Vacation (Zero)Whale-Watching, Riding & 2nd Hike

2021-08-13Us Standard

[Photos taken 13-15 August 2021, posted online 19 December 2021. It’s still 8C/45F out, diagnosed covid-cases are again ominously close to breaking daily records, new regulations expected this week.]

Finnur returned to work mid-week, as he’d started his vacation a little ahead of me, but I still had a few more days and a strong need to Do Something.

The newspaper had a report that whale-sightings had been going unusually well, so I booked our first whale-watching tour ever. The weather was excellent, sun and no wind, but apparently all the sea mammals were done showing off, and we only saw one pod of dolphins that zoomed past and were in no mood to play, and one minke whale that also scampered off quickly. Deeming the tour a ‘miss’, the operator gave us free tickets for another ride good for two years, which can also be used sailing out from Akureyri in the north.

The following day we tried out yet another horse rental operator, this time by the edge of the city area. They offered a three-hour ride for experienced riders and a two-hour ride for novices, departing an hour apart, so that suited us well. Again the weather was exceptionally good!

On the last day of my vacation I went on my first long-ish hike with the walking group, 12 km/7.5 miles, which took up most of the day. It was really fun! (60-ish images total)

Friday 13 August 2021

By the harbor, this was not the boat we went out on, I sort of never got a good picture of it!
When we arrived downtown I parked a little ways away from the whale-watching ships, and just had to take a photo of this Skoda jeep. Emma was mortified to be asked to be in the photo!
Cool bike racks! Btw, that dry-docked ship is undergoing repairs. Dad used to work in/by the dry-docks, but almost none of the old buildings remain. It’s not obvious to me where the workers, gear and tools are being kept these days but somehow the dry-dock is still actively repairing ships.
We found our operator. Their entry area is actually a boat that’s no longer sea-worthy, and the actual boat you go out on is parked next to it.
We found a pride-flag, sadly the pride parade scheduled the weekend before had been covid-canceled. This was on the reception-boat deck.
Our boat, parked next to the old boat. A little to the right was the entrance into the bowels of the old boat.
Entering the old boat which cleverly is both a lobby and a gift-shop. I felt like we were playing with covid-fire as these were almost only tourists. Later on I would find one other Icelandic family traveling beside ours.
We parked ourselves in front on the top deck, and stayed there throughout the duration. The weather was so good we didn’t need to go inside, and also, covid.
Sailing past Harpa, the music hall.
Mount Esja off in the distance.
Enjoying the breeze. A little positional experimentation led us to discover that just leaning back a half-step almost entirely cut down on the wind that hit our faces. So weird!
The volcano erupting in the distance!
It was interesting to see all the mountains we routinely drive past on our way to the summer house from another angle. When the guides were hopeful we’d see something the deck got crowded with people, and then they sauntered off when little of note happened.
The kids got bored, and napped for a bit at my feet.
Conceding defeat, the boat returned to harbor. Apparently all the operators were in agreement that there was nothing to be found, for the first time in 10 days. Oh well.
Being Icelanders, we meandered towards the control room, and Emma got to try out sitting there.
I was there! The tour was about three hours long, and it was quite nourishing for the soul to be out on the sea on such a gorgeous day!
Bjarki also got to try “the chair”, and we hung out in the doorway as they “parked” the boat. We then drove home, and took it easy for the rest of the day. With the gorgeous weather forecast that weekend, Finnur quickly packed his bags and work-clothes and drove to house #2 to work on the wood some more. The rest of us had other plans… namely more horse riding!

