Bonfires were alight in the distance but we didn’t manage to reach any. We took a midnight walk along to the Lofoten Cathedral and to the statue of King Oystein who was the founder of the village in the early 1200s. Tuesday morning was another sunny day so ideal for more exploration on foot to Storvaagen, an old fishing settlement with a museum filled with Nordland fishing boats.
Back in town before heading off we ducked into the local ski touring office which happened to be open. Seth who runs it is an American and has lived in the Lofotens for six years and knows the ski guides that we had on our March adventure as they all worked together for Norgesguide and two of them came to Lofoten after guiding us! His site is www.alpineguides.no.
The journey to Henningsvaer was all of 10 miles, there was enough breeze to pull out the Yankee and zip along at 6kn with a freshening N wind, we arrived in very quick time. Coming alongside we were in the company of a Swedish boat Ymer and an American called Artemis. Al and Sal from Artemis are friends with Dick & Ginger from Alchemy who we met back in Suffolk Yacht Harbour three years ago and have been in touch with regularly since. Just as we thought the world couldn’t get any smaller, the boat to tie up alongside us last was the UK flaggged, Kalula, whose crew we had met in Trondheim at the end of May. Toby and Helen with their children Freya & Hugo had sailed from south Lofoten that day. It was definitely a day of coincidences.
Henningsvaer has lots to offer for the tourist. Tons of torrfisk are drying on racks around the harbour, the Lofotens are the biggest spawning ground for cod and the specialty dried fish is exported largely to Friday fish eating countries in the southern Mediterranean. As you sail in the smell of the hanging fish is ever pervading.
The highlight of the day was Ocean Sounds. This is a volunteer group who are monitoring whales in the Lofotens as the whale population is being challenged not only by the whalers, who we saw in Skrova but also by oil exploration as they use sonar to detect deposits in the changing seabed, which confuses the whales and makes it difficult for them to find their breeding grounds and communicate with fellow whales. They are very keen to hear of sightings of whales and were interested to hear of the orca we saw at the entry to the Trondheim fjord back in late May.
We know there is a group of orcas off the Lofotens as they have had numerous sightings of them in the last few days and are hoping we’ll be lucky as we travel in their direction. Apparently there are about fourteen in the pod. Keep your fingers crossed!
Back in town before heading off we ducked into the local ski touring office which happened to be open. Seth who runs it is an American and has lived in the Lofotens for six years and knows the ski guides that we had on our March adventure as they all worked together for Norgesguide and two of them came to Lofoten after guiding us! His site is www.alpineguides.no.
The journey to Henningsvaer was all of 10 miles, there was enough breeze to pull out the Yankee and zip along at 6kn with a freshening N wind, we arrived in very quick time. Coming alongside we were in the company of a Swedish boat Ymer and an American called Artemis. Al and Sal from Artemis are friends with Dick & Ginger from Alchemy who we met back in Suffolk Yacht Harbour three years ago and have been in touch with regularly since. Just as we thought the world couldn’t get any smaller, the boat to tie up alongside us last was the UK flaggged, Kalula, whose crew we had met in Trondheim at the end of May. Toby and Helen with their children Freya & Hugo had sailed from south Lofoten that day. It was definitely a day of coincidences.
Henningsvaer has lots to offer for the tourist. Tons of torrfisk are drying on racks around the harbour, the Lofotens are the biggest spawning ground for cod and the specialty dried fish is exported largely to Friday fish eating countries in the southern Mediterranean. As you sail in the smell of the hanging fish is ever pervading.
The highlight of the day was Ocean Sounds. This is a volunteer group who are monitoring whales in the Lofotens as the whale population is being challenged not only by the whalers, who we saw in Skrova but also by oil exploration as they use sonar to detect deposits in the changing seabed, which confuses the whales and makes it difficult for them to find their breeding grounds and communicate with fellow whales. They are very keen to hear of sightings of whales and were interested to hear of the orca we saw at the entry to the Trondheim fjord back in late May.
We know there is a group of orcas off the Lofotens as they have had numerous sightings of them in the last few days and are hoping we’ll be lucky as we travel in their direction. Apparently there are about fourteen in the pod. Keep your fingers crossed!
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