Expected weather: Hi 50F / Low 42F, Rain 61%

Seas: Moderate

Population: 2,744 / 352,721

We have arrived in Iceland! And, yes, that is the town’s population as well as the country of Iceland’s total population. ĺsafjördur is the 13^th largest town in Iceland. We have 7 cities in Texas alone that have larger populations than the whole of Iceland. Of course, everything is bigger in Texas, you know! Iceland at 103,000 km² is approximately the same size in total area as the U.S. state of Kentucky (104,656 km²), but Kentucky has a population of 4,505,836 per the 2020 census. That really helps put into perspective the remoteness and the challenges faced by Icelanders from infrastructure to commerce. Tourism has replaced fish exports as Iceland’s largest industry, and you can imagine the hit their GDP took during the pandemic and why they were one of the first countries to reopen to tourists.

Since we weren’t scheduled to arrive until after mid-day, I booked a massage treatment this morning. However, last night at Manfredi’s, Paula and our waitress Peni convinced me to get up early and come to Mamsen’s for the famous Mamsen’s waffle and another excellent caffe latte. Peni works there in the mornings. I don’t really do early morning, especially as we moved forward another hour last night (we are now on GMT time with no offset). However, I woke up about a quarter til seven and the ship was still rocking pretty good (we definitely feel it in the forward cabins on 8), so I dressed and headed to Mamsen’s. Peni was glad to see that I made it and Paula was genuinely surprised to find me already there when she arrived. I guess I was still asleep when Peni brought me my waffle because I forgot a picture…I may have to find a day to go back before we disembark and get it again, just to make sure I liked it! LOL!

I had the Deep Tissue Swedish Massage this time and I knew in about 5 seconds that I was way overdue for this level of body work. Even though retired, I still spend a lot of time on the computer and don’t always have the best posture. Ok, I seldom have the best posture! I may need to find a regular masseuse again when we return home.

When I got out of my massage, I had a text that the others were watching the Order of the Blue-Nose Ceremony taking place on the pool deck. This event marks the crossing of the Arctic Circle and consists of taking a plunge in what is normally the hot tub, but for this ceremony it is filled with ice! Upon exiting, the person is dabbed on the nose with what appeared to be whipped cream, then given a shot of Aquavit (Norway’s national liquor flavored with caraway seeds). Somewhere between 50-75 brave guests did the plunge. We will all receive certificates though for crossing the Arctic Circle. That’s good enough for me!   

As this is one of the few non-tender ports, Dave and I booked a small group excursion with Arctic Shore Ex called “Dynjandi Waterfall Express”. Our guide/driver, Sonja, gave us the history of the Westfjords area as we drove through two lengthy tunnels each several kilometers long to cross four splendid fjords – Onundarfjordur, Skutulsfjordur, Dyrafjordur, and Arnarfjordur – on our way to the “majestic icon of the Westfjords”, Dynjandi waterfall. Dynjandi means “thundering noise” and at 99m high, 30m wide at the top and 60m wide at the base of its plunge pool, it was thunderous. The entire cascade consists of an additional 6 smaller waterfalls. It was cloudy as we left ĺsafjördur and as we cleared the first tunnel it was pouring rain! Still rainy after the second tunnel and as we approached the Dynjandi parking area, it started to look like the sun might break through. We donned our rain gear and started up the path towards the falls. By the time we reached the second small falls the rain had nearly stopped. For the next hour that we were there we had gorgeous sunlight reflecting off the falls, with an intermittent cloud or two, and some rainbows. As we prepared to leave for the hour drive back to our ship, it clouded up and rained pretty much the whole way. We saw isolated farms and villages spread amongst the fjords, the sheep roaming the mountainsides and the roadsides, and Dave even spotted a couple of seals along the shore of one fjord. The Westfjords are the oldest part of Iceland geologically and our guide told us that they will look much different from the rest of the country we will see. There have been no active volcanoes in this area in millions of years. Once again, we were blessed with great information, some sun, and a limited rain impact on our excursion.  

Keith and Paula went on the included tour, ÍSAFJÖRDUR & BOLUNGARVÍK VILLAGE, they had a little more rain on their excursion, but enjoyed it overall. At one of the stops, they listened to a fisherman dressed in full sealskin attire explain (in Icelandic, but with the guide translating) the life of the 14 fishermen and one woman who all lived together in basically a small hut.

The four of us met in the Explorers’ Lounge for a post-excursion snack and drinks and to share our tour experiences for the day. We decided to go to The Restaurant tonight again and arrived around 7pm – it was pretty empty! Some of the tours weren’t quite back yet and it seemed many who returned close to dinner time probably just headed to the World Café or ordered room service tonight or had eaten in town. For starters, I got the Brie in Crispy Phylo (with candied pecan & cranberry compote), the others got Greek salad; for mains tonight, the guys got steaks and Paula and I had the halibut. For dessert, I chose the Chocolate Flabbergast (creamy & dense chocolate base, rocher shell, tonka cream). It was very chocolatey and very dense – I couldn’t finish it – mostly because I’ve already eaten more desserts in the last week than in the past year! The others all chose the Viennese Apple Strudel with bourbon vanilla gelato. All the food was excellent and we enjoyed the rare quietness of The Restaurant this evening.

We walked downstairs to The Living Room / Atrium to await Sasha’s 9pm melodies. We had departed the sheltered dock of ĺsafjördur around 8pm. By the time Sasha started tinkling the ivories with some classical pop, the ship seemed more into rock ‘n roll. We all lost our internet connections and I determined I’d not finish today’s blog until tomorrow. The rock ‘n roll of the ship continued all night, but it most definitely wasn’t a party! We awoke to discover we were still a considerable distance from our next port of Akureyri. But more on that in the next post!