Today was a non driving day. We left our huts at 9am on four fishing boats. Which boat you were on was decided yesterday by a draw, and we were in team TR4 with 8 Norweigans and two Danes. We were issued with overalls, one piece insulated suits with built in flotation devices, and set out to sea. One boat spent most of the morning watching a whale, then puffins and only caught two fish. Our boat was full of serious fishermen (and women) and a skipper that was good at finding the fish.
We caught mainly scie (not sure what that is in English) and a few cod. Mick caught one cod, weight about 5 kg, while I caught lots of the scie (over 20). Tom on our boat caught a 8.5 kg scie, and won the fishing competition! In all, on our boat, we caught 120 kg of fish!
Our captain gutted some of the fish for us (keeping the cod heads), throwing the remnants over board to the delight of the following sea gulls. We tried a few pieces of fish raw, the rest was added into a cream and leek sauce for fish soup for lunch.
After lunch we all landed at Bunesfjorden where we had coffee and waffles, then went on a guided walk over the headland to another beach. Bjarne and several others had planned on walking up a large peak (1000 ft) next to the beach, but the cloud level was too low, and we were running late as well. The mountains here are very steep and can be dangerous. We were told that two walkers had died a few weeks ago!
At 5pm we were picked up by a faster boat and taken down the fjord to Reine, where we boarded a bus for the hour long trip back round the islands to Nusfjord. Had we gone to Denmark in September for the planned TR meeting we would have seen a model of Reine in Legoland - it has been voted the most picturesque village in Norway!
At 7.30 we all gathered for a drink in the old cod liver oil factory. We were shown how a dried fish was hammered to make the local snack edible and then some of our catch from today was bought in and we were shown how to remove the cod tongues (really the lower jaw), considered a delicacy. The rest of the cod heads are placed on wooden racks and dried outside. Apparently the dried heads are sold to Nigeria where they are ground up and made into a nutrition rich soup.
Our meal this evening was a buffet, which included thin slices of the raw fish we had caught today, served with an oily sauce, then sprinkled with a sesame/wasabi mix. We also had crayfish and lots of other fish dishes, plus lamb shanks and a veg mash - another really good meal. Some of the Norweigans are staying here for a few more days, they have already visited Nordkapp twice, so they said their farewells at the end of the meal.
Tom was presented with a captains hat for his winning catch!
We left our dark, candlelit meal at about 10 pm and were once again surprised to walk out into full daylight! It's another six days at least until we see the sun set.
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