Arctic Whale Tour

Today, we explored two more islands of the Vesterålen, starting with Senja. We went on a small holdup the the light house of the mini island Husøy. The walk was a nice mix of planks, rocks, roots and very soft soil.

As we saw fishing boats around, we went to the local grocery store. The fresh fish hadn‘t arrived yet. Alan bought a nice carrot bread instead – with around 4.50€ pretty expensive. We enjoyed our breakfast on a super nice platform right above the fjord. 

Alan finally got his fish directly from the fishermen. They usually only sell whole fish but for Alan the boss was so nice to filet a saithe that had still been swimming in the sea 15 min earlier. This was already super nice. What beat it all: The guy gave us the filet (about 1kg) for free!!! „But don‘t tell anybody!“

Our next stop was a steep hike over rocks and plants to a light house by Mefjordvær. Magda was so far ahead that we briefly lost her on another trail.

Tungeneset

Bergsbotn

We arrived just on time by the ferry – at least that‘s what we thought when we saw the long line. Finally the line started moving and soon we saw the ferry leaving – with so many cars left on land. As we couldn‘t tell whether the next ferry in 4(!!!) hours would also be full before we could get on, we decided to take the land route which meant an additional 2 hours of driving =o(

On the way to Stø:

Today, we went on a whale watching tour. We were super lucky with the calmness of the water, even in the open sea. That’s why we got to enjoy a cozy breakfast under deck with hot tea and (cold) cacao.

Some old local man who also went on the tour boat, brought two dogs on board: a Sibirian Husky named Luna (3 years old) and a Husky/Irish Terrier mix, her son Oskar (5 months). Everybody enjoyed petting them, especially our girls.

It took some time until we saw the first animals but then we saw at least two different sperm whales.

The whales were attracted by the fish (halibut and turbot?) that the fishing boats had caught on the hooked and baited lines in the water. 

The whales stuck out their mouths, backs, and also tail fins when they dived back down after breathing. 

One sperm whale popped up not even 50 m away from us *amazing*

The splash of water that they blue out through their breathing hole created little rainbows.

The home-made fish soup we were served on the way back was super delicious and warmed us all up. Alan got the recipe from the cook later back on land.

We also saw a small fin whale, puffins, and white-tailed sea eagles.

Back on the road, we arrived right on time for the ferry from Lødingen to Bognes. And on this ferry, we just paid the guide and got right on *easy*

We were all happy that the kids could use the outside deck as a playground after having sat for so long.

Where we parked, rather isolated, another German family had already settled. Their boy was so nice to bring us a piece of scented piece to burn that would keep mosquitoes away.

When the girls were picking blueberries, he gave them a picking comb. They had to go for dinner and he offered to clean what was in the comb. When we got out of the car again he had nicely wrapped the blueberries in a paper towel, written on it „Good Morning, have a safe trip!“ *super sweet* We left a „Thank you for your kindness“ note and some candy outside of their RV before we left in the morning.