We are blessed by the Icelandic Elves. I’m not sure it really works this way, but if it does, surely they have given us magnificent weather. I can’t vouch for the rest of our trip, but the first 2-3 days the rain has been minimal and today it was all bright blue skies with friendly, puffy white clouds all day.
The seas were a bit rocky last night. I woke up about 4 and was not pleasantly rocked back to sleep by the rolling of the ship for at least an hour. Perhaps I’m not quite as exhausted, or maybe I am, but I’m hoping for a good night sleep tonight.
Our excursion was to the Dynjandi Waterfall three fjords over from Isaforjdur where our ship was docked. Our drive consisted of an extremely long tunnel of 8000 meters from Isafjordur to the next fjord, Onundarfjordur. The tunnel had passing pull outs as it was one way, and it even had a turn off toward the west. Quite an impressive engineering accomplishment, at least according to this non-engineer. The second pass was not too high. We descended, crossed a bridge as the tide was rolling in. It flowed under the bridge like a river. We then dropped the piano guy off the side of the road in the town of Pingeyri so he could visit a friend.
The next leg of the bus ride over to Dyrafjordur the road was steep, the way also narrow and windy up the hill and down. At the top of the pass you could see the flat mountain peaks all around.
This fjord offered something a little extra special beyond the multiplicity of birds and sheep with their cute baby lambs. We witnessed humpback whales and on our way back, seals sunning themselves on rocks near the shore. I never realized just how massive and deep these fjords are. Even now I don’t think I really comprehend it, sort of like our Grand Canyon is so huge the magnitude is hard to grasp.
We stopped at Dynjandi falls for about an hour. It was not nearly enough for lunch and a hike. Who needs to lunch when you are itching for a hike? It’s was a short trail but steep. Beautiful. But, more beautiful if the sun had come over the mountains to shine on the star attraction before we had to leave, but beautiful still, even with the crowds from our own bus tour.
On our return trip we stopped in Hrafnseyri, the birthplace of Jón Sigurðsson before heading back up over the passes. Sigurðsson is Iceland’s political independence superstar. I spent most of the time reading up on his and Iceland’s history, all the things I didn’t have time to do prior to coming here. I managed to take a quick peek at the turf houses and the church, restored and maintained since they were built over 200 years ago.
We acquired some additional passengers when the bus from the German speaking tour got a flat tire. We filled up the bus to maximum capacity. The two guests and the tour guide who could not fit got a ride with the museum operator. He checked with his wife, then locked up the museum and followed behind, picking up the piano player on the way.
We had about an hour before the Zodiac ‘cruise’ around the fjord where our ship was docked. Mom and Dad didn’t participate. Poor Dad missed the half step getting out of the bus and after a panic all around, per ship doctors orders, did take it easy the rest of the day even though he was pretty much ok, just with a banged up knee. Tara and I still did do the zodiac cruise. It was a nice little jaunt, but I’ll unless they are going somewhere interesting, I’ll probably not go again.
Mom and I listened to the upcoming port info session then stayed to learn about the birds of Iceland. We dined with with young newlyweds of about 10 months, Dustin and Alissa. We had lovely conversation about work and travel. There was a session on Icelandic sagas we were late for, which included some wonderful singing. Then I took a couple quick trips outside to check out the bird action and instead enjoyed the mystical peaks at the northern edge of the Hornstrandir Nature Preserve and the ocean. Then, a quick beer tasting of Icelandic beers so I could only buy the best ones later. That was at 10pm. Now, lights out!!
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