At around 10:15 am, we are called to the deck as we are now passing through the narrow Magerøysund. It separates the North Cape island Magerøya from the mainland.
Somewhere beneath us is the tunnel that has been fortunately available since 1999 - because over time, longer and longer lines of cars formed in front of the ferry, which until then was the only means of transportation to the other side. By 2012, the tunnel had completely financed itself through toll revenue, because so many tourists wanted and still want to visit the famous cape.
When the tunnel was inaugurated in 1999, the weather was so bad that the celebrations had to take place inside the tunnel - that's what the weather conditions usually are like here. Take a look at our North Cape pictures, the weather was definitely different today. The local bus driver we met later even described the blue sky as a "miracle" and was completely thrilled about it ;-).
At the narrowest point of the Magerøysund - which is still over 1 kilometer wide there - is the reindeer swimming route. If the reindeer are weakened after the harsh winter in Finnmark (that's what this area of Norway is called here in the far north - only 1.5 Norwegians and 3 reindeer share one square kilometer), they are transported by truck through the tunnel from the mainland to the North Cape island. Before the tunnel existed, the military took care of the transport. Once on the island, the reindeer have several months to eat their fill and get fat again on Magerøy. And then, after the summer, the lead reindeer is attached to a boat and swims back towards the mainland - and all the other reindeer swim after it. We were assured that this is completely unproblematic, because fat floats on top and reindeer are generally good swimmers!
After the windy stay on deck, we could buy postcards with our own Hurtigruten North Cape stamp and postmark at the reception.
OFF TO THE NORTH CAPE
After landing in Honningsvag, an important fishing village here in the north, we went directly from the ship to our buses. Today, Stefano is our tour guide, who only ventures onto the island for 3-4 months in the summer for his job. In winter, it can sometimes be very uncomfortable here - for example, there is complete darkness from the end of November to the end of January.
After being a bit gray and windy in the morning, the island now showed itself from its best side: Blue sky and bright sunshine! It takes about 45 minutes from the harbor to the North Cape, and we interrupted the journey with a short visit to Sami (the Sami - or Sami people - are the indigenous people of Norway) Nils and his reindeer Rudolf: