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Travel · 4 September 2022 · 6 min read

Svolvær - Senja

Annina's birthday present gets redeemed: the silent, fully electric boat tour into the narrow Trollfjord, with circling white-tailed eagles and an underwater drone streaming the seabed live. Then we drive 5.5 hours on to Senja, where the next northern lights already await at our tiny house right on the fjord, on our private beach.

Green mountain islands above deep blue water, seen from the boat tour

Today we have to get up early again, which is very difficult because of yesterday’s northern lights hunt. We have breakfast at our Airbnb and pack everything up to leave.

We drive to Svolvær, where we embark on the Silent Trollfjord Boat Cruise, which Annina gave Nicolas as a birthday present. It is a relatively large boat that is fully electric and therefore glides quietly through the water. The only noise we hear is from the water, which is stirred up by the propulsion system, of course.

The ferry coming alongside the quay in Svolvær The Norwegian flag at the stern above the churned-up wake The wake drawing a white trail across the mirror-calm fjord A pointed rock mountain right above the waterline

We drive through the sea at quite a high speed which gives us strong winds and the tour guide always comments on interesting spots and helps us to spot wildlife. We can see the first white-tailed eagles circling over the sea already after the first few minutes. The entrance to Trollfjord is particularly narrow, barely 100 metres wide. The fjord is 2km long and only accessible by boat. It is surrounded by very high mountains between 600 and 1000 metres high.

A sea eagle circling above the jagged skyline Sea eagles circling above the rocks on the shore A bird perched on a post in the water, mountains behind A gull gliding low over the water The narrow entrance into the Trollfjord between green cliffs

At the entrance to the Trollfjord, the ship’s crew releases a small remote-controlled underwater drone and transmits the underwater world live on screens so that we can observe what it looks like at the bottom of the sea. We can see many fish - including some larger ones - and sea urchins that have their habitat there.

A crew member lowers the underwater drone into the water at the entrance to Trollfjord The crew flying the drone from the foredeck The sea floor live on the screen on board

The trip along the Trollfjord is very spectacular and on the way back we can see a few more sea eagles. We also have extremely good weather, there are no clouds and only sun in the sky. The boat trip in this weather is a great way to wrap up our time in Lofoten.

Two mountainsides framing the arm of the fjord, everything mirrored The pinnacles fully mirrored in the calm fjord The whole mountain range and its reflection in one frame A jagged rock wall with the last patches of snow A small red house on the shore below the massive rock wall A red boathouse on the wooded shore, mirrored in the fjord The mountain range in silhouette above the glittering sea Turquoise shallows over pale ground by the stone breakwater Clear turquoise water below green domes and pinnacles

After the boat trip, we visit a few shops in Svolvær before refuelling our car and starting our long drive. Today we drive 5.5 hours up to Senja. So we continue north - which is crazy, because the temperature there is supposed to be below zero sometimes… The drive is rather exhausting, as we are both quite tired due to the lack of sleep caused by the aurora the last few nights. But we take turns driving and reach Senja safely at 9pm. The landscapes during the drive were fantastic as we had panoramic views towards the mountains and the sea at most times.

The fisherman's wife statue on her rock outside Svolvær The fisherman's wife with Svolvær behind

Our Airbnb is a tiny house, which is located on a road that not even Google Maps knows - so we have to drive to the precise coordinates that our host told us. Now we are the furthest away from our home in Switzerland - it is over 3400 km or a car journey of almost 40 hours away. However, the tiny house is very nice and lies directly on the fjord. We are already quite tired and therefore prepare simple ready-made meals for dinner, which we only have to prepare with boiling water. We have pasta with tomato sauce. Afterwards we start editing our northern lights pictures from last night. In the meantime it has become dark and we have a high KP index, which gives us a good chance of seeing the aurora borealis again this night. So Nicolas goes out with the camera and actually sees the first faint aurora borealis - so off we go again with camera and tripod and bright lenses - today’s aurora hunt is on and we are suddenly wide awake again! We have our private beach on the fjord just for us where we can photograph and enjoy the northern lights. As our street has no street lights there is also almost no light pollution.

Green light behind the trees right by the tiny house A band sweeping over the treetops Two rays standing above the fjord with lights on the shore below A broad curtain above the fjord, mirrored in the water A single arc above the dark silhouettes of the trees A ray dropping vertically behind the trees Northern lights over the fjord, the coastal lights reflected Green bands drifting above a single spruce The sky above the treetops turning blue-green A band above the fjord with trails of light in the water Cloud and aurora layering over the fjord on Senja, lights along the shore Green light above the trees beside our cabin A bright ray falling almost vertically behind the spruces The tiny house by the fjord under a green-tinged night sky

We don’t go to sleep again until around 2 a.m., because the northern lights keep us awake until they are no longer visible due to the increasing cloud cover.

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