Honningsvåg, Norway

          Thursday, 21 Jun 2018 – At breakfast we sat with Kaax and Inca from Holland, who usually take one cruise each year, mostly in Europe.  However, they have taken a land tour of South Africa; and of California, Oregon, and Washington in the US. (Hardly anyone goes to Iowa!)
          At about 12:00 PM, the Prinsendam docked in Honningsvåg, one of the northernmost cities in the world, lying on the west coast of Norway running up against the Barents Sea [within the Arctic Ocean] on the southern side of the island of Mageroy.  When Honningsvåg was heavily bombed during World War II, survivors took shelter in one fairly large building still intact.  The permanent population on this island is now about 3,300.  Dating back more than 10,000 years, the area thrives on its fishing industry, which is aided by the ice-free Barents Sea.

Thousands of visitors come each year, mostly because of the gorgeous scenery and surprisingly mild weather during summer months.

          Concerning fishing here, it should be noted that the giant king crab was introduced to the Barents Sea by Russian scientists during the 1960’s.  The crab thrived in these waters and spread quite rapidly to the west, where it can now be found along the northern Norwegian coast.  As the number of this species is in the millions, it naturally consumes a great deal and there is increasing concern that it may have an impact on the local ecosystem.  Controlled crab fishing is now allowed.  Its meat is delicious and compares with that of lobster.  The king crab can live up to 30 years old, measure up to six feet wide between its claws, and weigh as much as 22 pounds.

          From the ship, we rode on a tour bus for about an hour for our
“North Cape Transfer.”  North Cape is arguably the northernmost part of Europe (except for one other Norwegian point that is very slightly further north).  En route, the scenery near Honningsvåg consisted of high views of the coastline and, a little further on, reindeer grazing here and there.  Soon, as the bus traversed north on Mageroy Island, the landscape became very barren, being mostly gray (granite?) rock, with very sparse vegetation in the flat areas.  Here and there, spots of snow remained, and occasionally small rivulets of water cascaded down to lower areas.

          The North Cape rises 308 meters (more than 1,000 feet) above the Barents Sea [part of the Arctic Ocean].  It has always been an important point of orientation for sailors in the northern areas, the last point before the sea ice to the north.  Although most visitors (including us) come during the summer months, the time of the Midnight Sun, people do live here also during the “dark” time, amid storms and silence.

          When we arrived at North Cape, first we watched a 14-minute panorama film with beautiful pictures of landscape and music shown on an 180̊ screen, starting with the ending of winter and the bloom of new summer.  Although people arrive in Nordkapphallen (North Cape Hall) on the ground floor, much of the hall is on three underground levels.  Found here are coffee house, exhibitions and history, chapel, and shops.

North Cape Trolls

Some of the historical narrative written on a wall included facts about World War II, including that Hitler insisted on keeping a massive ground force in Norway because he was convinced that an Allied invasion would happen here.  Details were told of interception of messages (after the German code was known); a large German ship was eventually torpedoed with 1,900 personnel onboard because the captain refused to surrender.  Only 23 (no officers) were later rescued after the sinking.

After letting us off, our bus was supposed to return to North Cape with a new load of passengers at 4:00 PM; and then we would be returned to the ship.  However, the bus was a little late, arriving at about 4:15.  All of us had been ready to return and many were watching outdoors for our bus.  Although the temperature was fairly mild, the wind was icy cold.  What added to the confusion was that another ship (Costa Pacifica) was also in the Honningsvåg harbor; busses from that ship were also at North Cape, though they displayed different sorts of numbers!  (The Pacifica is also a larger ship, and had more busses at North Cape.  We had sailed on the Costa Pacifica in 2013 on a Baltic Sea cruise.)  At any rate, after newcomers spilled out of our returned bus, we were allowed to board.  During our quiet trip back down the mountain to the ship, all of us relaxed.

          At dinner tonight, we were hungrier than usual, having skipped lunch.  At first, we sat with Tom & Cindy from Wisconsin; after they left the table, we talked with Carlotta & Dale.  We had shared a lunch table with Carlotta & Dale, previously, and had also sat across the aisle from them on the North Cape transfer bus.  After dinner, we danced for at least 20 minutes.