Day 10 - The wonders of the deep

 I woke up excited... and ridiculously early!

Today I had booked. myself on a whale watching tour on one of the fast boats... it cost more for one of these boats but I figured I would get closer to any whales to be seen... fingers crossed.

I set out on my bike with plenty of time to find my way to the harbour. How nice to be riding an unloaded bike... free of the weight for a bit. I made my way to the trail that ran alongside the sea to the north of the campsite... It ran all the way to the harbour where I needed to be. It was a nice little trail, with some sculptures along the route... in particular the viking longboat sculpture which I think is really cool. Also an old white house stood out... but more of that later.

I reached the harbour with plenty of time to spare and sat and watched the world go by with a coffee and a breakfast muffin... a nice little interlude for sure.

When it was time, went to get suited up in drysuits to keep warm out on the boat and in no time we were skimming/thumping up and down on the way to puffin island... our first stop!

This is where the puffins go to breed and although it is the end of the breeding season there arw still some around. I suppose I haven't thought much about puffins but was surprised to learn than they dive very well, they generally fly close to the surface, they dig burrows for their nests and they stay in the same pairs for many seasons, meeting up at the same burrow.

They were quite cute and we saw many of them swimming round with fish in their mouths.

Then onwards and we came to a point where several boats were sitting drifting... apparently a good spot...

Then a puff of water off the surface... thar she blows...

A humpback...

I can't really describe how F(#@ing cool it was to see this magnificent creature glide in and out of the water with a few tail slaps to show off with...

We followed this one, who seemed to be playing with us, for about 30 minutes, watching for the fin to appear, followed by the spurt of water and then the rest gliding over the water amd back down into the depths again... then again it surfaced, right by our boat... so close to us.

After a while the rest guide decided we should leave this one be and we went in search of other whales...

A quick sighting by the guide made the boat skid to a stop but what may or may not have been a porpoise decided that it didn't want to be seen today so we moved on...

and then another shout... over there!

A minke whale, who seemed a little shyer than the humpback and didn't want to be seen as much but enough to see the fins gliding in and out of the water.

Then he just disappeared...

What a day!

We raced back to the harbour with a nice little spin along the shoreline.

What could top that! Not much methinks.

I decided that I should cycle around Reykjavik a little, see what it was all about. To be fair, it was a nice city to cycle around, easy to navigate and find my way around... no major hustle and bustle... seemed pretty calm. I went to the Lutheran church at the top of the hill, a magnificent structure rising way above anything else here... interesting architecture if you are into that sort of thing. 

The normal array of shops and eateries and I did pop into a souvenir shop to buy a fridge magnet just in case I didn't get another chance. I also stopped at the white house... turns out it was where Gorbachov and Reagan ended the cold war!! 

I also found out today that Iceland only gained independance from Denmark in1944... it seemed a bit of a wierd time... you would think either before or after the war... but the boat captain from the whale tour said that basically they snuck it in whilst everyone else had bigger things to worry about!! A quick stop. at my fast becoming fave superstore Kronan! to pick up some supplies for my last few days. 

Then back to the campsite to prepare dinner and get stuff ready for moving on tomorrow. In the few days I have left I will cycle slightly north to Thingvillir national park and spend a few days there before heading to Keflavik for my flight home.

What a day!

















Comments

  1. Unknown18 August 2021 at 11:22

    Great photos. Love the whales. I rather like the Church architecture..so unusual. Mum x

    ReplyDelete

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