Honningsvåg, Norway – Day 11 – July 12, 2023

Honningsvåg Trolls

Once again, we woke to beautiful sunny weather.  Temperatures in the high 60s and low 70s throughout the day.  Honningsvåg is the northernmost city in Norway and in 2017 it had a population of 2,484.  It is situated on the southeastern side of the large island of Magerøya
Port of Honningsvåg




Our excursion (King Crab Safari)  at 8:45 AM was being led by 71° Nord.  We met just off the dock and then headed to the 71° Nord building for our safety instructions.  We then donned body suits for another RIB boat adventure.


We made a circle around the harbor (videos will be posted when I can reach YouTube again). And then they gave us a wild ride with lots of turns just for fun.  We passed close to the land and spotted a young White Tailed Sea Eagle.



We headed west and reached the buoy for the crab pot. The guide then pulled it up but needed help at the end (see video).  It contained more than a dozen crabs.

Picture on the left shows one of our guides with a crab. He later confessed that the crabs were actually caught elsewhere in much deeper waters (>80 feet) using large nets that hold 100+ crabs and need to be hauled up mechanically in big crabbing boats. For tour groups like us, they take some of the crabs and put them in smaller crab nets in shallower waters that we later hauled up into our RIB boat.

We then headed into the Sami village shown below and to the red buildings (next picture) where the King Crabs were prepared and cooked.



Crab preparation areas

Inside of the Sami Tent 
the lighting can change to simulate Midnight Sun or the Northern lights

Sami style tent where we ate our crab (above).



After getting to shore we got to hold the crabs. (see close up of the King Crab face)


And then Chris had to hold the biggest one.


After we finished harassing the crabs, the guides demonstrated their preparation prior to cooking which starts with plunging a knife into their brain (see video) and twisting to quickly and most humanely kill them. Then their legs and claws are removed and the body sectioned before cooking. (see video)

The body and leg parts are then put into boiling water and cooked until the water boils again.  They are rinsed in cold salt water three times as they prefer to eat their crab cold.  Then the guides nicely cut the legs for us with scissors.  No cracking as we do for lobsters and Dungeness crabs. (see video)

These King Crabs are the same species as the ones in Alaska, but fortunately have not disappeared like the ones in the Bering sea, presumably due to over-fishing. Officials believe more than 1 billion have vanished in the last two years and the fishing season was cancelled.

Then we had our crab feast.  The crab was served with bread, mayo, and lemon wedges.  You put mayo on the bread, squeezed lemon juice on it and then topped with crab.


After we finished our delicious meal, we headed back to the port in the RIB boats.  Once again, they ensured we had an exciting ride.

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