The Islands around Smøla

We are now passing Sør-Smøla, looking out over an archipelago that seems to stretch endlessly toward the horizon. Here, more than 6,000 islands, islets, and skerries surround the main island and the municipality of Smøla. This gives the area a stunning coastline of around 2,500 kilometers – more than half the length of the entire coast of Denmark! By comparison, only a few thousand people live in the municipality, which means there's well over one island per person, if you count it that way. People here have lived from the sea for generations. Many of the small islands once hosted bustling fishing communities, such as Lyngværet, Valøya, and Hallarøya, but most are now uninhabited and serve as peaceful holiday retreats. That doesn’t mean the islands are empty. This is a haven for wildlife: white-tailed eagles, otters, and thousands of other species thrive here. With its kelp forests, shallow bays, and brackish inlets, this is one of the most biologically diverse coastal areas in Norway. Yet this unique landscape also faces challenges – invasive mink, overgrowth, and ocean litter. Local efforts like controlled burning, livestock grazing, and beach cleanups help protect a coastline that still breathes, lives, and tells its story.