If you sit in the kitchen of Lurevegen 1569, looking down at Lurefjorden for the first time, you might very easily mistake the sea for a lake. Especially on a calm day - which means less than 10 meters per second of Norwegian west coast wind.
But even when you get to witness one of those autumn storms, when the water seems pitch black strewn with white from the constant breaking of the waves - even then you might not assume that your face would become slightly salty, if you watched the spectacle from up close. Because when glancing across the water to the other shore from where you are sitting and indulging in your hot, caffeinated drink, the fjord just spans 1.5 kilometers. But it is not just that.
Assuming you would leave the house of said kitchen (don’t worry - you can bring along your coffee) and walk about the island of Lygra, you would see no obvious opening that hints at the open sea. Even if you would see the opening (in fact there are three) you would still not think that you are on the doorstep of the Atlantic. The closest sill leading out of the fjord - called Fosnstraumen - is only 200 meters wide and mere 20 meters deep, which gives the Lurefjorden some unique characteristics.
Because at its deepest point and despite the small gateway to the Atlantic, the fjord fills a valley 440 meters deep. These characteristics result in a very isolated, deep-sea-like habitat, as most of its water is trapped in the fjord - cut off from daily circulations within the bigger system. And so are certain species, which mainly travel by the favour of the tides.
Therefore, you will find a very remarkable species of helmet jellyfish in the depths of the fjord - the phosphorescent Periphylla periphylla (go check it out after - it looks pretty cool). However, ‘remarkable’ might not be the attribute granted by local fishermen, as the fjord can be described as a gelatinous-predator dominated pelagic ecosystem - which basically translates to ‘fewer fish in the net’.
And that is not going to change anytime soon, as these predators are stuck here, in the deepness of Lurefjorden - which might after all just be a ‘marine lake’.
But it is not. And if you stick around for long enough, you will feel it, that the waters of this fjord are deeply and intimately connected to the vastness of the sea. A vastness that leaves you so exposed and yet so grounded at the same time - for you can not help but to feel right at home; right here; right now.