Akureyri, Iceland

We arrived early and were cleared to go by 7:30 am. Our tour meets at 9 am. This is an independent third party tour. At one time, these tours were about half of what the HAL tours were. This generally is not the case anymore and the HAL tours are more competitive. One advantage of using a third party is the size of the group. All of the HAL tours are going to be large groups. At least 50. If the tour makes lots of stops, this can be an issue. The time it takes for some of these passengers to get off of the bus can be long. We are impatient. The 3rd party tours are sold by group size. Usually 19 is a good size.

We met with our tour representative and off we went. Our first stop is a waterfall and we did go through another very long tunnel. In the winter, people will come into the tunnel and pull aside to let the ice melt that has built up on their cars. The temperature in the tunnels remains consistent all year and is well above freezing.

All of our stops proved to be another safety nightmare. I think it will probably take someone dying and it making international headlines before something is done. It is very dangerous and people do all kinds of stupid things to take pictures. I didn’t take any pictures of the crowds here but people pass by each other on ridges of just a few inches. People were also going into a cave that was created by the movement of the tectonic plates. Can this be a smart move?

The pictures and video show the waterfalls, geo thermal activity, and a geo thermal power plant. Our guide said that a hole is bored about 2km down and there is enough heat to generate power.

It was warm again today and I was just in a t shirt. Iceland is nothing like I imagined. The scenery from a distance looks nice but it is not overwhelming like the Blue Ridge Parkway or the Grand Canyon. Lots of rock, not many trees. I haven’t seen one animal but we do get to enjoy the many fleas and gnats that fly around one’s face.

The tour lasted until about 4 pm. I am to receive the bag that I put on the plane last Monday today. This bag contained all of my clothes. I have been wearing the one pair of pants that I bought here on the ship and rotating between 3 t shirts and one collared shirt.

I imagined to be waiting for me as I got on the ship. No such luck. I called guest services and they just received the bag. Security was standing by because the scanner picked up evidence of a prohibited item. “Is there a heater in your bag”?, the agent asked. Of course I grew up in Detroit. If you were packing heat, you were carrying a gun. A heater was a gun. I was sure she didn’t mean that. We opened the bag and she looked around. There wasn’t any kind of appliance in the bag. Just clothes. She let me go and away I went back to the room.
Laundry has been so fast on this trip. Put something in the bag at about 7 am and it is back by about 4 pm. Nice and folded. Sometimes a thank you note from the person who folded it. This is the main reason I was able to make it through the week without many clothes.

The evening entertainment were the ship dancers. They usually do shows on days that we are in port. Very good show of singing and dancing done to canned music. The British Invasion was the theme. The words to the songs were as clear as can be but when the performers spoke, the accent’s were so heavy that it was difficult to understand. The girl that spoke was from Ireland and the guy was from Scotland. It’s amazing how they learn to drop consonants when they speak. I do hear that back home but I guess it’s a different set of consonants. Most of the speaking was unintelligible, at least for me.

Tomorrow we arrive in Husavik

1 thought on “Akureyri, Iceland”

  1. You are making me EXTREMELY nervous about all of this climbing on rocks (up and down) !!

    Glad you finally got your bag….aahhh

    The scenery and waterfalls are beautiful. We’re enjoying the pictures and, of course, your commentary

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