Viking Iconic Iceland – onwards to Isafjordur

After our warm and sunny day in Nuuk, we were off again into the Arctic Ocean for two days of cruising around the southern tip of Greenland and north again towards Iceland and our first port of Isafjordur.

Well, there were birds to spot! This Northern Petrel was one of many similar birds that swooped backwards and forwards across the wake of the ship, then sometimes passing us before returning back to the stern. Interesting to watch, but there is a limit to how many photos you need of them!

The weather deteriorated after leaving Nuuk and it was pretty windy as we rounded the tip of Greenland and headed back up to the Arctic Circle. The Viking ships seem to handle these sorts of sea conditions without any issues. We just went with the flow, and I didn’t see anyone else who seemed to be struggling with the rolling ship.

We started to see signs of Iceland the next morning and pretty forbidding it looked! Still pretty cloudy and dull, but I guess that adds a little to the grandeur of these rocky coastlines.

I can’t imagine what life is like in those small farm buildings that are just visible by the water in this photo. Must be pretty bleak!

As we got closer to the small town at lunchtime, we noticed that we would have company – the Norwegian Star cruise ship was already docked. We did see cruise ships from time to time, but it is certainly not like Santorini!

We were beginning to see a pattern in this weather – each day I would look at the forecast and each day it would say “Cloudy with a chance of rain”. That is unfortunately what you gamble with around Iceland.

Taking the optional bike riding tour

The included tour was a coach ride to a waterfall outside Isafjordur and then onwards to Bolungarvik village, but I decided that a bracing ride on a bike would be good fun. We walked to a local bicycle store in the harbor and about 20 of us were fitted with helmets and given our chosen bikes. The bikes all seemed to be in good condition, but my, oh my, the saddle was hard and narrow! I do ride a bike at home, but I was not prepared for that. We rode along a coastal path for a while and then alongside one of the more major roads, past a golf course and ended up at a waterfall where we probably spent around 30 minutes climbing the path that led towards the summit. Pretty nice waterfall and surrounded by the bane of Iceland, the Alaskan Lupines.

These colorful plants were brought in from Alaska to stabilize the soil in Iceland, but they have pretty much taken over – you see them everywhere now. I don’t think this particular waterfall has a name, and I was somewhat surprised when the coach arrived with one of the Viking included tours. I felt a little disappointed with this – we had paid extra for a bike ride (which we certainly had) but we ended up at the same place as the coach tour. After the waterfall, we rode back to town, returned our bikes and made our way to a local brewery for a taste of their beer. That at least was an extra surprise!

And then onto the included coach tour of Isafjordur

I decided to rush back from the ship again to join one of the last coach tours to see what else they saw. First stop, the waterfall:

But then we went around the coast road, through a long tunnel and ended up at a fishing museum near the Bolungarvik village. This was a living museum type of thing with buildings created or restored as they would have been when the fishermen left this beach and their families to go out in a solid but pretty small rowing boat out into the Arctic Ocean. Pretty dangerous stuff!

An old fisherman explained their story (in Icelandic) as our guide translated. All in all, it was pretty interesting.

And, meanwhile out to sea, it was cloudy and cold!

The included tour ended in this village where a local musician entertained us on the guitar with some Icelandic songs and then it was back to the ship.

All aboard time was 7pm and we set sail as we enjoyed dinner in the restaurant, ready for our next port of call in Iceland in Akureyri. Weather forecast – cloudy with a chance of rain!