The big event today was sea kayaking. At 10:00 we met Peter, our local guide, for a three-hour sea kayak tour. He got us fitted out with equipment and took us out on the waters around Henningsvaer. Dawn and I shared a two person kayak. I was sold when I was told that it was very stable and he hasn’t had anyone manage to flip one. Dawn sat in the back because she has more experience and that’s where the steering happens. Our guide also told us that the weather we’re having is unseasonable, and it should be cloudy and rainy this time of year… instead we’ve had nothing but clear skies and sun since we’ve been here.
I’ll be honest, I was initially very nervous about today’s excursion. I had all sorts of mental images of getting tossed around on the ocean. The water was very calm today and I had an absolute blast paddling around. The scenery, was of course, awesome. We got to weave in between some of the smaller islands before we turned towards the mountains and then back along the coast towards Henningsvaer. While we were out on the water we got to see a sea eagle swoop above. Our guide said that the farmers nearly killed of the eagles off because it was thought for a long time that they were stealing livestock and causing trouble. Later, once ornithologist explained that an eagle could only pick up about 2 kg (4 lbs), they were cleared of suspicion and eventually a law was passed to help preserve them. Since the 60’s they’ve been making a comeback. We also learned that Henningsvaer has only been connected to the rest of the island for 30 years. Before that the only access to the village was by boat. He also said that during its heyday the town would swell with 2000 fishermen during the cod season. I can’t figured out where everyone stayed… because it’s not that big of a village.
The biggest wave we encountered was at the very end, and that was from the wake of a search-and-rescue boat leaving the harbor. The waves tipped the nose of our kayak just barely under the water and slashed enough water to seep some sea water down my back…. I decided having cold Norwegian Sea water run down my back and into my pants was part of the experience, but I was happy it was a once-only event instead a constant occurrence.
After that, we went back the room and took a warm shower and wandered around Henningsvaer for the rest of the day. The photography gallery that we tried to purchase a print from yesterday was "for reals" open today and I was able to complete the transaction we started yesterday. We also decided to walk out to the one corner of Henningsvaer that we hadn’t yet visited and ran into the last of the international arts festival buildings. This one also featured a lot of videos. Their art festival is very video-centric, and generally speaking, I’m not willing to give an artist 30-45 minutes of my time just to check out what they have going on. There was one video though that Dawn and I did find pretty entertaining. The video showed a man in a suite at a desk with a rock. One-by-one people would approach the desk and place an item on it. The man would take the rock and smash the item to bits and push it off the desk. Then he would open the drawer, pull out a form and stamp. He would stamp and sign the form and hand it to the individual. This process was repeated over and over again with different random items. Dawn and I watched it fascinated for a bit… The placard said the video was aptly named “Smashing” and was 90 minutes long.
Dinner was at Fiskekrogen again. This time I ordered fish stew and the herb encrusted halibut instead of the fish and chips. The evening started to turn a bit chilly and the meal helped take the chill out of the air. We are going to wait until it gets properly dark and see if the aurora is going to make another appearance. (Spoilers, it wasn't nearly as impressive as the night before.)
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