Travel Blog: The Western Fjords of Iceland

Finally after struggling with the internet for a few days, we are able to catch up on the blog. We spent quite a bit of time above 66 Degrees North, which always seems to play havoc with the satellite service on ships. So, let's get caught up.

Tuesday evening we had dinner at The Grill by Thomas Keller, the signature dining room on Seabourn's ships. It turned out that the reservation we thought we had for later in the cruise didn't actually register, but when we told the maitre d' that it was our anniversary, she found us a table. The food was delicious, and the service excellent. We hope we'll be able to visit again later in the cruise.

We ordered the 'RR Rib-Eye for Two' as our main
course - and couldn't finish it!

We had to have dessert since they went
out of their way with the decoration.

On Wednesday morning we arrived at Isafjordur, a small town in the northwest area known as Westfjord. Our shore excursion would take us to the Dynjandi Waterfall, one of the more spectacular in this part of the country.

The drive to the waterfall took us along the shores of at least 2 other fjords, and through a mountain tunnel that has an intersection in the middle of it! The scenery was just spectacular, and the waterfall was as impressive as the tour description made it out to be. We could go on and on with the photos, but here are just a few:

One of the options at the falls was to walk up to the higher cascade, but we were warned, and I had read beforehand, that the path was not finished the whole way up. We walked as far as the path was easy enough, and when it came to climbing up large rocks, we gave it up. We still got some lovely photos and could experience the power of the falls.

We also went down to the edge of the fjord where the waterfall empties out. This is a nesting area for Arctic Terns, and we had seen a number of them. These birds rack up more frequent flyer miles than any other, as they breed in the north and fly all the way to islands in the Antarctic every year. Apparently a bird can live to the age of 30, by which time it is estimated that it has flown an equivalent distance to three times the round trip from the Earth to the Moon.

After the waterfall, we went to the fishing village of Sudureyri. The town's population is only 250 people, who live mostly off of fishing and eco-tourism. Our tour company, Fisherman Seafood Trail, is based in this little town.

The village was established in the late 1800s, and has a couple of things as its claim to fame: the local poet Magnus HJ Magnusson lived in the town and kept journals about life there. The Icelandic novelist Halidor Laxness took these journals and based his novel, Independent People, about self-reliant rural Icelanders, loosely on the stories in them. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1955. The second claim to fame is that 66North, which makes outdoor/adventure clothing, was founded in a shack in the town in 1926 by the son of a fisherman who wanted to improve the gear the local fisherman wore at sea. Now it is based in Reykjavik and is well known in the Nordic countries for quality weather protective clothing.

We were treated to one of the local specialties, cod fritters. Made from the local catch, the fish processing plant in town also makes these fritters to be sold under various brand names around Iceland.

As well, our guide told us that the fresh fish caught and farmed here is usually only out of the water for about 24 hours before it gets to restaurants and fish shops all over Europe. There is a very well-oiled logistics machine behind the fishing industry all over the country.

The fishermen in town have been drying fish since the town was established. Way back then, salt cod was one of the main products. Now various types of fish are dried in the various seasons; our guide told us, as he offered chunks to taste, that these were 'Icelandic Pringles' - this is the snack of choice while watching TV.

This was certainly an interesting introduction to the rural areas of Iceland. We're looking forward to our next few days, and hoping that the sunny and warm weather continues. After the rain and wind in Reykjavik, it was a lovely surprise this morning.