Saltstraumen

One of the strongest tidal currents in the world runs through a strait three kilometres long and 150 metres wide, ten kilometres from Bodø. Up to 400 million cubic metres of seawater force through every six hours as the tide tries to fill the Skjerstad Fjord, with as much as a metre of height difference between the fjord and the open sea driving it. Whirlpools up to ten metres across and five deep open when it is running hardest. Measured against Bodø’s high tide, the outflow peaks at over eight knots. The strait is only navigable in the pause when the current turns.