Day 6: Trollfjord & the Sea Eagles

on December 23, 2019

We rugged up this morning, as it was clear that the weather was closing in again. Snow and rain clouds surrounded the mountains and light rain was falling in the town. Regardless of the temperature, rain makes everything feel bleak!

A couple of days ago we booked to do one of the most popular tourist activities in Svolvær – a RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat) tour to see the local sea eagles and Trollfjord.

Thankfully, the tour company provides floatation suits that help protect from the elements. They are also designed to protect your identity in the event of an incident 🙂 10 points for anyone who can pick who is hiding in this photo!

True to form, Alex and Andrew took the front seats and the full force of the wind that comes with a boat that travels at 35knots (60km/h).

We paused in a few places to watch and learn about the sea eagles. When they are young they are brown with white spots, which changes to the white tail at about age 5. After this time, they mate for life and will produce 1-2 chicks per year. They live high in the mountains and stay for a year before moving to a new spot.

Trollfjord is about 30km away from Svolvær through the Lofoten Islands. How good is the technology of Garmin?!?!

It is famous for it’s narrow entry and steep sides and has beautifully calm water. Today all the photos look black and white, and you can imagine how beautiful it would be on a clear day, framed by blue skies

There are two hydroelectric plants at the edge of the water, making the most of the fresh water that comes down the mountains. There is a house on the water that was the home of the person that looked after the plants until the mid-50s when they became automated. This would have been unbelievably isolated!

Locals tell the story that in one year of the 60s Trollfjord was the best fishing ground for cod. The fresh water from the mountains has a higher freezing point than the salt water in the fjord, so had frozen over and made the area inaccessible to the small fishing boats.

The fisherman made a deal with the large steam boats to enter the fjord and break the ice. After this was done, the steam boats lined up at the entry and refused to let the fishermen through without payment. A fight ensued (described as a big bar fight!) as the fishermen could not pay until they had their catch. This led to the Norwegian government putting regulations to limit the size of boats that were allowed near the edges of the fjords.

All our Bunch photos were taken at the beginning of the trip. Midway through the weather got worse, and we agreed that this was the coldest we had ever been. The scary thing is that this record is likely to be broken in the next few days in Tromso… brrr!!!

Of course, this has put any ideas of going for a run aside. We’ve seen 2 runners in total, and learned this evening that their trail shoes have spikes in them to cope with the ice. Everyone wears hi-vis vests or reflective armbands, and dogs have lights in their collars.

With a few hours to spare, we stopped in at the Svolvær War Museum. The curator has travelled the world searching for genuine artefacts from both sides of WWII, with a lot of German pieces left in Northern Norway after the war. He was interesting, passionate and proud, particularly of some artwork that was believed to have been done by Hitler. As with war museums the world over, it’s hard to fathom how tough life would have been.