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Iceland
  • Steve Catterall

Iceland

Well I've decided on a short cruise to Iceland , only 4 days on land and 4 days sailing. Hopefully I will be able to finally see some whales roaming free, and who knows even a chance of the northern lights Read more
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  • Trip start
    March 13, 2022
  • Steve CatterallIcelandSteve Catterall

    Day one

    March 13, 2022 in England ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    Well nearly time to set off for Liverpool, check in time is 12.30. going on train as parking in Liverpool is absurdly dear in comparison to parking at the airport, or the fact that a single train ticket Lytham to Liverpool was only £5.20 !!Read more

  • Steve CatterallIcelandSteve Catterall
    1

    All aboard

    March 13, 2022 in England ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Well, apparently we are sailing in reverse order and going round from the east due to inclement weather 😱

    Found a nice warm bar, will leave exploring ship till later on but it looks lovely, cabin is way better than I imaginedRead more

  • Steve CatterallIcelandSteve Catterall
    Lunch warm goats cheese tart with lemon and fig dressingSausage and mashAll ready for dinner

    Day 2

    March 14, 2022 in Scotland ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    Lovely breakfast first thing but coffee is terrible. Passed Islay first thing this morning and at lunchtime close to Skye, heading out towards Faroe Islands next.
    Plenty to do on board, went to see the Executive chef give a cooking exhibition and recipe, apparently if there's anything you like in any of the restaurants then customer services will print out the menu for you .

    There's a solo travellers meet up after that but it clashes with a sommeliers talk about the wines on board (which were good last night).

    This afternoon there's a lecture on orcas and the whales and dolphins of iceland which should be interesting then tonight it's meet the captain and formal dinner followed by a show 'hits from the flix'    Read more

  • Steve CatterallIcelandSteve Catterall
    Sunset just as we get to cross the Arctic circle, land tomorrowFirst sight of Iceland

    All at sea

    March 15, 2022, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ 🌧 6 °C

    Well, rather enjoyed last night which I didn't think I would but woke up with a bit of headache. Decided to have breakfast in the buffet on one of the top decks, definitely a mistake all is grey out of the windows apart from BIG waves.
    Trouble with this restaurant is that you can see what's in front of the ship...not much until the front dips down then all you see is it crashing into the waves 😱

    Think I will find some indoors lecture,film or somewhere where I just can't see the sea

    Woo hoo calm sea, sunshine and reasonable cloud cover, things are looking up and with luck should see land before the sun sets, captain just given temperature tonight as minus 2 to minus 4 😱

    Just crossed over the Arctic circle on the way to Akureyri, well that's one tick on the box I wasn't expecting so woo hoo😄

    Wow captain just came on tannoy to tell people that the northern lights are visible, one guy who's into them reckons it's only a weak display but hey it's another tick in the box

    Well even if the whales don't come out to play tomorrow it's a great start today 😊😊    Read more

  • Steve CatterallIcelandSteve Catterall
    What a view for breakfast

    Akureyri

    March 16, 2022 in Iceland ⋅ ⛅ -2 °C

    Well up with the lark and so many layers on , not put my gloves on yet and my fingers feel like they're dropping off.

    Breakfast now then sail down the fjord to dock.

    God getting excited now ha ha, just been advised that the wind factor makes it MINUS SEVEN !!

    Well got off the boat/ship to find Icelandic TV there to interview the passengers ha ha, 'what made you want to come here? ',. Hmm that's a hard one to answer lol

    Got on the boat to go hunting the whales and it really was freezing, we did get to see a big pod of white nosed dolphins though, they were absolutely fantastic but could I get a decent pic or video hmmm nope.

