Travels and Birds: Hurtigruten Day 5

Honningsvåg, Note the snow fences

We landed at Honningsvåg about 11:15 for our next excursion, just before our normal lunch time. I had an early breakfast, made a sandwich to take on the excursion, and a small bit for an early lunch. The others decided they would travel to North Cape, the northernmost point in Europe. They had a good bus ride and short walk to the site. It was a bit foggy, but they beat the main crowds of the day to enjoy the views and the experience. Four large cruise ships arrived at Honningsvåg on this day including the world’s fourth largest making it the busiest day of the year for Honningsvåg.

Reindeer swim this channel twice a year

One of the lakes as we crossed the island

The world's fourth largest cruise ship

Honningsvåg is on the island of Mageroya which is now connected to the mainland by a 6.8 km tunnel. Norwegians do love their tunnels. Fishing and whaling used to be the mainstays of the economy. Fishing is still important, but tourism is now the mainstay. The airport welcomes 19,000 passengers per year and multiple cruise ships enter the harbor daily during the summer. An exciting thing to see here would be when the caribou herds swim to the island, a distance of some 1.8 kilometers.

A few cod on the drying rack

Preparing to leave the dock

I opted for the bird safari and was not disappointed. We drove across the island to the small fishing village of Gjesvær where we boarded our safari boat out to the bird colonies on the small island of Gjesværstappan. As we left the harbor and crossed the channel, the number of birds increased until we were literally surrounded by thousands of swimming and flying puffins and guillemots. Nearly 1 million puffins nest here. Since raiding the nests for eggs and killing the birds for eating was outlawed about 50 years ago, the population has increased. Puffin eggs and meat were so popular, the locals bred a special dog for the purposes. These puffin hounds were small enough to enter the deep holes the puffins dig for their burrows. They also had an extra claw to help them climb the steep cliffs. Finally, they were short of teeth to they did not harm the meat of the birds as they pulled them out of the nests.

Mostly Atlantic puffins

Puffin taking off

One would think they are out of danger now. Unfortunately, the capelin and herring they eat and feed their chicks are decreasing to overfishing and a warming climate. Without enough of these small fish to feed the young, the babies die before they can care for themselves threatening the future of the species.

Razorbills

Mostly razorbills

After some time amongst the puffins and razorbills and watching the gulls and eagles fly around looking for easy pickings, we sailed just a short distance to see other bird colonies. The northern gannet colony of 3000 began with a single pair about 20 years ago. I’m not sure why they came here, but they do seem to have found a good spot. These are beautiful white and gold birds who dive into the water in search of fish. Puffins and guillemots, on the other hand dive from a floating position. They are built for swimming and can reach a depth of 80 meters. Unlike the gannets, the puffins and guillemots are not elegant flyers.

Puffins are ungainly in the air

Northern Gannets

A bit further on we would pass nesting sites of black-legged kittiwakes, shags, cormorants, and razorbills. Along the way we saw at least 15 white-tailed eagles either flying or perching on the cliffs. Eagles will eat just about anything they can find, but there are so many birds here they subsist just fine on a bird diet. The big excitement for me however, was seeing the Great Skua, my first, chasing a puffin. Skuas are thieves. This one wasn’t chasing the puffin to eat her, but to get her to drop her to drop her catch so the Skua could eat it. I think it was successful because it dropped quickly down to the water after the puffin left the scene.

Common Murres

Black-legged Kittiwakes

Great Cormorants

We learned that we had actually reached the most northerly point in Europe rather than those who were driven to North Cape. The problem is that there is not easy access to this true north point, so North Cape gets the distinction for touristic purposes.

Gjesvær: The Bird Safari Harbor

Unfortunately, we had to leave all too soon to get back to our ship. Alas, it was not to be. While we were gone, something went wrong with the air system on the bus. Since everything on the bus, including the brakes, depends on air pressure, we had to wait for a replacement. Fortunately, because this was a Hurtigruten tour, the ship had to wait for us. That is one advantage of ship-sponsored tours. When something goes wrong, they will wait for you. If you are on your own, you could be left on your own to reach the next port or whatever at your own expense. We were so close to the end of our voyage that we never did catch up, arriving at Kirkenes, our final port, 30 minutes late.