Modes of transportation

Sometimes, when Cas and I go somewhere, we use many modes of transportation in the destination we visit, and today was one of those times.  We flew and we floated.  Our official tour starts in a day and a half, but we came to town early to do all of the add-on activities we could add to the trip.  That’s where the food walk and the “Inside the Volcano” adventure came from.  Our tour company booked them for us in advance of the full-group travel.  And today, we had two things to do.  We began the day with a taxi ride to the small airport inside the city of Reykjavík.  It’s not the one where the international flights arrive, but instead, the one where the helicopter tours originate.  Our geothermal tour was just that.  It was a helicopter ride to a spot close to town where there is a lake and a series of bubbling, steaming hot springs.  The landscape was as strange and foreign as the inside of yesterday’s volcano.  Living in Dallas certainly provides contrast.  We landed and walked around the Hengill geothermal area.  It had bubbling mud pots, a sort of wafting sulfur smell and some of the prettiest (if strangest) landscape you could hope for.  All in all, pretty great.  And the helicopter ride was very smooth.  It was not nearly as loud as you may think, and the six passengers all appeared reasonably comfortable inside of the aircraft.  

Our pilot was named Thor.  I kind of love that his name was Thor.  It’s about the most Nordic name you could ask for.  He was calm, cool and inspired confidence.  He flew us in and out of that space, and I asked him, since he comes to this place several times each day, if he ever got tired of it or stopped saying wow.  He said it it’s different every time he goes there, so no, it never gets old to him.  

You really have to check out the photos in the album on this one. They’re pretty spectacular.  

When we left there, we had a cab ride back to our hotel.  We’re not really taxi people, but most folks we spoke with assured us that, in the absence of our own rental car, a cab ride to and from the airport was the best path.  The confidence we had in Thor and his helicopter was not matched by our confidence in the cab driver on our return to the hotel.  The cab driver talked with his hands a lot- both of them- and he turned to check that we were understanding what he had to say.  And while it’s good practice for polite conversation to establish eye contact and check for understanding, you automatically get a pass on that if you are driving a car.  This isn’t something you should have to explain to a cab driver, for heaven’s sake.  

So, after the helicopter ride and the somehow more harrowing cab ride, Cas and I opted for an afternoon nap.  Day and night are kind of wonky, here, and we’re adjusting as well as possible, but sometimes, the day calls for a nap.  It’s a good thing, too.  We had a few hours in mid day to flop on the pillows and rest before we started moving again.  The evening had us booked on a whale watching adventure.  We walked to the old harbor by way of the main downtown area- so we could stop for a late lunch/early dinner.  I was feeling the need for  cheeseburger, and Cas got a fish sandwich at a cute little spot with a few tables out on the sidewalk.  Today is another beautiful, sunny day in Reykjavík, which we’re told is unusual.  It rained a little bit on our way from the airport to the hotel when we first arrived, but it hasn’t rained since then.  The forecast calls for rain tomorrow, though, so maybe our luck will run out, there.  The sun and the crisp air was perfect, so we took advantage of the outdoor tables on the way to the whale watching excursion.  It was a pretty long walk to the old harbor, but we were happy to arrive.  It was a three hour adventure. The theme from Gilligan’s Island was very prominent in my mind as we embarked on that three hour tour, in fact.  Thankfully, the fates smiled on us and we got back to the same dry land we took off from.  

The whale watching was really, really amazing.  I feel like I am recycling adjectives, but I don’t know what else to tell you.  It’s prime time for humpbacks to be really close to the coast of Iceland.  The guide on the boat said they come in the summer to this part of the world to eat and fatten up, then they head south to mate.  They like to do this seasonally, and summer is the time to dine in Icelandic waters.  

Shortly after we took off, a whale was swimming parallel to us.  The guide seemed surprised that he was that close to the shore, but it was a good start for us.  I was trying to get just one good picture of his tail- proof that I saw a real live, honest-to-goodness humpback whale- and I would be satisfied.  

Now, I believe he was coming out to get us and encourage us to locate his friends.  We made our way out to the spot where the professionals on the boat knew that the whales were feeding.  We were told to look for the spray from the blowholes, then watch that location to see them dive down for food.  We kept our eyes on those sprays, and we were not disappointed.  There were at least six different whales the guide wound up talking about, but it was probably more.  I was all excited to take photos of them breathing up at the surface then flopping their tails into the water, when we saw something that I didn’t expect to ever see outside of the television.  One of them was practically leaping out of the water.  The guide over the intercom said he was breaching, which seems an appropriate term for the behavior.  I figured that it was a teenage boy whale trying to impress a girl whale- like he told his friend, “Hold my beer- I’m gonna jump around.”  I think I have worked with teenagers for too long, folks.  But seriously, I hope the girl whale was sufficiently impressed.  We all were.  I mean- just wow:

I see plenty of really cool stuff when Cas and I travel, but this one actually took my breath away.  I legitimately gasped.  Spectacular.  After that, it was definitely time to head back to the hotel.  It was another long walk.  I blame those two taxi rides for the fact that I am ending this day at a scant 15,650 steps.  Yesterday?  No cab rides, and 18,120 steps.  Tomorrow, we have a van coming to pick us up and take us to the place where we will ride Icelandic horses, so they will be doing the majority of the stepping for us.  I could use a little break, actually.  We did stop on the way back to have a light dinner.  Our cheeseburger and fish sandwich were late in the afternoon, so the tapas place was kind of perfect.  It was kind of an Icelandic and Spanish fusion spot, so we had tapas plates of Icelandic foods.  They offered some standard things- scallops (which we loved), lobster, prawns, chicken, etc.  They also had more exotic fare.  We could have selected foal, puffin or kangaroo.  Not what my local menus in Dallas ever say on them, I can promise you that.  We drank a glass each of Spanish wine and had some small portions for dinner.  And for the first time on this trip, we heard music that was sung in a non-English language.  It wasn’t Icelandic, though.  It was Spanish.  Of course.  I mean, it was a fusion restaurant, after all.  

But that’s all I have for now.  Go have a look at the photos, and please play back the video ones of the whales.  We both caught a few frames of that young fella trying to impress the girls.  

tinyurl.com/DunlapIceland