Today was like a line from a Dickens novel – the best of times, the worst of times. Mostly best. I started the day by trying to find Iceland’s most famous person, but it was a dead end.
After breakfast – which included some milk straight from the cows – we drove to Husavik, a charming little town in the north (just 45 minutes away) famous for its whale watching tours. We booked a four hour trip on this lovely old boat (the black one) below.
We were all outfitted in one-piece suits to keep warm and dry, and off we headed into the North Atlantic. It was fantastic – well, mostly. (by the way, that’s me in my new 66 North toque – windproof and awesome – it’s an Icelandic company, and their stores are all over the country). And that’s the boat with its sail up. Beautifully restored old boat.
As you can see, we were all very chipper and happy for the first 20 minutes or so. And the views were spectacular.
First stop was an island full of puffins. I don’t have a good enough camera to get puffin shots, so you’ll have to take my word for it that those little black dots in the Atlantic are in fact puffins. It was our first puffin viewing so we were all very excited!
But then the swells began in earnest. Even writing the word makes me feel queasy. Soon a lot of people on the boat were very, very quiet – picking a spot on the horizon and just staring at it and not saying a word. The three of us all felt seasick. After a while longer though, we had our whale sightings! Humpbacks. I got so excited I forgot about feeling sick, and started snapping a zillion photos. I won’t bore you with all of my half-assed shots – I’ll just bore you with one.
It was so fantastic, watching them up close like this. Apparently they wind up in West Africa in the winter – which is pretty mind-blowing.
And speaking of blowing … Well, one of us got rather violently seasick. Like, hanging his head over the side of the boat with rather spectacular sound effects (at first I thought we’d come upon some barking seals). I won’t name names. But when we finally made it back to shore (the way back was easier going), The Person Who Got Seasick had to have a nap in the back seat of the car, while the rest of us tried to get our land legs back by walking around town. Once we had any sort of appetite we did, discover an excellent food to consume post-seasickness:
That’s right – Gatorade and bugles.
Was it worth it? Well, I would say “yes.” Just knowing we were out in the North Atlantic, close to the Greenland Sea, was pretty cool. I’m not sure the other members of my household would agree. Since I somehow managed to be the least scathed, I do believe it was subconscious payback when we got home, and The Person Who Got Seasick “accidentally” used my toothbrush …
Yeah. I know. GROSS!!!!!!!
But here’s the amazing thing about my boys. Even though they’d both been plagued with seasickness, one violently, by the time we got back to Lake Myvatn they were ready to climb, and hike the circumference of Hverfjall, an old volcano.
It was very cool. Below is the view from the top, over part of Lake Myvatn. A nice way to end the day before heading to supper.
This is that lamb shank I was raving about in my last post, and lastly, the sign outside our wonderful farm. It’s been a lovely three nights here, but tomorrow we move on to the northernmost town in Iceland, Siglufjordur.
