Andenes clings to the end of Andøya island in the Vesterålen Archipelago. It is an old fishing port with a tall, red 19th Century lighthouse. The Atlantic Continental Shelf is close offshore, and in winter spawning herring attract humpback whales and orcas. The Aurora Space Center conducts Northern Lights research. Rugged Bukkekjerka holds remnants of a village destroyed by a storm in 1879, Iron Age ruins and burial mounds.