7/11/26 BASE Jumping by the Lysefjord

Before you get excited, Nico and I have not taken up a new sport. I just thought it might grab some attention. We did, however, have a couple of amazing nights in the town of Lysebotn at the head of the Lysefjord near Stavanger. Nico had been there a month earlier when he was by himself, and he wanted me to see it. The town was created for the workers who built a large nearby hydroelectric project in the early 1950s, but now it is a base for tourists and the home for SBK BASE, an outdoor company specializing in BASE jumping.

We had a lovely motor down the fjord on a sunny day, passing waterfalls and majestic cliffs. It was our 44th anniversary, so we made reservations at a local establishment. I had bought beautiful salmon roe in Kristiansand, flatbread, and cream cheese, along with a split of champagne to enjoy beforehand. 

The next morning, we joined a few jumpers in the shuttle van that brings them to the top. We asked if we could tag along and watch. The BASE company manager appraised us and asked if we were strong hikers. We assured him we are, and the next thing we knew, we were clambering up rocks on a back route to the cliffs. By the time we were halfway there, I was gasping, and two of the young men dropped out ( too much pot the night before). That left Sajid, the manager, and Daniel, a regular who hailed from France. They showed us their special suits (not batwings), but loose tough material, helmets, and GoPro cameras. They shook hands, joked, took deep breaths, and ran together off the 3,000-foot cliff. Nico lay down and watched them drop the whole way down. Between 500 and 1,000 feet above the ground, they deployed their chutes, whooping with glee and gently landing on a tiny piece of grass by the water. 

Nico and I continued to a famous rock that is wedged between the cliffs. It is a major tourist draw, and I don't know why more people don't fall off. I was taking a picture of a young couple in front of it. The next thing I saw was Nico leap onto the rock and then off again, totally photobombing their picture! 

Sajid stopped by the boat, and we invited him for dinner. One of the great things about cruising is meeting so many people from around the world. Sajid is a forty-two-year-old entrepreneur from Mumbai. He is tall with a wonderful bushy beard from which shines a glittering smile. He runs the outfit in Lysebotn in the summer and works out of Mumbai when he isn't jumping off cliffs, towers, buildings, and antennas around the world. He is a sponsored jumper with a major web presence. His mother says that if he dies BASE jumping, she is going to kill him.

Crusing down Lysefjord

Our anniversary celebration

The road to the top

 

Getting ready for the jump

This is the suit - with a tiny parachute in back

Daniel showed us the amount of material in the suit. It has scoops to catch air while they are going down, causing the suit to inflate.

Checking the route down

A joke and a handshake...

A running jump and into thin air!

Nico watching them as they go down

A short video of the jump

Preikestolen, a famous boulder, is 1,982 feet above the water

Nico's accidental photobomb

The sky was amazing that day. The barren plateau stretched for miles and was littered with glacial erratics.

There was the sound of bells as we hiked along

The view of the town and Far and Away from the top.

And the view from the sauna at the bottom. So welcome after a big hike!

Evening by the fjord (10:00 PM)

Heading out the next day, looking up at the spot where they jumped and landed at the bottom

Looking back at the town...

And forward, down the 26-mile fjord.

We stopped to do the tradition of touching the waterfall. Even though it was still 150 feet deep at 25 feet from the wall, we were too chicken to bring our trusty boat so close to the rocks.

If you want to see the movie Sajid took on the way down the cliff with his GoPro, try copying this link:

https://www.facebook.com/502721718/videos/1042518808465542/

7/8/26 A Change in Course: Oslo back to Stavanger

Upon our return from Italy, Nico and I made the decision not to continue south to the Baltic but to return to the west coast of Norway. Last year, we loved the majestic mountains and the lack of crowds. We enjoyed pulling up to small pontoons and climbing the hills. Now we plan to go further north than last year, or see places we wished we had visited. So, after returning to Far and Away, we headed south out of Oslofjord and back to Stavanger. Winds were not always favorable, so we made short hops, beating against the wind, or long runs motoring in the calm. Part of the time, we traveled along the inside passage behind the outer islands, passing lovely summer homes tucked into the rocks. We had several nice anchorages in quiet coves with geese and swans swimming by.  After a windy, wet sail, we holed up in Kirstensand to wait out a day of strong winds. We went to a fabulous fish market, provisioned, and took a late afternoon hike around the peninsula, stopping to watch some young rock climbers. Kristensand was gearing up for Norway's World Cup match with big screens and hundreds of picnic tables down by the water. After a long sail to Farsund, we once again decided to stay put for the day due to strong winds that would be against us. Here we took a bus to the headland and hiked along a coastal trail past horses, cattle, sheep, llamas, and the lighthouse. Much to everyone's shock, we did not watch the World Cup match because it started at 10:00 PM and we had a 4:00 departure the next morning. We made 70 miles motoring that day (which was Nico's birthday), reaching our goal of Stavanger.

Typical summer home on an island along the southern coast

The performing arts center in Kristiansand. The Norwegian use of wood in their contemporary buildings is impressive. 

One case at the fish market in Kristiansand - mussels, whole sea scallops, caviar and salmon roe, and a seaweed salad. I am crazy over the salmon roe. I bought some to have on cream cheese and thin flatbread along with a split of champagne for our 44th anniversary.

The fish was amazing!

