Pierless ferry stops in Norway, might one have to arrange own transportation for the final meters?

Question

In September 2012, I travelled by speedboat from Gásluokta/Kjøpsvik to Vuodnabahta/Hellemobotn in Divtasvuona/Tysfjord, Norway. One of the timetabled stops along the way is Tjierrekluokta/Nordbukta. To my surprise, the boat at one point stopped seemingly in the middle of the fjord, in the pitch black darkness on a late September evening. After half a minute or so, a small boat came rowing from the void, took one passenger and his luggage, and rowed back. I asked other passengers, and they said that since there is no pier in Tjierrekluokta/Nordbukta, travellers have to do the last bit by themselves, rowing.

Well, this information was not at all reported in the timetable. Fortunately the place where we were starting our hike (Vuodnabahta/Hellemobotn) did have a pier and we could simply get there. Is there any resource from where I can tell whether I need to make special arrangements to reach a particular timetabled stop for a boat? Or does the company operating the boats take care of this if people cannot arrange it by themselves? Is the situation I describe rather unique, or does this more commonly occur in rural boat routes in Norway?

Answer 1

It's not a common thing, but it does exist. My family owns a cabin on a very small private island. When I was little, we would arrange with the ferry to drop us off. He would then sail right up close to our pier, and we would jump ashore before he reversed out.

When we wanted to go home, we would contact the ferryman by radio, and he would pick us up on his next scheduled trip.

Today, the island close to ours is road-connected, so now we simply have a small boat there to travel the last leg.

I saw something similar on Svalbard. We were on a guided tour, when the boat stopped in the fjord to pick up people by a RIB they lowered from the ship (likely locals who had been visiting their cabin).

However, as far as I'm aware, this is only necesarry when your final destination is not land-connected, and you make personal arrangements. The fact that it's actually on the time table sounds strange. It might be a personal arrangement with a local who commute to the main land, and the time table is simply there for his convenience.

I assume that if you ordered a ticket to a island that did not have a pier, they would inform you that you would need to arrange pickup (if they do not offer it themselves).