Kabelvåg 68:12.612N 14:28.777E
Pelagia
Frans & Sarah Toonen
Tue 14 Jul 2015 08:14
| Tuesday 14 July 2015. Overcast. 11nm. 0.9 engine hours. Location: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A south westerly wind arrived this morning and was gusting 20 knots into the anchorage so we set off early - 10am. Saw the usual 5 or so eagles. Sometimes they are more common than seagulls. When we moved north easterly last Saturday we had avoided the island capital of Svolvær as we didn’t fancy being in a busy harbour. Given the wind direction today we headed to Kabelvåg which is 3 kms south of Svolvær so we can always walk there or take the bus. The tiny guest pontoon had space so we were lucky and got a spot alongside. The pontoon belongs to a charming cafe/restaurant - few and far between - and Coop Extra (Norwegian for Tesco Extra) is 75 metres away. A great result as we are out of perishables. The last of the Shetland butternut squash made delicious soup last night. We walked for 20 minutes and reached the Lofoten Museum. The Aquarium is next door to it so we had an informative afternoon visiting both and especially enjoyed the otters. The museum had an interesting film about Norwegian lighthouses and we recognised many of them. Until the 1950’s wherever possible it was policy to build a house so the lighthouse keeper’s family could stay together. Governesses were supplied for the children and some even had a cow so the family could have milk. All the feed for the cow had to come in by boat and it seems a winch was handy for unloading even the family piano or dog. Something else you won’t know is that before the Rorbu (fisherman’s bunk houses) cabins had glass in the windows they stretched halibut stomachs across the wooden frames. We wondered about this until we saw a photo of a 220kg halibut - yes that’d have a big stomach. Our most dangerous mooring so far… why? …you have to walk past the bar to get out!  Nice.  Kabelvåg  |