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| Our ship, Ocean Diamond |
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| Our Planned Route |
On
5/29, we boarded ProCruise’s Ocean Diamond along with 146 other passengers for
a 10 day/9-night cruise around Iceland. We started in Reykjavik and traveled
around Iceland in a clockwise direction, stopping at a different port every
day.
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| Lava Formations |
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| Snaefellsjokull Glacier |
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| Church Rock |
On our
first stop, in West Iceland, we took a Snowcat trip up on Snaefellsjokull Glacier
on top of a volcano. Down at the coast we walked along the shore to see birds
and unusual lava formations.
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| Puffin |
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| Oldest Windmill in Iceland |
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| Male Eider Duck |
Next,
we took a trip to Vigur Island, in the West Fjords to see how Eider duck down
is collected and processed. Due to high winds in North Iceland, our trip to
Grimsey Island was cancelled and replaced with a hike through a natural area on
the island of Hrisey.
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| Harbor Seals |
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| Siglufjordur |
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| Black headed Gull |
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| Hrisey Island |
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| Rock Ptarmigan |
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| Godafoss |
The following day we took a bus trip to Godafoss waterfall, and
Myvatn lake, took a soak at the Myvatn Nature Baths and enjoyed the impressive
lava formations at Dimmuborgir and other interesting sites.
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| Lava formations at Dimmuborgir |
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| Hverir, Geothermal Area |
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| Dressed for high speed adventure |
The best excursion was whale watching on RIB boats from
Husavik in North Iceland. We dressed in survival suits and then the driver hit
the gas. We got
airborne
with every wave, followed by a crash landing.
I didn’t know if my old back would survive the beating. When we finally slowed
down we were at Puffin Island and puffins were flying all around us. Then we
took off across the bay at breakneck speed to catch up to some whales that had
surfaced. We repeated this process several times until we had our fill of whale
pictures. Then we zoomed back to the dock. I took some pain meds but was still
stiff and sore the next day. Can’t wait to do it again!
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| Whale Watching |
In East Iceland, we toured a nature preserve and took a
Super Jeep into the Vatnajokull National Park. Next, in South Iceland, we
docked at Heimaey Island, The Pompeii of the North. Much of the town was half
buried from a volcanic eruption in 1973. The islanders prevented the closure of
their harbor, by pumping tons of salt water on the flowing lava. The experts
said this would never work, but it did. They
dug themselves out and the town is quite functional again. Quite an
amazing place! This island is also famous for the million puffins that nest
here. Then we returned to Reykjavik and said good-bye to our new friends.
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