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How We Get Ashore

By the standards of most cruise lines the Fram is a small ship. Even among the Hurtigruten fleet it is a relative lightweight, carrying a maximum of 240 passengers compared to the nearly 500 the larger coastal boats can accommodate.

But that doesn't make it any easier to get to shore at the towns and villages we have so far visited. Even with its relatively shallow draft it is unable to dock by at the quay. So passengers must be tendered ashore on the Fram's little fleet of Polar Cirkel tender craft. Similar to Zodiacs, but easier to get in and out of, the Fram has about a half dozen seven-passenger versions and two 11-seaters. They speed us from ship to shore and back.

The Fram's crew makes sure we enter and exit safety, as we employ the "sailor's grip": your hand grasps the sailor's wrist, and vice versa, as we enter and exit.

The second photo shows the two versions at the tender deck which lowers from the side the Fram. With winches and pulleys it only takes a few minutes for the crew to put a Polar Cirkel boat in the water. With only half its full complement of passengers aboard, the tendering operation has been going smoothly and without many hitches.
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