Monday, July 29, 2024 - 12:16 by ce-press
The harbour of Gotuvik is a natural harbour, which is ready to receive its first cruiseship call. The wide bay offers a variety of anchorages (all of 15m-plus depth) from April to October and up to 24 hours.
These will be exclusively marketed to cruiseships and can be pre-agreed with the local authorities, explains Astrid Johannesen, tourism and culture coordinator responsible for cruise tourism at Eysturkommuna.
Tenders can be accommodated at two dinghy quays, one of which has as length of 65m and depth of 6m and so can also accommodate smaller ships. There is no current in the bay and the tide has a maximum change of one metre under normal circumstances. The harbour is around 200m from the city centre.
Johannesen says: “We are planning on Gotuvik being an expedition cruise destination, as we have some beautiful villages in fantastic landscape to show our guests. Furthermore the locals are very interested in showing their village, their home, their food, their home-knitted products and their cows and sheep to guests visiting.
“We are thinking of this as a sustainable way of tourism, where some lucky guests can visit into the hearts of the locals, while the locals get money, warmth and experience in return.”
In the village of Nordragota, which is 35 minutes’ drive from Torshavn and 15 minutes from Klaksvik, and which has a population of 700, there is a grocery shop with a small cafe, public toilets and a modern town hall building that also serves as tourist information with Wi-Fi.
When arriving in Gotuvik, there will always be ‘ask-me staff’ to welcome the guests. From here, there will be two to four different excursion options, depending on the weather. These include an opportunity to explore the wild nature of the Faroe Islands including a hike up to Leirviksfjall via an old village path with a tour guide and food included.
For those wanting something less physical, a tour can be arranged to local villages with museums, excavations, locals telling stories and sharing local food via a tailor-made Viking trail.
“The well-known chieftain, Trondur i Gotu, used to live in this area and almost no matter where your put your foot, a story or a place name refers to him,” says Johannesen.