"Reykjavik and Circumnavigation of Iceland" Cruise - July 2018

Day One-Three: Sunday-Tuesday, July 8-10. We’re very much enjoying Reykjavik and day trips from there before boarding our ship.  It’s such an interesting country.  Weather is not one of their best features - it’s high 40’s/low 50’s,  cloudy gray skies, sometimes drizzly and very windy.  We’re bundling up every day.  Our first stop on Sunday (directly from the airport!) was the Blue Lagoon, a famous geothermal Spa.  Paul and I enjoyed relaxing at the cafe overlooking the pools but opted out of taking a dip.  (The required Scandinavian style communal showering in the buff did not help to entice me.)

Reykjavik is a charming city with a huge Lutheran Church in the town center surrounded by streets with shops, restaurants and residences.

The landscapes in Iceland are so interesting.  A great deal of it is miles and miles of lava fields where the solidified black rock covers every inch of the ground and is usually covered with a thick green moss.  This photo was taken while hiking through Thingvellir National Park which includes the largest natural lake in Iceland - completely different from the lava fields.

We braved the really chilly weather to view Gullfoss (‘Golden Falls’) from several different lookouts.  Notice the tiny people in three different areas.  It was very impressive.

We also visited Geysir geothermal area with a multitude of hot springs, including the famed Strokkur geyser.  A few would spout occasionally, but we weren’t patient enough to wait with cameras poised to catch anything spouting.

Probably the most interesting place we visited in the Reykjavik region was the Hellisheioi Power Station, the second largest geothermal power station in the world.  It’s completely remarkable.  The underground hot water from this volcanic area is pumped through insulated pipes to heat 99% of the homes and buildings, as well as many roads, all over the country.  It also produces all of the electricity for the country, using the geothermal steam to power turbines.  All renewable energy production- truly astounding. 

Day Four: Wednesday, July 11.  After sailing north along the west coast Tuesday night, on Wednesday morning we anchored off one of Iceland’s many islands and took a zodiac boat to Vigur Island for a guided walking tour.  It’s only about a mile long and half a mile wide ... with thousands of nesting birds. We learned about harvesting Eiderduck down, for which I have a new appreciation.  Guillemots have bright red feet and are very common.

The Arctic Terns are very aggressive when protecting the area where their nests are.  We had to hold sticks with small flags on them as they would swarm and dive bomb you to scare you away from their nests.

In the afternoon we visited a fishing village and museum in Isafjordur. We stopped at this waterfall where we had a drink of the mountain water.

At the fishing museum, we enjoyed listening to our guide interpret the stories that this fisherman told.

We visited a charming village church and loved listening to this woman sing Icelandic lullabies.  She played the dulcimer and had a beautiful angelic voice.

Day Five: Thursday, July 12.  Thursday morning we did a guided walking tour of Siglufjordur, the northernmost town of Iceland’s mainland.  It had a booming herring industry 1903-1968 which we learned about at this museum (3 buildings) where they also recreated how the ‘herring girls’ cleaned, salted and packed herring into barrels.  We sampled traditional rye bread, 3 types of herring and Icelandic schnapps.  I discovered I like herring.

In the afternoon we visited Grimsey Island, Iceland’s northernmost inhabited island.  It’s another small island, 2 square miles with about 100 people, which we explored on our own.  This is a spot where you are straddling the Arctic Circle!  There is no night in Grimsey during the summer, not until late July when a short period of twilight begins around midnight.  It’s weird getting up in the night and it’s light outside.

We walked along sheer cliffs which are home to huge colonies of of sea birds.

It’s a remote and beautiful island with its one local church made from driftwood.

We took a zodiac boat ride to view the roosting and nesting puffins and seagulls and their chicks.

Day Six: Friday, July 13.  Friday was a day of very different landscapes.

The water of the Skjalfandafljot River (lots of letters in their words) creates a spectacular waterfall.

Along the shores of Lake Myvatn are the Skutustadir pseudo craters, formed by gas explosions when boiling lava flowed over the wetlands near the lake. Those white balls are bales of hay.

In Dimmuuborgir we hiked through a lava field full of giant pillars, chimneys and tubes.  These rock formations are thought to be the remains of a lava reservoir which formed above a lake.  As it began to cool, the reservoir was released, leaving only these bizarrely shaped remains.

The geothermal field of Namaskard is not far from the volcanic mountain ‘Krafla.  It’s one of the weirdest places we’ve ever been.  These bubbling mud springs are called solfataras.  The sulfur smell is terrible.  

The area is also dotted with steam springs called fumaroles.  The constant emission of all the fumes makes the ground completely sterile and acidic and cannot sustain any type of plant life.  All eerily weird.

Day Seven: Saturday, July 14.  On Saturday we walked to and about Seyoisfjorour, a charming village located on a fjord.  We loved the private concert of Icelandic music performed in this beautiful church by a very talented popular local trio.  Then we walked to a local museum for a tasting of local Icelandic food and drink specialities.

I took this photo of part of the village from the boat.  In the afternoon we enjoyed 3 lectures onboard.

Day Eight: Sunday, July 15.  On Sunday we drove to Jokulsarlon to see a large glacial lake on the edge of Vatnajokull National Park.  Situated at the head of the Breioamerkurjokull glacier, it developed into a lake after the glacier started receding from the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.  The lake has been growing at varying rates because of melting glaciers.  We rode around in the lake in one of these open boats.  All the floating icebergs, in colors from clear to white to blue to black (from volcanic ash), were really something to see.

We also walked on and had bagged lunches on the beach which is dotted with grounded icebergs.  The beach looks muddy but it’s actually fine black sand from pulverized lava and volcanic ash.

Day Nine: Monday, July 16. On our final sailing day, we visited Heimaey Island.  We enjoyed a tour of the new Eldheimar- ‘Pompei of the North’ museum where we learned about the huge volcanic eruption in 1973 which covered one third of the houses in lava and buried most of the rest in ash.  Miraculously, the fishing fleet was in port and evacuated the whole population to the mainland without loss of life.  Six months later, when the volcano had fallen dormant again, most of the islanders returned to rebuild their homes and lives.  It was all quite incredible.  Believe it or not, Iceland has more golf courses (and golfers) per capita than any other country in Europe (and tee times 24 hours a day in summer!).  Beautiful views from this course! 







In the evening en route back to Reykjvik, we sailed past Surtsey Island, a UNESCO World Heritage site.  Created by volcanic activity between 1963 and 1967, it is one of the youngest islands on Earth and one of the most fragile; scientists are carefully monitoring the evolution of its flora and fauna.  Altogether a fitting conclusion to a fascinating visit to a culturally distinct and geologically unique place!

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