Maelstroms, fjords and fish!

 What a busy and beautiful day we had!

It started at the cabin by the fjord, with this view (above).

Then we went on to Saltstraumen, just down the road from the cabin.  I did not know about Saltraumen, the strongest tidal current in the world, causing the strongest maelstrom (the one that inspired Edgar Allan Poe's short story "a decent into the Maelstrom", which I read as a teenager and which really freaked me out). 

 Joe knew about it, because it is a fisherman's heaven:  the vortices pull in tons of fish, and you can see them jump out of the water in the hundred on the edges of the vortex.  Is is very difficult to give an idea of what it looks like with pictures from the shore.

 From the top of the bridge, one get a better view of the multiple vortices that form and move continually.

 You can also see the sea gull riding of them, waiting for the bits of fishes.  It is spellbinding.  One could spend a lot of time just looking at it!

 Fisherman (hopefully experienced at timing the currents), ride around the vortices, which is the best place to catch the disoriented fishes.

This new bridge makes it possible to go to Bodo without having to take a ferry across, which mus have been quite a ride......
Below, from the other side of the bridge, we can see Bodo, where Maria, Remi and Ellio live and where we will be spending the last part of our Norwegian adventures!

 We could have spent a long time just staring at the changing current and forming vortices, but we had a busy day, so we went on - first to another pretty hike leading to a beautiful water fall,

 (Maria and I - I deep discussion in the stunted beech forest leading to the waterfall.....)

and then to fishing with Remi and Elliot on the fjord.

 Elliot and me, reading to board!

 We used hand lines (like real men!) to hook about 15 pollocks (we needed a lot, because the liver is prized, and they have small livers...  I have to admit that although I enjoyed the fish, I did not try the liver......).

I let the guys do the dirty work of cleaning the fish (I'm a wimp....  I'm happy to hook them, but would much rather not get them off the hook, kill them and clean them....  I was happy Joe and Remi were up to it- Elliot too - because he is a real little Viking, and at not quite 5 years old, will kill the fish in the bucket - I was impressed!).

 It was a lot of fun to catch dinner, plus it was just so beautiful on the fjord, that I would have been happy just spending a couple of hours on the boat looking around.  We even saw a few sea eagles flying over us!

So of course, we had the freshest sea food possible for dinner - what a treat to share it with the entire family - Elliott (who speaks very little English - he is not yet 5) decided I was his best friend, because I sang "old McDonald had a farm" with him on the ride and was willing to make very silly animal sounds...  It was a lot of fun to hang out with him! (I had to sing a lot of silly songs, because we managed to tangle the fish line in the boat motor, so I was trying to entertain him while his father was working at getting the line back and the engine started again.....)
We really lucked out with the weather and it is perfect weather to go and look at the midnight sun.  We are going for a hike up the hill soon to take pictures!  The midnight sun will deserve it's own blog post- coming later today.