Cruise around Iceland June 2022
Today was a stop at Heimaey, Iceland the island that in 1973 was the site of a major volcano eruption. however high seas made it impossible for the captain to anchor and set tenders. Which gives us a sea day. I’d hoped to blog daily on this voyage but poor internet connections didn’t allow for this. We disembark tomorrow. Remember the days of travel when you sent postcards home and hoped the cards arrived before you returned? Thats how I feel now. My blog messages will likely arrive once we return to the US. Oh well.
In Patreksfijorour, a very small but commercially active fishing village, the CEO of the company told us about the fishing business there. Cod and salmon are the primary product. They use line fishing. Meaning they place lines in the water with 36,000 hooks attached to catch the fish. They bring in tons of fish at a time. He stated its the most sustainable way to fish and results in the freshest fish to market. Once they reach the tonnage limit for the season, fishing ceases until the next season. The CEO told great stories and was very photogenic. This was the best tasting cod I’ve had, sweet and succulent.
We decided not to take a tour on Wednesday. It was such a beautiful sunny day that we were able to lay by the pool and just enjoy the sunshine. I never expected that we would have sunny warm days at the pool during the trip to Iceland. And while we had to stay fully dressed the sun was warm enough so that we were getting a good bit of warmth on our faces. The ship was framed by the mountains of the fjord.
Godafoss waterfall outside of Akureyri was beautiful. This is the third largest waterfall in Iceland. Truth be told there are waterfalls everywhere throughout the country. Given the height of the snow capped mountains whenever there is melting the water simply runs down the mountains and creates a waterfall.
A whale watching trip in Husavik was an event to remember. First of all the weather was probably the worst we had experienced on the trip. It was extremely cold and drizzling and raining hard sometimes. And we were in the middle of the ocean on an open whaling ship. Which made it that much colder. We did see some whales after a time. But not nearly as many as we have seen several years ago when we went on a whale watch out of Hyannis Cape Cod. But glad we went just the same.
A trip to Vok Baths from Seydisfjordur brought us up and over the mountains to the geothermal lake. The bus ride was harrowing on a very narrow two lane road with countless hairpin turns. I held my breath most of the way. Our guide said in winter months the road isn’t passable. It was hard to imagine how the road was built at all.
The baths were amazing. The outside temperature was 45 degrees. Three sections of the pool had water temperatures between 60 degrees to 80 degrees. The surrounding lake was 20 degrees. The thermal water was soothing. I thought it would feel freezing when we stepped out of the hot water, but surprisingly it didn’t. It was a luxurious experience.
24/7 daylight is a unique experience. But it isn’t just daylight, on sunny days the sun shines in full force until 10:30 pm. It’s beautiful and haunting at the same time.
