Farewell to Iceland

We left Reykjavik harbor this morning about 9:00, saying goodbye to that
beautiful country and heading north to cross the Arctic circle. All of
Iceland is slightly below the circle, so for the crew to join the "Order
of the Bluenose", we have to take a northern detour to get to our next
destination; Belfast, Northern Ireland. We have plenty of time because
our original itinerary called for us to go to Kiel, Germany on the Baltic
coast. Belfast is much closer so the Captain plans to steam around the
Norwegian and North Seas, past the Faroe, Ornkey, Shetland and Hebrides
islands and the coast of Norway. It is the journey that is important for
these cadets, not the destinations.

The last destination though, was spectacular. On Monday, I went on the 8
hour "Golden Circle" tour to the east of Reykjavik. This guided tour took
us out to the stark countryside to see some of the natural wonders of this
country. We drove through treeless, rocky plains that streched on forever
to distant walls of soaring mountains.

Our first stop was a gorge that is actually the splitting point of the
American and European tectonic plates. Near the gorge was the
Parlimentary Plain, where the ancient Icelandic tribes met to form a
nation. Heading further east, we stopped at the Goldfloss waterfall, not
as big as Niagra, but impressive just the same. Our final stop was the
town of Geyser and guess what they had there? GEYSERS, and a great lunch..
The only thing I'm sorry I didn't get to see was a glacier up
close, although I did see one in the distance.

Tuesday was white water rafting day. It was cold and windy and everyone
got wet, some more tham others. I didn't realize that the guides' goal
was not to keep us in the rafts, but to get everyone in the water at some
point. Brrrr. At least they gave us hot soup and coffee to warm us up
when done.

Captain Smith decided to stay in Reykjevik an extra day that will be
deducted from our next port. It was a good decision because the 17th was
their Independence Day and it was quite a party. They closed off the
whole town to cars and there were thousands of people in the streets.
There were booths and rides and music. They started after midnight the
night before and were still going strong when I left at 10:30 PM. Bjork
was a no-show, but it seemed that every other Icelander was there. The
only thing missing in their Independence Day from ours was fireworks.
They wouldn't have been any good since there was no darkness. They save
their firework displays for New Years when it is dark all day.

It's back to work today until we dock in Belfast next Thursday.