This is a rotor ship that we saw as we entered Farsund harbor. The vertical cylinders spin, creating a pressure difference that creates forward thrust. It reduces fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

The houses in Farsund had such lovely gardens! I felt this could be in England rather than at the tip of a major cape facing the Skagerrak.

Nico made some friends on the hike.

I was so excited to see horses at last! The lighthouse was our goal.

Back in Farsund, we played Backgammon at a waterfront park.

10:00 PM light on the buildings of Farsund...

...followed by a 5:00 AM sunrise the next day on Nico's birthday.

July 3, 2026  

A Tuscan Interlude

Although this blog is about our adventures on Far and Away, we took a vacation from our vacation to head to Tuscany for a memorable family event.  After making sure Far and Away was safe and secure at the maritime museum dock with our new friend Peter Horton looking after her, we flew to Florence, where we met up with Jack and Eugenia. After a short walk around the city and a visit to the museum at the great Duomo, we drove to a small town outside of Sienna. Eugenia's parents, Hector and Cristina Lostri, wanted to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary and his 60th birthday by renting a large Tuscan house, Torre Palazzone. They invited twenty friends and family for a weeklong celebration called 100 Anos de Festejo. And celebrate we did! We were so honored to be invited to this international event. Most were old friends of Cristina and Hector from Buenos Aires, all of whom spoke Spanish but spoke varying degrees of English. The two of us spoke English and some Spanish, and the parents of Luca (the boyfriend of Eugenia's sister Flor), spoke Italian but hardly a word of Spanish or English! But everyone's kindness quickly bound us together as a group. 

It was a pleasantly hot week in Europe. We had long, late breakfasts with incredible tortes, fresh fruit, pastries, and cappuccinos under the shady wisteria arbor. We headed off each day in a convoy of cars to a series of hilltop towns and villages, wandered around, and then had lunch together before more exploring in the afternoon. We usually got back to Torre Palazzone around 6:00, had a cooling swim (Nico and I would then have a nap) before gathering for a festive dinner, usually with a theme - white night, costume night, the renewal of the vows celebration, Hector's birthday party, and sombrero night. The first night we watched the Argentinian World Cup match, and other nights there would be charades, dancing, or games until 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning. In addition to all of this, we were lucky to be able to spend so much time with Jack and Eugenia.

The entrance to Torre Palazzone through the lavender fields

The courtyard gate and main tower

Our room was at the very top of the tower!

The courtyard. The main kitchens were on the left, and the guest rooms, common rooms, and guest kitchen were on the right

The view from our tower room

Our table under the wisteria arbor, set for breakfast

Every day there was a new, amazing torte waiting for us

Our chef, preparing the bread oven for pizza night. She got it going six hours before dinner, and it was an extremely hot day!

Preparing the pizzas

Luca's parents arranged for a local winery in Puglia, where they live, to bottle rose and white wine for the celebration. Eugenia's sister, Flor, designed the label. She is an architect and lives in Milan with Luca .

The pool, which we were very grateful for in the heat.

The field of sunflowers on the property. As the sun moved overhead, the flowers turned towards it.

The bees loved the lavender and sunflowers. The fields were buzzing. In the evening, the powerful smell of lavender wafted towards the house.

We took a trip to the Antinori Winery. The family has been making wine for over six centuries in the Chianti region. The winery is in a 50,000-square-meter building that is mostly invisible because the vines are planted on top of it. It cost approximately 130 million dollars to build. 

Paloma, Eugenia's best childhood friend, Eugenia and Flor, at the winery.

The Duomo in Florence. I turned a corner, and there it was - an incredibly beautiful sight.

Nico, at the Ponte Vecchio. He spent half a semester studying here in the '70s and hadn't been back since.

Sienna. This is the Campo where the famous horse race is held each year. Neighborhoods compete in an emotional, terrifying race on uneven ground and tight corners.

San Gimignano is a city of towers. Families in the 1300s tried to show their importance by building the tallest tower. At one point, there were 72 towers, but now only 13 remain.

The biggest surprise was San Gimignano's Duomo, which had the entire story of the bible covering all the walls in incredible detail. Despite all the years, the fresco colors were bright, and the pictures themselves seemed modern.

The main plaza of Montepulciano. Every hillside town seemed to have a duomo and a civic building with a huge tower. Jack, Nico, and I climbed to the top of the tower among the giant bells. A kid was up there, too, and he gave one of the bells a great clang, to our astonishment.

The main plaza of Greve in Chianti.

A small hilltop village called Montefioralle.

No tourists in Montefioralle. Jack bought a small sculpture from an artist there.

Pienza

Lunch in San Gimignano

Gelato was a must on these hot days

We saw so much art. We enjoyed visiting the small town museums. 

Nico found a Caravaggio.

It was not all old! We saw a fantastic Salvador Dali exhibit in Multipulciano

The views from each town were breathtaking.

The drives through the countryside were equally fantastic.

This spot looked so beautiful that we stopped and found it was a Benedictine monastery open to the public. It had a garden with ducks, chickens, and bunnies.

The view from Multipulciano

Our wonderful hosts, Cristina and Hector

The whole group on the first night.

White night!

A bit fuzzy, but it was about 2:00 AM, and we had been dancing. Just the women danced.

Cristina and Hector renewed their vows. Eugenia and Flor each gave a heartfelt speech, and then Hector and Cristina addressed each other. I couldn't understand all the words, but the passion was clear.

It was a very emotional time

Masquerade night
 

                   

                                                                            Hat night

                                                         Lots of wonderful memories