I took the boat for a short winter trip today. I had planned to go on a trip from Grotfjord to an island called Håja and then to ski to the top of Håja, but the day turned out to be quite windy so I decided to stay in a more sheltered area instead.
I inflated the boat at home before leaving and attached it to the roof of my van. The boat is a Bombard Aerotec 380 and is made of PVC, which gets very stiff at low temperatures, so I avoid inflating it outside in the cold. Although I have worked out a good way of attaching the boat to the roof, it takes longer to tie and untie it from the roof than to inflate and deflate it. I launched the boat at my usual place at the south point of Tromsø Island, the deep snow made it a bit tricky to get the boat to the water, but it wasn't too bad.
From Tromsø I went around the north end of Store Grindøy towards Hakøya before following the coast of Kvaløya towards Ryøya. There was a lot of sea ice in the water along the coast near Tisnes. It had probably formed in Sørbotn and been blown out by the wind. I was quite surprised to find so much.
After taking a few pictures I continued towards Ryøya to do some fishing. There are usually loads of fish in the strait between Ryøya and Kvaløya. However, the tide runs quickly through the strait and a lot of ships squeeze their way through on the way to Tromsø, so I stopped on the other side of Ryøya instead. I didn't fish for very long though as I had overestimated the temperature and got cold quickly.
On my way home I stopped to poke around the southern end of Store Grindøy which was sheltered from the wind. There had been no people on the island since the last snowfall, but I found the tracks of an otter, one or two mink and a fox close to the beach.