Hofsos

Hofsos, a small village on the north west side of Iceland. Anchored further offshore than previous stops so the tender boats ran a shuttle service between the ship and harbour. The tide was going out, when we arrived so used the old tyre fixed to the harbour wall to jump off. The sea level had dropped another couple of feet on return so more of a jump and trusting the crew in the boat to prevent an inadvertent swim. The village is the location of the Iceland Emigration Museum, Three converted old buildings, 2 at harbour side and 1 in the village by the river. These buildings were packed with pictures and stories of some of the 20,000 Icelanders who emigrated to Canada, America and Brazil ( Brazil was a surprise, but Brazilian Government offered to pay the passage for the initial group and send a ship for the others. The main areas of settlement were Montana {US) and NewIceland (Canada) which although further south than their Icelandic homes the conditions for farming were significantly harder than their Iceland homes with its “island” weather. we walked further into the village and along the coast as far as the swimming pool where a few villagers were enjoying the 80 F temperature in the geothermal pools. Rain in the morning when cruising but drier weather on land. The moisture in the wind made it feel colder.Read more