Day 10
According to today's plan, sailing around Eyjafjörður Bay and watching whale life was to be the strongest experience of the day. To avoid disappointment, we have set this agenda item conditionally. Many visitors to Iceland remained disappointed when their trip did not go well either due to bad weather or the absence of the whales. The morning showed quite favorable weather partly cloudy light wind and calm sea. So we went to the port of Hauganes with a slight optimism.
Fishing overalls were already waiting for us in the port. They fit us perfectly and were amazingly warm.
Ready to go.
There are two most important people on board - Captain ...
... and an observer.
We sailed out of the fjord for almost an hour.
Finally the good news came from the bridge. Whale at 2 o'clock position.
And here he is in his dive for food - The humpback whale. He performed in all his power first from a distance and after a while even up close.
Shots from a few meters away were already the icing on the cake. The humpback whale reaches a length of 15 meters and weighs up to 30 tons.
So finally our expectations were fulfilled more than 200%.
Satisfied with new experiences we leave Hauganes and go north. Traffic is minimal and therefore narrow tunnels with occasional avoidance points are not a problem.
The surrounding countryside is northern rough ...
... but beautiful at the same time.
The Herring Museum is in a small city Siglufjörður. Probably the only one in the world.
The first factory for herrings processing was established in 1911. The museum maps the whole process from hunting to drying, salt canning, and oil pressing.
Fish oil extraction equipment. From childhood I remember that the oil had a nasty taste.
Salted herring was an important Icelandic export item throughout the middle of the 20th century. They accounted for up to 50% of total exports.In 1969, however, the herring suddenly disappeared from the surrounding waters, and that was the end of this industry in Iceland.
We continue to the northernmost point of our journey to the coast of the Greenland Sea. Somewhere in the distance is the North Pole.
The nearest mainland in the meridian direction is Antarctica.
Today we will spend the rest of the day and sleep in this place. Hotel Kolkuós is located 8 km from the nearest settlement.
The hotel has four comfortably furnished rooms, a large common room with solid furniture, paintings and a piano. The kitchen has freezers with food supplies. Accommodation can only be booked online, the hotel does not have a reception. You come, you find out which room is available and you stay. You're leaving the next day. Neither check-in nor check-out. Can you imagine such level of trust?
The place where the hotel stands was originally a fishing port. Today, only this solitary building and vertebrae from the spine of a whale remind the old times.
The bonus of this place is the beautiful photogenic coast.
The day began with a series of beautiful shots. And it seems that this day will end in the same way.
Landscape with subtle opal shades in the last flashes of the evening.
The evening northern light gives the shots an incredible atmosphere.
A miniature world hidden in a veil of fantasy ...
... a land of elves and fairies. Thank you Mother Nature for these wonderful shots!