    After coming back I went for stroll around the town/village, what a lovely place small but nice, even found a supermarket to get some real coffee 😄    Read more

  • Steve CatterallIcelandSteve Catterall
    Woo we,'re docking
    And now it's snowingSnow coming in

    Storms and then land

    March 17, 2022 in Iceland ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    Well port stop in isafjordur was cancelled as it was unsafe for the ship to dock in the harbour and the captain announce we would sail straight to Reykjavik and would expect to dock around 12 and have an extra night in the city.😄

    Hmm 10 am in morning and getting ready for going ashore, hello it's the captain again ..... Due to the storms Reykjavik port has been closed to all shipping and we are going to have to wait outside until we are clear.

    Now just bobbing up and down in a swell of 5 metres , can't even look for whales etc as visibility is about 200 metres 🤢🐳🐋

    Still we do have the ships entertainment crew sorting out something to do, me I think it's a day at the bar 🍺

    Well a really good mooch round town today, sorted plan for tomorrow now 😊    Read more

  • Steve CatterallIcelandSteve Catterall

    More exploring the capital

    March 18, 2022 in Iceland ⋅ ⛅ 0 °C

    Wow yesterday I was blown away with just how compact Reykjavik is, it's really friendly and today I'm going to explore further.

    Caught a bus out to perlan, Would definitely recommend a visit, it's worth it for the planetarium show which is completely mind blowing with a fantastic soundtrack.

    The ice caves are great, only I had left my big outside coat at reception not expecting the caves to be so bloody cold..doh !

    Caught bus back and went round Hallgrímskirkja church, it's massive and lovely inside, it started blowing a blizzard so no point in going up the tower but a magnificent building    Read more

  • Steve CatterallIcelandSteve Catterall

    Golden circle

    March 19, 2022 in Iceland ⋅ ☁️ 0 °C

    Well I've not seen any puffins or whales, apart from dead ones either stuffed or on plates! As it's my last day ashore it would be criminal not to do a golden circle tour. The Golden Circle is a circular route that covers about 300 kilometers and loops from Reykjavík into central Iceland and back in a day trip so I should see a few sights today.

    Eventful start went for stroll around gestasofa and when I went back for coach it had gone! Another coach took me to catch mine up at next stop🙄
    This is the place where you can actually see the two techtonic plates, one is Europe and one is Americas the guide reckons there is a place where people can stand with one foot in America and one in Europe but where we are the fault line is marked by the river

    The weather has taken a turn and it's really snowing, our next stop is at a geyser, the guide is really ott on health and safety, explaining if we get burned it may be half an hour to get a first aider, then an hour to get an ambulance and hour to get to hospital, real cheerful eh. Mind you it's strange to see water bubbling out of ground with steam all around, and it snowing ha ha, lots of signs saying water is 100 degrees.

    Someone explained all homes in Iceland are heated with geothermical hot water piped into large storage tanks and then into homes, apparently the heat loss is minimal due to pipework being super insulated.

    Well from the hot to freezing next, we are off to see the gullfos waterfalls. What a fantastic sight the pictures dont do it justice , the power is immense, coupled with the wind and snow make this really outstanding today. I think I would like to come here again in summer with no wind and when it's grass around not ice and snow but that said I wouldn't have missed seeing here in the conditions of today, it makes it more awesome.    Read more

  • Steve CatterallIcelandSteve Catterall
    Coconut prawns exquisite oh and a carafe of malbec 😘
    Omg sirloin to perfection, do you want salad sir...ermmm whyPoached pears with cinnamonWell coffee isn't good so dessert wine it is

    Homeward bound

    March 20, 2022, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ 🌬 4 °C

    The time has come to leave and head homewards, the forecast is for rough seas for 2 days but hey ho let's see. We should head towards the Faroe Islands and the two or a women on board think there may be a possibility of a whale sighting, but who knows with the size of these waves lol

    What a lovely day nice and relaxing, read some more in the coffee lounge looking out at a really calm sea, then watched footy and the evening meal in colours restaurant.

    Coconut prawn for starter
    Nice bottle of malbec, followed by sirloin,poached pairs and dessert wine    Read more

  • Trip end
    March 22, 2022
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