Húsavik whale watching and blue lagoon
In 2009 we went on a whale safari in Húsavik, but unfortunately without finding any whales. It is otherwise rare that you do not see the whales on the north coast, we have been told.
If you are unlucky enough not to spot whales, a voucher is issued for later use, without an expiry date.
We go up to the ticket booth and ask the whale about the activity. This time we were lucky to spot several humpback whales in the middle of the fjord.
Full of expectations, we jump on board the next ship that sails out.
After 45 minutes of sailing there is full value for money.
Two humpback whales come right up to the surface and are close to the ship.
It is a wild experience to see such large animals, so close. Húsavik is just a really good place to go on a whale safari. In order not to disturb the whales, they do not locate them with sonar.
These are purely visual observations. So there is a man standing up in the barrel at the top of a mast, keeping a lookout. So does everyone on board, of course. When they shout "whale at 14", the skipper turns the boat in the direction of 14 and then you may be lucky to see a whale.
In Húsavik there is also a whale museum. The old whale slaughterhouse has been converted into a museum. The Icelanders have discovered that it pays better to show live whales, instead of hunting and eating them.
It's actually only the tourists who eat whale meat in Iceland, they say.
We go in and look at pictures and equipment from when whales were slaughtered here.
There are lots of skeletons and stuffed birds.
Before we went on a whale watching trip, we had come to lock ourselves out of the car. It is not so lucky, as the spare key is also inside the car. Now we are lucky enough that Johnny is a mechanic and knows some tricks, so without going into details we can get into the car and move on.
We can now conclude that it is best to have the extra key with you.
After a good day at sea and a trip to the whale museum plus a self-inflicted burglary of our car, we have to find a place to camp.
We must have cooked some dinner and made the car ready for sleeping.
We sleep inside the car, so we are not so affected by wind, weather and noise. However, we are a little envious of those who open a roof tent at zero point five and then they are ready to sleep. We must have that one day too.
The next morning the trip goes to the lesser-known blue lagoon in Mývatn. About half the price of the famous lagoon at Grindavik, but just as good and with fewer people.
Freshly bathed, we head over to Reykjahlid and find Hverir, which is a large area of geothermal activity.
The earth seethes and bubbles. There are both boiling mud holes and beautiful tufts where the minerals have been built up into small columns over many years.
A small path leads up the mountainside. It is quite steep, but we are sure that there is a nice view of the area once you are all the way up there.
The view is great, but we don't quite get to the top. The path is steep and the surface is loose so it is not good to walk on.
We go down - before we roll down.
The north coast is followed from east to west.
The Vestfjords are absolutely fantastic, that's our new goal.
Along the way, a stop is made at a seal colony.
We take a break at a rest area, where we really have to have a picture together with the neighboring cars.
