Iceland

17^th July – At sea

After three consecutive city visits it’s good to get a sea day and rest up, doing the tourist thing is quite exhausting.

Once again the ships fog horn has been sounding every minute and we are travelling on the edge of an increasing low pressure

Wild seas and strong cold winds whipping spray off the waves and looking like an undulating snow field, the old girl is rolling something dramatic. (so is the ship).

Great news as I was passing through the Atrium area where the service desk is located I asked about my phone mainly to get details for insurance claiming. The girl at the desk couldn’t find the reference paperwork so went and checked in the pursers safe and came out with my phone. It had been found in the Southampton terminal and handed in, that means I misplaced it at the security check-point.

I was extremely pleased to get it back but quite annoyed that 1) It was five days later and they hadn’t contacted me as pre-arranged. 2) When I filled out the lost report the day after leaving Southampton the phone must have already been on board. – Like I said though I’m pleased to get it back.

18^th July – Iceland

Due into Reykjavik at 1300 we woke to a bright clear day with wind and swell reduced to a pleasant motion.

Even during breakfast (0900) we could see the outline of mountains in the distance and everyone got excited when we could see what we thought was an iceberg off to port, well it looked very white in the sunshine but I’m 99% sure it was a huge rock sitting up out of the sea.

‘Iceland is a land of volcanoes and glaciers, lava fields and green pastures, boiling

thermal springs and ice-cold rivers teeming with salmon.

This unspoiled demi-paradise is also home to a very old and sophisticated culture.

The northernmost capital in the world, Reykjavik was founded in 874 when Ingolfur Arnarson threw wood pillars into the sea, vowing to settle where the pillars washed ashore.

Today, Iceland is an international center of commerce and home to one of the most technologically sophisticated societies in the world.

Reykjavik is the gateway to Iceland's natural wonders, which range from ice fields to

thermal pools.

The island is in a continual process of transformation much like its society, which blends Nordic tradition with sophisticated technology.’ – travel brochure

Our planned shore coach tour started at around 1330 included a late lunch at 1730 and we got back to the ship at 2230 still broad daylight.

We drove through the main centre of Reykjavik a small modern city and out into the country our first stop was at a reservoir with a difference, it has been built to serve as a tourist attraction, a spiral stairway takes you up the centre to a large food area inside at the top with an observation deck outside giving 360 degree views of the city and surrounding mountains that have patches of snow on them. Surrounding the outside walls are huge insulated tanks that hold hot water from Iceland’s thermal areas this is used to heat the houses and buildings around the city hence you only see chimneys on the very old homes. Water, electricity and heating is very cheap in Iceland as they are making use of the very accessible geothermal activity.

Our coach took us through an ever-changing countryside made up of numerous extinct volcanoes and ancient lava fields, icy rivers and the ever present steam escaping from some sort of thermal activity.

We stopped at a geothermal power station also set up as a tourist attraction, watched a video and listened to a lecture regarding Iceland’s geology its thermal activity and how they tap into it for power generation and hot water distribution. A lot of research is gone into before a bore is put down to ensure over production from each hot spot doesn’t take place.

I remember several years ago visiting a friend in Rotorua NZ and they told me how every man and his dog had put down a small bore and were extracting steam or hot water to heat their houses and in doing so they had reduced the thermal activity in all of the tourist attractions which of course was a major concern as boiling mud pools became solidified bogs, bubbling hot water springs stopped bubbling and the mighty geysers were reduced to poor showings. I don’t know if they have improved since domestic extraction was controlled.

Adjacent to where we had our late lunch was a small walk to an active geyser that spurted hot water into the air every 7 minutes.

At another location in the distance we could see an enormous glacier and in the opposite direction we could see the volcano that erupted a few years ago and disrupted global air travel for several days. Nancy’s sister Nola got caught up in that fiasco.

At one point of our tour we walked to an observation point above a massive spectacular water fall where the icy wind and drifting spray made warm layers and beanies a Godsend the water obviously coming from melted snow and the distant glacier.

Later we saw an unusual sight where two continental plates are separated by a narrow gorge, on one side is the American Plate and on the other the European Plate the two are only a few metres apart and the gap is increasing gradually each year. – fascinating.

According to our guide lava flows take about 7,000 years to weather to a point where they sustain what looks like moss and at least 10,000 years weathering before grass and then eventually scrubby bush establishes. Most of the country looks very green, obviously there is a high rain fall and most of the place has weathered enough to at least support moss, grassy plains and in places the government is experimenting with tree species to establish forests for timber and soil erosion control.

The cost of living in Iceland is very high with prices of items in shops over the top compared with any where else.

Farming used to be the mainstay but appears to be dwindling, tourism is the go and they have geared accordingly. Farm equipment was all very modern, personal transport had all the normal cars that you see anywhere else in the world, heaps of 4wd’s with big wheels and tyres. Being summer and a Saturday there were lots of people camping in tents and the campers on the back of 4wd’s.

English is their second language and has to be taught in all the schools.

On the menu in Iceland is whale meat (pilot whale) and Puffin a sea bird with an unusual beak.

Iceland is a very clean, modern clinical place, unusual and certainly worth a visit. I wouldn’t want to live there though especially with the continual threat of volcanic eruption.

We now have four days at sea travelling south west to Halifax.