June 27th - Senje-Hopen - the open sea & the hidden harbour

a selection of navigational aids

Typical of many little lighthouses this is shown on our charts as a small black blob

The original old-fashioned channel markers shown on our charts as a yellow rectangle

Slender poles or sticks these are usually the all important red and green channel markers although it is unusual to have a seagull sitting on top!

approach to the island of Senja

approaching Senje-Hopen

Larry on the pontoon

Views of the harbour

Today we had a relatively short passage of 20 miles which took us into the open ocean off the north coast of the large island of Senja. One of the aims for this summer was to go round the outside of Senja and Andoya where there is a good chance of seeing whales but of course we knew it would be very weather dependent. It is disappointing to be doing so much motoring but the plus side of this lack of wind is that there is no problem in making this outside passage. Tomorrow we intend to make our own ‘whale-watching safari’ to a place about 30 miles off-shore where the ocean suddenly gets shallower and where there is said to be a good chance of seeing whales.

As we emerged from the rocks around Sommaroy we encountered a gentle ocean swell and our first sight this year of Fulmars. They are lovely birds whose swooping seemingly effortless flight makes seagulls look rather over energetic and flappy. The cliffs around the north of Senja are magnificent – very steep, bleak and forbidding particularly as it was overcast and several of the peaks were shrouded in clouds. We passed a couple of fjords and then came into Mefjord. We are now tied up at a pontoon in Senje-Hopen (69⁰30’N 17⁰30’E) – an amazing hidden harbour – very sheltered with lots of fishing boats of all sizes including next to our pontoon several large whaling boats and facilities for them to land their catch. It is almost like a volcano pool and we have magnificent views of the surrounding mountains with snow nearly down to the waterline. Presumably the Germans used this as a base for attacking the arctic convoys.

Ragner told us that when he was growing up in the 50s on SE Senja there were no roads to the north side of the island. The people there spoke a different dialect and were considered rather rustic!

We went for a walk and discovered that there are a lot of houses here and several large very modern/new fish processing plants and other industrial plants grouped round the harbour. There is also a 2.2 km tunnel through the mountain!