North Sea Wonders: A Coastal Journey

The German North Sea and its coastline is exciting and calming at the same time like hardly any other region in Germany: with dykes and moors, sheep and cattle - and traditional shrimp boats. The film takes us from the small port of Dornum to the seal station in Norddeich and stops off to see thousands of birds on the island of Neuwerk. Finally, the journey ends on Sylt, Germany's largest North Sea island, where Christoffer Bohlig works between high and low tide on the only oyster farm in the country.

The journey begins in the west of Belgium, where an ancient craft is still alive: crab fishing on horseback. Not far off the coast, Belgian mussel enthusiasts set up their first deep-sea mussel farm in the middle of the sea. In the Netherlands, we head to the beach in The Hague, where Theo Jansen makes his bizarre beach beasts run. At the tip of North Holland, a permanent swimmer prepares to cross the English Channel. Further east in Friesland, a young miller revives an old mill, and on the island of Schiermonnikoog, a beachcomber finds incredible treasures.

Denmark's North Sea coast is home to spectacular dune landscapes, enchanted coastal forests and endless sandy beaches. For centuries, the loose sand and dunes prevented proper harbors from being built here. Fishermen therefore use the beach as a mooring place and pull their boats onto the sand with winches. The Skagerrak and Kattegat meet in the north near Skagen. Large schools of tuna pass by here in the fall. Not far away: the Swedish North Sea coast, characterized by archipelagos. In picturesque Fjällbacka, the start of the lobster season is celebrated in September.

The journey along the North Sea coast begins in the south of Norway in the archipelago of Kristiansand. Here, marine biologists catch cod to study how the population of fish changes as a result of environmental influences. We continue north, past the spectacular 600-metre-high Preikestolen rock plateau, to the seaweed fishermen near Bergen, who harvest the exquisite truffle seaweed for gourmet restaurants. Not far from the coast are the southernmost foothills of the Bøyabreen glacier. The trip ends at Ålesund's largest midsummer night's bonfire.