya to Ringvassøya, Kvaløya, Senja and even Andenes!

Paul looking down at another beach Panorama from the top, with views of Rebbenesøya, Ringvassøya, Kvaløya, Senja and even all the way to Andenes (though that is impossible to see in this photo)

We were getting hungry so we were keen to get back to our camp – there was a bbq waiting for us 😀

Amazing colours near one of the beaches On the way back to our camp

Coming down the steep slope was hard on our knees, but we made it back safely and we enjoyed a well-deserved bbq on the beach 🙂

One last break to enjoy the views After a nice BBQ, we made our way back. The patterns on the beach at low tide were very pretty

It was getting late so we decided to make our way back home. We had originally planned to have a look around the small village, and I have also heard there is an impressive remains of a church on the south side – but this has to wait for another visit. I wouldn’t mind coming back, it’s such a beautiful place 🙂

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