Honningsvåg, Norway: February 3, 2025

Honningsvåg is Norway's northernmost city in the county of Finnmark. Finnmark is Norway's northernmost and easternmost county bordering Troms county to the west, Finland's Lapland region to the south, and Russia's Murmansk Oblast to the east, and by water, the Norwegian Sea (Atlantic Ocean) to the northwest, and the Barents Sea (Arctic Ocean) to the north and northeast (Wikipedia).

The ship arrived in port at 8:00 am. Due to an excursion to the North Cape to see the monument marking the northernmost point in Europe, we didn't depart port until 8:00 pm. We chose to stay and explore Honningsvåg.

The Arctic Circle is at latitude 66° 34' N. Last night we crossed the Arctic Circle at around 9:00 pm. Honningsvåg is more than 4° north of the crossing. While we have been above the Arctic Circle previously, this is the mostly northern we have been - so far.

The port was on the shady side of the large hill. We made a circle walking past the small boat harbor through the town toward the sunny exposure at Honningsvåg beach and up a hill to the church and back down to the ship. The church was built in 1885 after the prior church was destroyed by a hurricane. After the burning of Finnmark during WWII, it was one of the few buildings still standing. After the war, the church served as home, bakery, and kitchen for many residents during reconstruction of the town after the destruction in WWII.

It was so cold that the sides of the ship were frosted up and the window in our room had ice on it. When we left Honningsvåg that evening it was about 15 ℉/-9 ℃.

That evening we shared a King Crab (an extra cost charged by weight) as the appetizer course with some newly made friends (Gabby and Marcy) from the US. The crab came with a UPC tag and serial number which identified the fisherman (Jørgen Bøgeberg), the boat Fjordfisk, crew of 1, his work history, where he was from, when the crab was caught, and how much the crab weighed. There was also a photo of the fisherman and the crab. Jørgen's crab was excellent. The waitstaff said that on the two previous sailings, they had not been able to obtain any King Crabs. For this night there were just five available.

Next stop: Alta at 8:00 am