Another jam-packed day today! Drove just down the road to the beautiful town of Husavik. Boats in the harbor with the snow-capped peaks in the background were just stunning! Odvar tried to teach us a little Icelandic when we went to sign up for a noon-time whale watch. I haven’t figured out a word. The pronunciations are really tricky so I feel more comfortable using English than butchering their language. Just about everyone here speaks English, and menus are all translated. According to Odvar, Icelandic is really only spoken here in Iceland by just over 300,000. Therefore, it is necessary for the natives to learn a common language (English) so they can communicate with others when they leave Iceland. Due to the country’s isolation, today’s Icelandic is essentially what the Vikings spoke, and it is really only mastered by those who are born and raised here. As for English, it is taught in schools here, but also learned from the TV, radio and movies, many of which come from the U.S. We can attest to this having heard many hit American hits in the car. Clearly Odvar had a captive audience as he shared info about his native country.
Tried pancakes with sugar rolled up inside for breakfast while we waited for our tour. (A little too sugary for me, but Joe liked them. He even got a free set because they gave his cappuccino to the other man with orange on.) Then we headed down to the dock to board our wooden ship with the North Sailing Company. We got to put on sweet navy 66 North foul weather suits to keep warm on the trip and then we were set out into Skjalfandi Bay (which borders the Greenland Sea and Artic Ocean!). Seas were a pretty rough today once we got outside the harbor. The boat was really rocking, water frequently came over the bow and sides of the boat, and we got sprayed many times. We needed our best sea legs to make it through the three-hour tour. Unfortunately about half the people on the boat were not so lucky and spent the time puking off the back of the boat. Laur & I credit Seabands with saving the day! The boys had a few close moments…Joe (surprising) had a moment of distress after trying to read information panels on the whales.
About an hour into the trip, things got unbelievably exciting. Our guide spotted a blue whale, the largest mammal on Earth near our boat! For the next hour, our captain followed the whale’s big spout and the Artic terns circling overhead to close views of its body, dorsal fin, and fluke. Apparently the whale was feeding (and maybe pregnant due to the frequency that it showed its fluke) so it kept coming up every few minutes. People would shout out clock times and we would rush to that side of the boat for pictures while trying to stay on our feet and block the cameras from the spray. The views were amazing! It was hard to believe that this whale was two times the size of our boat! After an amazing hour, we headed back towards Husavik and were treated to cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate. Back on land we all agreed that this was one of the most incredible experiences!
From Husavik we started on our Diamond Circle tour around 3:30pm. Entered the National Park to see some different features. Our first stop was Ásbyrgi to see the horseshoe canyon, but didn’t stay too long since the bugs were bad. Legend has it that the canyon was formed by a Norse god’s horse hoof. Later we stopped for an hour and half hike through funky basalt columns and echo rocks at Hljodaklettar. It was easily 8pm as we drove along a bumpy, dirt road towards Detifoss, Europe’s most powerful waterfall. I’d say it was powerful alright…I was pretty cold and wet afterwards from the spray. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the car said 4 degrees Celsius! Didn’t think we stood a chance at getting dinner at 9:15pm on a Sunday night but we found a place in Reykjahlíð that was still open. Definitely a little pricey for dinner tonight, but we were all so hungry that it didn’t really matter. Joe got more fish and chips with delicious French fries.and a really expensive beer, while my chile con carne was not very memorable but one of the few non-seafood entrees on the menu.
Made it back to the cottage around 11 with plenty of daylight. The boys scouted out the hot tub while the girls took it easy here. Think we’ll sleep well again tonight!
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