Day 3 - Ísafjördur

Today finds us in Iceland's west fjords in Ísafjördur.  Located on the northwest side of Iceland, this is the home to small fishing villages and potentially the northernmost golf course in the world.

There wasn't much sun today, and it wasn't warm - well, it was warm for here at about 54-degrees, and no wind, so overall, it was a good day.

We bundled up and heading out for our tour of Ísafjördur & Bolungarvík Village.

After a brief drive around Ísafjördur, a small port village, we headed out to Bolungarvík. To get there, we had to drive through a tunnel - a long tunnel - nearly 5km (about 3 miles) long.

In Bolungarvík, we visited an old fishing settlement.  We heard about how they used to fish here in Iceland.

Their suits were made of sheep hide and were coated with fish liver oil to waterproof them.  I can't imagine the smell.  Their mittens were wool and had two thumbs, so they could be reversed.

Eight people used to fit in these boats for the four-week row over to Greenland.  They cast out 2km fishing lines and caught up to 1.5 tons of fish that filled the boat up to the white line.  All this while eight people were still in the boat.  For two weeks.  Rowing.  Icelanders were quite the hardy folk!  And, they lived to the ripe old age of 43.

When they returned, the fish were cut and dried in these drying huts.

They lived in semi-buried housing with fish processing on the lower floor and living space above.

 

They manually milled the fish bones into powder for other uses.

We went back through the tunnel.

Lupin was blooming everywhere.  It turns out that lupin is not a native Icelandic plant, but was introduced in one area in Iceland.  Lupin is very hardy and very prone to spreading.  Now, it is everywhere in Iceland.

Next, we stopped at an ice melt waterfall.

Did I mention the lupin?

After the tour, we returned to the ship and grabbed lunch.  Here's a look at the ship - I highlighted our room.

After lunch, we went on deck 7 aft and enjoyed the hot tub and infinity pool.  They have some crazy restrictions in place like the hot tub is limited to two people.  I hope this gets lifted soon since everyone onboard is vaccinated.

Some of the haze finally lifted, and we got a nice view of Ísafjördur.

As we sailed out, we got some nice views of snowfields still in place.

After a cocktail in the Explorer's Lounge, we had dinner at Manfretti's - an included alternative dining site on the ship. It was a wonderful, albeit slow dinner.

Tomorrow - on to Akureyri.