The day started much like every other day in Iceland, we woke up to the sun shining (24 hours of sun) and a hotel breakfast. The breakfasts haven’t been bad, but they are all the same. Usually there is a coffee machine that makes cappuccino, so that is good. I am practicing for when I go back to Italy. Once everyone got a bite to eat, we headed out for the day. Ryan spotted the first whale of the day, and Melissa saw the first seal.
For those of you who know me, you know I have an obsession with time and being on-time. For me, if you are less than 10 minutes early, you are late. Why this is relevant is because we had a 6pm reservation for the ferry to connect us to our next location. There was a bunch to see and although Melissa has done an excellent job navigating us around Iceland, I still obsessed, just a little bit, about when we would make it to the ferry launch. Anyway, we are on vacation, right? Let’s vacate the hotel and drive to see some stuff!
First stop of the day was Latrabjarg, the western most point of Iceland, and Europe. This was another opportunity to see puffins in the wild. Like most places outside of the US, there was a nice sign letting us know we could fall to our deaths AND a little rope marking where it was safe to walk. At least I assume that is what it was for, I can’t read Icelandic. The good news is none of us fell, and we saw lots of puffins and other seabirds. I am still just a bit shocked that tour buses drive down what are basically one lane dirt roads on the sides of mountains, but they do. This was also true in Ireland. Luckily, I did not come face to face with a tour bus. I did, however, encounter a dump truck twice. I recognized the driver. He was completely unperturbed with the other folks on the road. I think he was moving gravel from one location to another. There is a good deal of road construction happening all over Iceland. I feel the back roads, which are dirt and gravel, are always being repaired and groomed. They really are not bad at all. I did get the chance to back up a 9 degree incline, in a two wheel drive 9-passenger van, on the cliff side of the road. Did I mention the roads can get a bit narrow?
In order to ensure we made our ferry, Melissa put us at the furthest most point first. Then we back-tracked to see the other things she had planned. The next stop was Breidavik with another golden sand beach. She it trying to see all the differently colored, and named, beaches. We have seen black sand, and diamond beach. Gillian and I saw golden sand beaches while everyone else was riding horses. So, this was the time for the whole family to get gold. The best place to stop was a little hotel and café since there was only a short walk to the beach. With the tally at 3, we only have one more color to go…
Raudasandur is one of the most unique beaches in Iceland and gets its color from pulverized scallop shells. Getting to the pink/orange sand beach was on yet another back road, across one of the fingers to the fjord next door. Melissa insisted the speed limit sign said 20 kph, but I am certain it said 50. There are two places to park in order to access the beach, the first one was the church, but the parking was completely full. Not to mention it was a 1.5 km hike each way across the intermediate marsh. Melissa did target us getting there at low tide, so the ground was only spongy. We went down the road to the camping area. There was plenty of parking here and the hike to the beach was across completely dry ground. Not only was it easier for us to walk, but it was also the perfect place for the &(!#*^$%@#* arctic terns to nest. We made it almost half way down the path before we had to ‘tern’ back. They really are aggressive when protecting their nests. We went back to the church and decided to hoof it quickly to the beach for a pic. Do you remember earlier when I mentioned I was obsessive about time? There was still plenty of time (more than plenty as we will find out later) to make it to the sand. The going was slow and only Elizabeth and Gillian got all the way out. I am not sure Gillian’s shoes will ever be the same. Melissa did make them at least look decent.
The last scheduled stop on our trip to the ferry was an old boat wreck up on shore, Gardar BA. Gardar was the first Icelandic steel ship, built in Norway in 1912. When under Icelandic ownership, it was used for whaling and then herring fishing, before being dismissed on this beach in 1981.The boat was really cool and I was able to fly the drone and take some pictures.
The final part of the plan was now upon us, we were heading to the ferry! Not really knowing what to expect at the ferry landing, we assumed this would be another small town with some facilities. It was not. It was really just a dock on the side of the road and we needed snacks and the potty. The other thing that is very common in Iceland is a hotel or koffihaus on the side of the rode. We remembered one just a little back from the way we had come. Sure enough, we found it and settled in to wait for the anointed hour (Melissa’s insert—it was closer to an hour and a half. We had so much more beach time.). I was wondering if we could spend the entire time we had to wait just sipping coffee and eating waffles and cake. We did spend quite of bit of that time doing just that. The rest was utilized perusing the display they had in the basement.
Come time, we were directed into the ferry and came up to the passenger lounge to play cards, and drink more coffee. Two and a half hours later we docked in Stykkishólmur and made it to our hotel for the evening.
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