Stø is a

fishing village A fishing village is a village, usually located near a fishing ground, with an economy based on catching fish and harvesting seafood. The continents and islands around the world have coastlines totalling around 356,000 kilometres (221,000 ...

located on the northern tip of the island of

Langøya Langøya is the third largest island of Norway (outside of Svalbard), with an area of . The island is a part of the Vesterålen archipelago in Nordland county, Norway. The island includes the municipalities of Bø and Øksnes as well as part ...

, along the

Gavlfjorden Gavlfjorden is a fjord (more accurately, a sound) in Nordland county, Norway. The long fjord separates the large islands of Langøya and Andøya in the Vesterålen archipelago and it runs along the border of three municipalities: Øksnes, And ...

in the

Vesterålen Vesterålen is a district and archipelago in Nordland county, Norway. It is located just north of Lofoten and west of Harstad. It is the northernmost part of Nordland county. Sortland is the largest town, situated near the center of the archipel ...

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

. It is part of the municipality of

Øksnes Øksnes is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is located on the northwestern part of the large island of Langøya, which is a part of the traditional region of Vesterålen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village o ...

Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. In 2001, there were about 175 residents. This village was the

administrative centre An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, L ...

of the old municipality of Langenes which existed from 1919 until 1964.

Tourism

There are two places serving food in Stø. Some of the specialities are

whale meat Whale meat, broadly speaking, may include all cetaceans (whales, dolphins, porpoises) and all parts of the animal: muscle (meat), organs (offal), skin ( muktuk), and fat (blubber). There is relatively little demand for whale meat, compared to ...

, cod tongues,

boknafisk Boknafisk (either from saami ''boahkkeguolli'' or Norwegian ''bokna'' "half dry") is a variant of stockfish and is unsalted fish partially dried by sun and wind on drying flakes ('hjell') or on a wall. The most common fish used for boknafisk i ...

Arctic char The Arctic char or Arctic charr (''Salvelinus alpinus'') is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes and arctic and subarctic coastal waters. Its distribution is Circumpolar North. It spawns in freshwater and popu ...

, and soup with

salmon Salmon () is the common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of ...

and

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the three largest species alive, ...

. Rental cabins and camping areas are available for tourists. ;Langenes Church Langenes Church was built in the 1700s during Norway's Baroque period. It seats 160 people and is one of the oldest wooden churches in Northern Norway. ;Bird, seal and whale tours Daily sea tours are available from May to September. ;Anda Island Anda Island is a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or ...

with a large population of birds and seals approximately north of the island of Langøya. Birds that can be spotted on the island include the

white-tailed eagle The white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla'') is a very large species of sea eagle widely distributed across temperate Eurasia. Like all eagles, it is a member of the family Accipitridae (or accipitrids) which includes other diurnal rapto ...

(''Haliaeetus albicilla''),

puffin Puffins are any of three species of small alcids ( auks) in the bird genus ''Fratercula''. These are pelagic seabirds that feed primarily by diving in the water. They breed in large colonies on coastal cliffs or offshore islands, nesting in c ...

(''Fratercula arctica''),

great cormorant The great cormorant (''Phalacrocorax carbo''), known as the black shag in New Zealand and formerly also known as the great black cormorant across the Northern Hemisphere, the black cormorant in Australia, and the large cormorant in India, is a w ...

(''Phalacrocorax carbo''), shag (''Phalacrocorax aristotelis''),

black-legged kittiwake The black-legged kittiwake (''Rissa tridactyla'') is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae. This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of ''Systema Naturae'' as ''Larus tridactylus''. The English ...

(''Rissa tridactyla''),

common guillemot The common murre or common guillemot (''Uria aalge'') is a large auk. It has a circumpolar distribution, occurring in low-Arctic and boreal waters in the North Atlantic and North Pacific. It spends most of its time at sea, only coming to land t ...

(''Uria aalge'') and

razorbill The razorbill, razor-billed auk, or lesser auk (''Alca torda'') is a colonial seabird and the only extant member of the genus '' Alca'' of the family Alcidae, the auks. It is the closest living relative of the extinct great auk (''Pinguinis i ...

(''Alca torda'').Arctic Whale Tours
Retrieved April 16, 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sto Øksnes Villages in Nordland Vesterålen