Saturday 14 August 2021

The last horse rental ride of the summer was with Íshestar in Hafnarfjörður.
This horse rental is a skip and a hop outside the city, about 13 minute drive away from our house!
This is by far the fanciest operator housing we’ve been in, they have a large reception hall. Later on it would become apparent why.
Anna and Bjarki reading over the rules.
Bjarki and Anna on their horses. They went off along with one guide, and an American couple from Kansas. The couple were super experienced riders, owning their own horses, had on decorative cowboy boots that they swore they had not used to ride horses in the US (it’s strictly forbidden to use riding equipment that’s been used in other countries due to infection risk), and the guy had a knife strapped to his lower back in a fancy colorful leather sheath… which everybody casually ignored!
With the advanced group off and away, we returned to the hall to wait for Emma’s and mine’s tour to start, and lo and behold, soon the room was full of people! For the first time ever on our horse rental odyssey in Iceland there was an instructional video to watch! (Yes, the big kids watched it too, I just didn’t photograph it).
The crowd then went out to the staging area, and everybody got assigned to a horse. Also in a first, Emma was required to wear a back-brace. When we’d arrived, there had been cold wind blowing, but as time went on it subsided. I wasn’t sure about the wind status away from the stables so we had layers, but they would turn out to be very unnecessary.
The whole group rode slowly until we came to a Y-junction. There everybody was given a choice: continue going at a slow walking pace, or go a little faster. Emma and myself took the slightly faster lane. We kept going until we came to this lookout point. That’s mount Helgafell on the left, and I think that’s where the big kids were headed. (Slightly to the right of Helgafell, you can see three “bumps” on the ridge behind it, that’s where I hiked in November!)
The guides got off and took photos of the travelers. I found out there were Americans in the group, but none of them were wearing knives!
The volcano was being quiet, but it was interesting to see the old lava flow that had flowed on the flats below this hill.
On the way back, in between one of the quicker paces. What a beautiful area! Emma did really well, and it was obvious that she had gained a lot of confidence during her 6 week-long horse camp stint this summer.
After riding for two hours we were back at home base, and the horses were happy to be set free on this warm day.
Pretty horses.
Anna and Bjarki arrived after we did, and were all smiles.
With Finnur still out in the country, and myself departing on a hiking trip at 7:30 am, it fell to Anna to prep Emma for a soccer/football meet the following morning, so detailed instructions were assembled. Thankfully, Emma could catch a ride with a friend of hers, and with spectators banned due to covid, the lack of parental oversight wasn’t too glaring.

Sunday 15 August 2021

This day we hiked Þórðarfell (top of the map) and then walked on south to Rauðhóll (Red-hill) to check out the pretty colors, and old bread-baking cave, for a total of 12 km/7.5 miles. The town on the map is Grindavík, and you can see the Blue Lagoon there north of Grindavík.
Setting out. The sun had decided to abandon us, but the weather was still pretty mild. Also, I had not procured any walking sticks, not knowing why they’re such a good idea…!
We began by walking an old “national route” between towns, still in good condition from the olden days (before cars). It is a marked by a line of cairns.
All smiles, this was turning out to be a good day.
Approaching some elevations.
Impressive wall-feature. We all posed for a group photo by it.
Soon it was time to head up hill. Our goal was the top, marked by that pillar you can barely see.
Up on the first “shelf”, looking over the remains of one mount that has been mostly removed probably to build something else.
Looking back to where we’d come from.
The top in sight, just a quick meander up the hill towards it left.
We made it to the top, and by golly, it sure was windy up there!
We didn’t go down the way we’d come up, instead just continuing onwards and downwards.
It was around this point where I realized why walking sticks are a good idea. The gravel was loose-ish, and some extra stability would have been a good idea.
Our guide knew of a perfect location to sit and enjoy a little snack.
About an hour later we entered this bowl, which was so idyllic we just had to sit down for a bit, snack some more, and enjoy life. Moss is amazing!
Yours truly, feeling toasty.
Onwards we walked, and this time we found a cave.
Probably not a lot of shelter, but better than nothing.
The landscape became eerie for a bit, strange to think of this being traversed in dark winters.
Walking along a crater-edge. Craters are cool.
Before long we’d gotten back on the old national route.
We passed our starting point, and walked past it to this Red-hill which is close to an energy capture point.
Confirming that the ground was warm.
We clambered up and around, and I left our guide in the photo for scale.
Off the side of the parking lot there are stairs leading down to an old bread-baking cave.
The cave isn’t warm enough any more to bake bread in it, but it used to be!
The area is littered with caves, many of which contain heat. I’m told in the winter times that there can be snow everywhere, except around the cave openings.
By 4 pm I was back home, where I made a hot flask, and crawled into bed for the remainder of the day. Thankfully my problematic Achilles tendon recovered quickly and I was fine the next day. Phew!
Strava was quick to point out that I was nuts. Ok, fine! Thus endeth my summer vacation of 2021!