Whale Tails

Day 10:

Today we woke up, packed the car, and went straight to the harbor in Húsavík to head on our whale watching tour. Our boat was named Garðar after the Swedish Viking who first settled in the region. After climbing aboard, we put on giant jumpsuits to save us from the cold ocean breeze. In no time, we were on our way out to Skjálfandi Flói, the shaky bay. Named thusly due to the high volume of earthquakes in the area. We sailed past a rock that is home to 10,000 puffins in the summer and into the wide bay. After nearly an hour, we reached an area where the captain believed we would see some whales and he was right! We saw probably three different Humpback whales surface a few times each. For a couple of us, that was our first experience seeing whales in the wild! They would come to the surface every 30 seconds or so for a few times, then lift their tail out of the water and dive for 10-15 minutes at a time. The rain really started to come down as we were out on the water, so we added on bright orange rain jackets on the outside of our jumpsuits. We really looked like giant traffic cones. The smooth rocking of the boat on the way back just about put our wet, frozen selves to sleep. Once back on dry land, coffee and a nice heater were needed before even thinking about going anywhere else.

After a good hour of defrosting, we hit the road to Goðafoss, the waterfall of the gods. Legend has it that after Iceland adopted Christianity around 1000 AD, a lawmaker named Þorgeir threw pagan idols over the falls. It may be named after discarded idols, not its beauty, but nonetheless did not disappoint. Despite snow on the ground, it was a pleasantly warm stop and the sun was shining behind the falls. Beautiful. We can also tell that we are making our way beyond the standard tourist trip, as the amount of tour buses at our stops has greatly diminished as of recently.

The last stop and home base for the next 2 days was Akureyri, the so-called "Captial of the North". We're staying in Höepfnershús, an over a century old wooden house with a view of the fjord. That is about 30 years prior to Iceland's independence! Fish stew for dinner, and it's time to knock out for the night.

We will be staying in town and taking a bit of a break tomorrow, but our next stop will be an old turf house, then a village of less than 600 people!Read more