Kristiansand - 58° 08' 30" N 08° 00' 08" E

Kristiansand - rhymes with 'Dry Land'

Using the anchor as a step to get on and off over the bow. 
Think we will have to get used to a variety of different mooring systems over the next few months.

Once we were safely tied up (so glad it wasn't windy!), Susanne and Tobias came to check out the boat.  We had a wander around town and ate lunch at one of their favourite cafes in the middle of town overlooking the cathedral.

A lovely place for lunch

We usually have a slow day when we arrive after a long passage.  Once we had a good 'first day' visit, we waved Tobias and Susanne goodbye and set about putting Chinook to rest (covers on things on deck, extra lines away, setting up the main cabin for living versus sailing) and then fell into bed to catch up on sleep.

The next day, we woke up early and went for a walk.

Outside the marina, along the harbour area, the wind blows the waterfall fountain all over the place!

You can choose your ride at the beach along the waterway that leads into the city

Sunday morning, before the crowds showed up.

As we have discovered in many places, most things close on a Sunday. Walked around Odderøya at the suggestion from the locals. It is an island in Kristiansand and has gun placements from WWII.  

Kristiansand has wonderful public art scattered all over the island.

A picnic spot protected from the wind, but potentially noisy.

The view from a gun placement on Odderøya.
We sailed through these islands on our way into Kristiansand.

Artist residences and studios on the island.  That explains the abundance of public art.

Scooters are popular around Kristiansand,
but we suspect there may be a geofence here at the entrance/exit to the island 

A cafe and deck chairs looking out over the water is a very popular destination for walkers.  We had seen the deck chairs as we came in and thought it would be a lovely place to pass some time.

Kate gets comfy outside the Nautical Museum 

After our morning walk, it was time to get some boat jobs done including an oil and filter change.  If you are doing this to a car, you can roll up to an oil change shop and they take care of all the gory details, such as supplies and (more environmentally important) disposal.

Onboard oil changes ... all without needing to get under the engine.
Hooray for our whizzy vacuum oil extractor!

As we do most of the maintenance on Chinook, we need to find a spot to responsibly dispose of 6.5 litres of oil and the oil and fuel filters.  Tobias, working in the field of big machine mechanics, knew a spot where we could do this. He also knew of a place where we could refill our foreign (French) threaded propane bottle.

Into their trusty Volvo we went for a drive!  It was a great way to see a little more of Kristiansand than the marina.  It is very green and lush with a lots more trees than we saw further north!

We never would have found this place on our own.  Thanks Tobias!

We couldn't refill the gas where we went, but after a few phone calls, Tobias found a place that would refill the bottle but we would need to wait until Monday. We are still very impressed that we are still on our first 12kg tank of gas we received with the boat.  Using an electric kettle to boil water for tea/coffee and having our induction hotplate has reduced our gas usage to around 1kg a month! 

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We spent that (Sunday) afternoon at Kunstsilo with Susanne and Tobias.  Kunstsilo is a contemporary art gallery in a converted grain silo. The building is just amazing.  Originally built in the 1930s, the silos was repurposed into an art gallery, opening in May 2024.  As usual with contemporary art, the artwork was interesting but not all to our taste.  The rather edgy installations were very impressive nonetheless.

Inside Kunstsilo - very impressive

VOX by Icelandic artist Jónsi was an immersive installation of light, sound, scent and touch.  Basically, you sat in a dark room with an LED light panel on each wall.  Light moved in time with the sound and the seat vibrated and there was a smell too.  Probably was lost on us but it was very cool.  

One of our favourite installations was a digital experience that put you inside a painting.  It was a landscape by a famous Norwegian artist.  You sat in a forest with the sounds of the leaves, the brook and the birds.  Everything moved, the leaves, birds, water, shadows, as you would expect them to in the forest but this was a painting.  It was extraordinarily relaxing!

55m tapestry by Torvald Moseid
depicting the medieval poem Draumkvedet (The Dream Ballad)

The view from the restaurant on the top floor

Following our dose of culture, it was back to the boat for drinks in the cockpit. 

After checking the weather, we decided to leave on 2 July to head across the Skagerrak to Sweden to take advantage of a weather system coming through.  If we left on 1 July, we would have to motor a lot of the way due to the calm conditions. We invited Susanne and Tobias for a sail and to spend the night at anchor.

Susanne and Kate get the sail cover off.  12 knots is just enough to get Chinook going.

After a boat orientation, we headed out and zig-zagged our way down the Byfjorden until the wind dropped out and we motored to the anchorage.  It was gloriously serene in the cove - dead calm.

We had a great evening.  Tobias tried his luck at fishing, he caught a wee little thing that he threw back, and we tried out our BBQ for the first time.  We have a LotusGrill which has a little fan in it so it burns hot, smokeless and ashless. Not unlike the Solo Stove. It worked a treat!

A quiet little anchorage after a fun afternoon of playing with the sails.

After a night of table games and good conversation, we motored back just far enough into Kristiansand to drop Susanne and Tobias off at a nearby dock so they could get home, then we turned east towards Sweden!

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