HONNIGSVAG, WE ARE TOLD, IS THE northernmost town in Europe. It’s 306 miles north of the Arctic Circle—just over 1300 miles from the North Pole. It is also the only place on this cruise that we’ve booked an excursion—a “bird safari” to Stappen Island. The trip didn’t leave the ship until 4:00 PM, not a problem since we’ll be in port until nine and the sun won’t set for a month.
At the Top of Norway
We were prepared to be underwhelmed as well as overcharged. We are used to birding groups of a dozen—today we had two full tour buses. The 1½ hour trip to the harbor was as scenic as traveling across tundra can be. The small herds of reindeer that we saw are trucked in from the mainland in spring and released for summer grazing. In early autumn they are rounded up and forced to swim back to their winter grounds. So much for wild herds.
Razorbill
Atlantic Puffin
It didn’t seem that 100 of us could fit on the small boat but only us few “serious” birders and photographers stayed on the open bow. The weather was wonderfully sunny—a rarity—but the cold wind went right through all my layers. The water wasn’t overly rough but we were both grateful for the anti-seasickness patch we shared.
Northern Gannet Colony
White-tailed Eagle
We saw thousands of birds; mainly puffins and razorbills with small flocks of black guillemots and thick-billed mures mixed in on the water. Two colonies of gannets covered the rocks while golden and white-tailed eagles soared above. While we were watching a group of European shags a gray seal popped his head out and stared at us.
Gray Seal
Common Merganser
Throw in some common mergansers, an oyster catcher or two, flocks of kittiwakes, various gulls and we ended up with about twenty species. I’m still not sure it was worth the money but it was the highlight of the cruise so far.
