For the group tasks we were split into groups with the Norwegian students. My group had Dom, Martynas, Jonas and Amy from the Internationals and Håkon, Espen, Kristian, Thor Carl, Melissa and Kaia from Norway.
We arrived at Kongshavn harbour and set off with two lifeboats at 1000. The old lifeboat could carry over half the class with all our bags though it was a little small. Whilst on the boat Kjetil, who was one of the lecturers for the week, piloted the boat and gave us a small history of the buildings and islands around the small channel, Skippergada. After a 15 minute journey we arrived at our island of Østre Randøya where the girls and boys were split into their respective cabins.
The activities didn’t start till 1400 which gave us some time to explore the facilities and local area. Our first activity would be a night spent on a local island with basic survival gear. Before this we were given a short lesson by Ketil on how to set up fishing nets where we could leave them overnight and bring the catch back in the morning to prepare for lunch. After this we were shown basic rowing techniques in three boats in order to row to the island.
After a few minutes we gathered our basic equipment and headed on the boats to the island of Krakeroya Dropping our nets on the way. We landed on a small stony bay and dragged the three boats a little further and tied them up to stop them floating away. After this we began to look for good spots to set up camp. We found that the best spot was close to the boats on a flat stony area which would allow us to set up a controlled fire. Dom, Kaia and Melissa and I went to gather some dry firewood, which there was plenty of, as it was washed up by the sea. The island itself had very little shelter with no large trees. This made it hard to set up the tarp though some of the Norwegian students managed to set it up close to the fire. The evening was cold and we were starting to get hungry so three students decided to go fishing. After around an hour they came back with some fish and Kaia managed to make a soup using local vegetation. We eventually went back to our respective sleeping areas after this. The night was uncomfortable for some but I managed to sleep through most of it. We eventually set off the next morning at 0700, picked up the nets with our catch and headed back.
Our catch consisted of one crab, six flat fish including plaice and a few other fish where we would be shown by Kjetil how to prepare and eat them during the morning session. It was my first time preparing fish but I enjoyed the experience. A few of the Norwegian students started to make the fish soup but me and Amy decided to use some of the fillets to cook the traditional British dish of fish and chips, which tasted awesome!
The afternoon session consisted of large motor boats. We were given a lesson by Kjetil about marine etiquette and rules of the sea. It was funny to see some other Norwegian boats that were clearly not sticking to the 5 km/hr harbour speed limit. We were split into smaller groups with each one given the chance to operate the boat and assume the role of captain, navigator and skipper. This was by far my most favourite activity as I love anything to do with boats!
In the evening we had a lecture and tour with Kjetil about the history of Østre Randøya. This included going into one of the bunkers which housed gun posts and command centre which was used to protect southern Norway during the cold war and used by the Germans during WW2.
The next day it was our turn to go back onto the rowing boats for the morning session. This session was a bit more of a challenge as it was very windy and our rowing boat only had two oars as oppose to four. This meant that only one person could row at a time with three other passengers. For some, this proved really difficult in more exposed areas. For the last most exposed part, where the wind was against us we put one person on each oar which helped a little.
In the afternoon it was time to kayak. Originally we had planned to sail but due to an issue with the boats this changed. It was still windy and due to the previous group experiencing some problems with waves Len had decided to go to a more sheltered area which would allow us to practice technique. The route took in the island of Vestre Randøya which was located to the west of where we were. The wind was towards the south east therefore the island would provide some shelter from this.
After the kayaking session me, Dom and Adrian decided to go Geocaching. This was completely new to me so I was glad to be introduced to it. We looked for a series of caches based towards the south of the island which allowed us to see a lot more of the area.
The next morning kayaking session the wind had died down considerably therefore we decided to go around the western island. We spent three hours taking turns to navigate legs and take on the role of the veileder which most people did successfully.
The afternoon session consisted of shallow water biology with Svein. This involved a short walk to the west of the island towards a bay where we could paddle out and gather various seaweed and creatures. In the two hours we managed to gather crabs, shrimp, oysters and other shellfish with seaweeds and seagrass. After a little hike we were introduced to other edible sea plants that we tasted and most of them weren’t that bad!
The final day was spent with deep water biology. This meant putting on clothing specifically for this. This included; a wetsuit, over suit, shoes, gloves, goggles, flippers, weight belt and a net. We took the short walk to a bay and began to enter the water. Even though we were in the thick wetsuits the water was still really cold so the suits took a while to work. We also had to look out for jellyfish as the bay was full of them. Once in the water it was incredible to see the different seaweed and creatures that were around.
Finally, it was time to tidy up and get the boats back to Kongshavn. In the end it was a fantastic week with really good weather and it was great to do something again with the Norwegian students.