August 6 -- Whale Watching

We drove to Husavik for a whale-watching adventure, which I have to say was MUCH more successful than the two times we tried it in San Francisco. We started out wearing ALL our layers – shirt/sweater/wind-block fleece/rain jacket and rain pants, along with hat and gloves. They were handing out coveralls, so we finally agreed to add them too. We looked like blue Michelin People! BUT it was warm. I didn’t realize how warm til the end of the trip when I took off the coveralls and got a bit chilly!

The newest thing in Michelin fashions...

The wind was out of the Northeast (think Arctic Circle) and the direction the boat traveled meant we were traveling between the waves rather than into them. LOTS of side to side rocking. Not good. Plus, other groups who arrived first locked down the lower deck area and some in our group noticed a space a couple decks up so we went up for the view, which was very good. Unfortunately, the side to side rocking was also somewhat more noticeable. I did well for about an hour or more, then headed to the lower deck to avoid embarrassing myself and decorating the coveralls. Jim stayed up on the upper levels and since we both had cameras, we actually got quite a few photos of the humpback whales who showed themselves several times. Jim also saw a minke whale, but he came up and went back down, and I was resting at the side of the boat with my eyes closed waiting for the next sighting announcement, so missed it.

Three hours later we landed and had a lunch opportunity before meeting at the Whale Museum. My tummy improved on dry land, so we had $20 hamburgers (food is NOT cheap here….) and met the group at the museum. It was pretty interesting in showing the different kinds of whales and they even had skeletons of at least six kinds. Unfortunately, the enclosed space and my formerly unhappy but now maybe overloaded tummy suggested a rest or departure were in order. I found a chair, Jim finished the museum, and we went back outside to walk, where I felt much better. What we discovered in this tourist town on a Saturday was that virtually every souvenir type shop, except one, had closed at 2pm. Seems kind of short-sighted with bunches of tourists getting off the boats around 1, but maybe it works for them.

This was the other main attraction in Husavik, site of our whale-watching adventure. We did NOT go in...

Back in Akureyri, we got ready for dinner with a local family. We divided into two groups, and the 7 of us had a wonderful time with ‘our’ family. Probably was the most enjoyable and educational of all the family visits we have done on these trips. It didn’t hurt that they were fluent in English, but they were also very eager to discuss Iceland’s politics. The father, Bjorn, had been a rock musician and then a TV journalist until the crash here in 2007-08, when all the most experienced people were let go. The mom (Artis (ar-teese') is the executive director for a museum here. They both had kids in their late teens/early twenties from previous marriages along with a 3.5 yr old boy and almost 1 yr old girl. When Bjorn lost his job, he apparently became a househusband and has taken to writing books, including one about his job-loss experience….it is called Homecoming and features a photo of his youngest son on the cover. They expressed pleasure at paying 40% of their income in taxes to support their social programs – free school through University (including grad school), free health care, 9 months of baby leave, 2 years of jobless benefits, state-supported alcoholism rehab, etc. At the end of the evening, Bjorn played two piano pieces he had composed. Plus the food was really good – Bjorn has fishing rights on the lake he grew up on (Lake Myvatn: only 10 families can fish there and can only take 200 fish/year) and they served us fresh-caught lake trout with home made French chocolate cake and whipped cream for dessert. All in all, a terrific evening.