Today was a true test of all the things I purchased before this trip. Today’s theme: water activities. Will my waterproof hiking shoes and rain pants stand the test of wet?
Our itinerary: whale watching and Dettifoss, Europe’s most powerful waterfall. This meant a bit of driving from our base at Akureyri. Bjuster the Duster was up for it.
Last night, I had one beer. ONE BEER. My body was like nah bruh- you gonna have a horrible headache – and I woke up early with a splitting headache. Fortunately, I was prepared traveler for headache attack and I busted out the pedialyte at 5am. Unfortunately, I forgot to set my alarm and spent the next few hours trying to slay said headache and sleeping.
We were woken up later than we intended by the house knocking at us – erm – I mean, Justin knocking on our door. We dashed out the door and I held very still for most of the ride to Husavik trying to convince my headache to get out through sheer force of will.
I was successful before we reached our destination (thank you, pedialyte, elixir of the gods) and we prepared to board our sailboat for whale and puffin watching.
Husavik is Iceland’s whale watching capital. The bay is deep and home to an abundant food source for the whales passing through. We also discovered it is home to angry birds cutouts for reasons we could not discern.
We had to suit up in these very attractive (and floatable) black and red suits which would also shield us from the elements. I thought I was prepared in my winter jacket and rain pants and fleeces but I was already thankful for these before we boarded as the wind off the water was biting. Also, they were incredibly flattering.
Sailboats away! We boarded our trusty boat, the Hildur (pronounced hill-doo-rrr, if you roll your r like when one says Mordor properly) and set out towards Puffin Island.
Fun puffin facts:
- I took basically zero good pictures of them because their wings beat 400 times per minute as they fly everywhere (also I had self-restraint and did not purchase new camera gear before this trip)
- Puffins can dive up to 60 meters in one breath
- They don’t make much noise – they communicate mainly through body language
- Iceland is home to a majority of the Atlantic’s puffin population.
- They burrow in s-shaped burrows to protect their young from predators
- Their beaks are only colorful in the summer
From puffin island, we set about exploring the bay for whales. We weren’t disappointed! The humpback whales are home feeding in Iceland in the summer, and the bay near Husavik is a great feeding ground. We also saw a Minke whale (sorry, I ate some of you…) closer to shore.
Fun whale facts:
- Humpback whales calve in the Caribbean and oftentimes go the entire time they are calving without eating. They return north to eat, where the food is good.
- Their tails (flukes) are unique and serve as a good way to identify individuals
- They are generally solitary
- Baleen is made of keratin!
- Whales can exchange 90% of the oxygen in their bodies when breathing at the surface
To head home, we put up the sails on the boat (yay!) and used the motor and the power of the wind to get home faster.
The motion of the ship with sails made half of our party sick and we spent our time on land getting delicious cream of mushroom soup to quell upset stomachs. It was time to head to Dettifoss and stop at some places along the way!
First, Hljóðaklettar. No, I do not know how to say that. I know the funny d is pronounced “th”. The English translates to ‘echo rocks’ and it’s a bunch of weird basalt lava rocks in the Vesturdalur canyon. Getting there was a feat as the paved road quickly (and by quickly, I mean quite suddenly over a hill without any road signs) turned into a gravel road.
A gravel road which only had room for 1.5 cars. When another car came along, you had to figure out some system to pass them on little pull-offs on the side of the road.
We were soon in a mud-splattered car bumping along cheese grater roads a la Costa Rica in March. However, there were less crazy Tico drivers, so despite the road being narrow, we lived.
The rocks were a hike from the parking lot (which was down a muddy, winding road also with room for only one car) but were well worth the visit. It reminded me of playing with magnets as a kid, with the lines going every which way and sometimes pointing towards a center.
We hiked in a circle for a while, going around, under, and over the weird rocks, until we returned to the parking lot. We decided to skip the Red Rocks about 2km away because we wanted to be able to spend time at Dettifoss.
So…back in the car, back up the muddy road for 30 more minutes, crossing martian landscapes and occasionally hitting our head on the frame of the car.
Dettifoss – just north of the ring road, this is usually as far as tourists wander. We bumped up to a paved road near the waterfall and followed a small pack of cars to a parking lot.
Dettifoss is identifiable by the powerful spray you can see from a distance – nearly a kilometer away.
Spray that is water. Cold water.
Suitable for rain pants.
Which I (stupidly) did not put on.
Excellent.
Everyone coming up looked pretty wet. We approached the falls carefully, getting hit by the spray as soon as we finished traipsing across a field of lunar-looking rocks.
Powerful is an understatement! The fury of the water pouring over the cliff was astounding. You could feel it reverberating through the air (and also literally on your skin as water) from a good distance away.
We got pretty wet but it was worth it for some close peeks at the falls. We had to climb over slick rocks and mud, and even headed farther away to a vantage point above the falls, but it still sprayed us.
After a thorough soaking (we will not need to take showers tonight), we headed upstream to Selfoss, the upper falls. Selfoss was much more beautiful and much less raw power. You could hop across the small streams that tumble down the rocks to get a close look. I did not die, and nobody got stuck on the other side of the rivers and had to live there forever (it was a close call though).
Thanks to the magic of outdoors technology, we were wet but not cold, and mostly dry by the time we returned to Bjuster, which now was splattered with mud. Our trek home took us through the geothermal area of Lake Myvatn. It had lots of steaming water pits and smelled like farts. We will return to explore you tomorrow, Myvatn.
Waterfalls were apparently not done chasing us today. As we were winding our way home, we happened upon beautiful Godafoss in the sunset.
We rolled slowly home, dinner groceries in tow because we didn’t want to pay 50 bucks a person to eat out.
Tomorrow, it’s Myvatn and then off to the Eastfjords!
