I no longer have those cute little maps the cruise line provided, so our blue dot is done! Instead, I found this post card of Iceland, showing in dashes the “Ring Road” we plan to drive. I’ve marked our beginning and ending points for Day 1 in red. We're on our own now... We were…
Day 8 (Last Day) of our Icelandic Cruise
We’re still in Reykjavik, but we left our ship at 8:30 am, saying good-bye to the wonderful crew and staff. Here's a final shot of the harbor as we headed out. For our final day of the cruise, we chose a shore excursion that took us through the geothermal landscape of Krysuvik-Solfataras. We also visited…
Day 7 of our Icelandic Cruise
Our blue dot has docked in Reykjavik again, and our shore excursion was an 8-hour tour of the “Golden Circle.” At our first stop, we visited Thingvellir National Park, a UNESCO site. We walked along the rift valley between the North American tectonic plate and the Eurasian plate. So, we stepped on two continents today.…
Addendum to Day 6 of the Icelandic Cruise
I must have been in a rush this morning, because I missed a couple of things from Day 6. First, here’s the Norwegian church in town and the local cemetery: AND… A little before dinner we were visited by a pod of orcas (killer whales)! Jay’s photos are in a format that I can’t use…
Day 6 of our Icelandic Cruise
Today, our blue dot is located at Heimaey, an island off the southern coast of Iceland. It is the only one of 15 Westman Islands inhabited by humans, but since they’re in a very active volcanic area, there is definitely a risk! Here are some shots around the island: In 1973, an eruption on the…
Day 5 of the Icelandic Cruise
Our blue dot shows we’ve docked in the fishing town of Isafjordur. In spite of its relative isolation, the town is known for its rather urban atmosphere, flourishing cultural life and rich heritage of music and art. We started our shore excursion with a scenic bus drive bus drive to a hike. This is the…
Day 4 of the Icelandic Cruise
Today we’ve sailed just a short distance, and as you can see, our blue dot is at Akureyri, back on the mainland of Iceland. Often called the capital of northern Iceland, Akureyri has been a major trading post since the 9thcentury and has become the administrative, commercial and cultural center of the north. The outing…
Day 3 Puffins (Cont’d)
Here are the REAL photos of the puffins from Grimsey Island. As I mentioned, terns and puffins share cliffs -- and sometimes gulls do too, so if you see any white birds, those are either terns or gulls. Puffins are not especially graceful on land... But they ARE beautiful! Notice how the parents hold the…
Day 3 of the Icelandic Cruise
Today we’re on Grimsey Island. You’ll notice that the blue dot on this map is as far north as we’ll go. It’s a very small island with a summertime human population of less than 100 and a bird population of probably more than 1,000,000! We were taken to the Island by tender. In addition to…
Day Two of the Icelandic Cruise
Yesterday we were in Reykjavik and today we're in Grundarfjordur. (See the blue dot?) We slept a little late this morning, and almost missed breakfast! Here’s my first shot from our cabin’s deck: About noon, we docked at Grundafjordur, nestled on the banks of a fjord and ringed with mountains. The three of us had…
Jay's & Pat's Adventures 