I woke up for sunset, with a location all mapped out. But when I looked out the window, I saw nothing but snow. The weather in these parts is pretty unpredictable, so I wasn't surprised. Since there was no point in going out, I went back to bed. When I woke up a few hours later, the snow was still going strong.
I had a good breakfast (with real coffee this time, the apartment had a coffee maker!) and started thinking of what to do for the day. There is basically one road going through this part of the islands, and you can drive towards the mainland and towards the sea. For this day, I chose the mainland. I figured since the weather was crap, I could visit the local aquarium instead. I really like aquariums, I don't really know why. There's just something calming about looking at fish slowly swimming around. And after that, if weather permitted, I'd scout the area toward the mainland.
When I finally had everything ready, the clouds had started to clear. I decided to quickly go to my sunrise location to scout it out for the future since it was only a 10 minute drive from the apartment. There was a convenient parking spot there so I parked up, took the camera and walked out on the beach. Even though the light was already a bit harsh, it was a nice scene.
I took a few shots, and turned back to the car. And of course, wouldn't you know it, there was an eagle flying towards the car. And I was 30 meters away from the right lens. The run was a bit slippery, and I had trouble putting on the lens and changing settings. I just caught the bird when it flew past.
A nice location, although there isn't much nice foreground.
Slightly too late, and had the wrong settings again...
...and when the settings were correct it was too late. Damnit.
Good thing that wasn't the only eagle I saw that day. In any case, I took my car and started driving north-east along the main road. The tail end of the bad weather still lingered, and I got a few nice shots of the clouds moving through.
Not a bad place to build a church.
The further I drove, the thicker the clouds got, and soon snow started falling. I was reminded of the drive the day before and took it easy. I wasn't in a hurry anywhere. It wasn't a long drive, and before I knew it, I was at the aquarium. The place looked deserted in the snow storm, but it was open so I walked in and got a ticket.
The aquarium is not that big, and only has local species. I tried to take some photos, but most of them were ruined by the glass. It's tricky to find good angles for the photos, since you basically have to be squared towards the glass, and the fishies and other crawlies typically stay toward the edges. When they do swim in the middle, they are so close to the glass that you pick up all the scratches as well.
I've eaten some of your family.
I had timed my driving so that I'd be at the aquarium when they were feeding some of the animals. One I've seen in person many times, the other not. It was a bit tricky to get a nice angle, and the strong wind and ever-present snow didn't help. But persistence pays off and I got a few nice photos in the end. I'd prefer if these were wild animals, but I'll take what I can get.
It's my spirit animal! <3
Omnomnom.
So cute!
What you typically see of seals. Rarely this close, though :)
I went back inside after the feeding to dry off and check out the rest of the exhibits, and just chilling. I wasn't in a hurry anywhere, the weather being what it was. One of the nicer images I got was this:
Lemme out!
After the aquarium it was time for lunch, so I drove into Kabelvåg for a nice burger; I needed something different than the adventure meals :) The weather did clear a bit while I was eating, so I continued the drive towards the mainland. But I didn't get very far. A truck had stopped seemingly random in the middle of the road and two cars had stopped behind it. I was just wondering what the problem was when the truck put on it's emergency blinkies, so I stopped behind the other cars. A minute later a fire truck stopped beside us and a fireman came to my window. A truck had driven a bit too fast on the road and had lost control. The fireman said that I could wait for them to clear the road, which could take a few hours, or to turn back. I read the local news later, the truck had flipped in a corner and a car of tourists had driven into the back. Luckily no one was hurt, but it had taken quite a while to remove all the fish that had spilled all over the road.
You can probably guess I turned back, and drove even more carefully back towards Leknes. The weather was really bad where the accident had happened, but it soon cleared and I could take some more roadside shots.
Not exactly boating weather.
I love the scale in this photo. That bridge isn't small, but it's still dwarfed by the mountain beside it. And you can't even see the mountaintops!
I was standing on the beach taking the pictures above, enjoying the fast clouds, when I looked back over my shoulder. There was a black lump on the ground that I was pretty sure hadn't been there before. Could it be? I pointed my camera at it since I had a longer lens on, and yes, it was. This time my car was closer, and the bird was sitting still. I was NOT going to mess this up.
Ohai.
The eagle just sat there while I moved gingerly closer. When the eagle turned into the wind, I knew what was happening; large birds like this have to take flight into the wind, especially when it was this windy. And I was ready.
After this particular stop, every time when I put away my camera in the back of the car, I put my birding lens on it. Clearly, there are eagles on Lofoten, lots of them. It was just a question of being ready.
At this point the sunset was closing in, and I still had a drive to get to my sunset location. The problem was that I got distracted. A lot. I stopped twice when an eagle flew overhead, and three times for the scenery. The setting sun produced some absolutely gorgeous light and I just couldn't resist.
Proper winds and new, light snow.
The misty mountains
Sky is turning pink already, come on!
As you can see from the picture above I was, once again, cutting it close. This time I knew that there was no way I'd make it to the location I had planned, so I just stopped by the road where I saw some nice light, and went for it. I could have done without the 50 cm of snow on the beach, but it was mostly just an inconvenience.
The water is just crystal clear around these parts. Too bad someone had dropped something into the sea exactly here...
After sunset more clouds rolled in, so I went back to the apartment for some dinner and much-needed sleep. Even though there might be auroras, there wasn't a chance I'd see them through the clouds. The next day it was time to drive south, to visit the legendary village of Hamnøy