North Atlantic, Tuesday, May 3, 2016

An entire day "At Sea." We are up and showered by 8:30.  Time for a day of eating, napping, reading and general vacation leisure with nowhere to go.  After breakfast, we pick up our reading material and head up to a lounge for some quality reading time.  The down side to a day at sea is that every passenger is trying to claim a primo spot in a lounge.  The good reading chairs go first, followed by the window seats to stare at the ocean.  The interior seats surrounding tables are next to fill up, and finally the chairs and tables nearest the variety of stage areas where games and contests are played.  The frustrating thing is to look for a comfortable reading chair and find people sleeping in them.  These prime spots are few and far between, and to my knowledge, everyone on board is assigned a bed - go use it!

Just prior to noon, the Captain comes over the speaker systems to give our location off the SW coast of Iceland, headed East Southeast.  Seas are swelling and moderately rough, winds are gale force 7 (25-30 knots per hour) and we are sailing over 4,000 feet of water. 

After lunch, we head to the shops on board as Deb's wristwatch has quit working.  We pay 20% off of a probably overpriced Citizen Eco-Drive with a band that she doesn't care for.  The band is easily changed when we get home and she can pick one she likes from the Internet.  Back down to Reception (front desk) to check on our passports.  As we are not EU citizens, they are holding our passports to present each time we enter another country.  We are concerned that we will need them prior to our departure on Saturday morning; although the ship docks at 2:30 AM, there is a concern that we won't be able to have early disembarkation.  Our train leaves Dundee at 6:30 AM, which is well before normal disembarkation.  As usual, the correct and knowledgeable person is not at the desk so we explain our concern and plight on the promise that someone will contact us.

We then trek back to cabin #7153 to drop some material and relieve ourselves.  Back up to a lounge for the continuing quest for better seating. This afternoon, a rousing game of scategories followed by bingo.

Another formal attire dinner, which means I put on my dress slacks, clean shirt and blue blazer.  I again toyed with purchasing a tie for this last dinner and decided I need not add to my collection for a bunch of people I will never see again.  Deb fashionably tries something in black. Our table mates are again out of action.  We are beginning to worry that something is seriously wrong.

Dinner meal is tenderloin or tagliatelle with salmon, followed by the obligatory march of Baked Alaska in from the kitchen by the wait staff to the sound of music.  At least they weren't flaming as they marched in - flame is a definite no-no on board ship. 

We finished the night with a few minutes above deck to cool down, followed by a cocktail and a time of piano music.  In to bed by 10:00 - a truly strenuous day of sailing behind us.

North Atlantic, Monday, May 2, 2016

Day beaks clear and calm in the port of Rekavjik, Iceland.  We set sail this afternoon, headed for a day at sea and then the Orkney Islands.  We are up and out to breakfast early.  By 9:00 AM, we are off the ship and onto a coach headed to town for a free morning.

First on our list is to locate a coffee shop with free wi-fi. We find, in the heart of old-town, a Cafe Paris, with excellent Illy coffee, a roll and unlimited free wi-fi.  First is to download yesterday's adventure letter to you all.  Second, is to checkout our email at something faster than the snail's pace from the shipboard satellite internet connection £15 for a four-hour session.  Just to upload the daily missive and download my day's email takes up to 45 minutes on board.  My, how dependent we have become on electronics and the speed of the Internet.

Next we had to add some books to my iPad Kindle app as I had read all the "real" books I had brought along and there is a lot of reading time left.

Deb then had to log into the web browser to conduct a little business.  However, the free wifi was paid for by a dependence on Facebook.  I do not have a Facebook account, but luckily Deb does.  Now the problem is to remember her password. 

Deb, trying to remember her password.  She was eventually successful, and so could attend to a final detail of her client's needs.

Next we are off to explore a little of the area on foot.  As we had been here three years ago, a lot was brought back to memory.  We wandered some shops, contemplated some purchases, but in the end decided there was nothing we needed.

Back to the bus and a return to the ship.  

We dropped our electronics and went to the Raffles Bistro for a sandwich out on deck and to watch our dew pasture from Rekavjik. Then down to the main lounge for a showing of "The Lady in the Van" with Maggie Smith.  Very cute.

Back to our room for some napping or reading, as the case may be.  Dinner again at 6:15; our table mates still ill, so we dined as a pair.  It was path night at the restaurant, so balloons, and towards the end of the meal, all waiters, assistants and others disappeared from the restaurant hall, only to reappear carrying a banner and singing a "We are Sailing" ditty as they marched through the dining room.  

We repaired to the lounge for some violin/piano music, a quick stroll on deck and then to our cabin for the night.  A quiet and relaxing evening.

North Atlantic, Sunday, May 1, 2016

Happy Birthday to grandson, Spenser.  A cloudy morning with intermittent showers, a temperature of 2 C.  We are off this morning on a coach trip to tour Rekavjik.  Leaving at 9:30, we drive into town from the harbor, stopping first at the residence where Reagan and Gorbachov met for the first disarmament talks; the start of the ending of the Cold War.  A relatively unpretentious house that was owned by the French Consulate.

Next to the large church in the center of town.  This is a cathedral (Lutheran) and a very impressive structure.  It is fronted by a large statue of Lief Ericisson, donated by the USA in 1930 to recognize the 1,000 year anniversary of the founding of Icelandic democracy.  Lief Erricisson discovered Greenland and the North American continent, well before Christopher Columbus stopped by to inaugurate the European theft of Native American lands. 

Next a drive around downtown, passing the Harpa concert hall ( glassed to resemble the northern lights.)  Onward next to the "pearl." Over 75% of heat in Iceland is provided by central geothermal hot water piped around the city.  This building is on a high point in the city; it consists of 5 large water tanks, 3 of which are held at 80 C and two of which are at 30 C.  The purpose is to provide emergency water to the city for heating and for hot water use.  On 4th and 5th stories of the building are an observation platform and restaurant, where we stopped for a view and a cup of coffee. Actually only a draining of prior coffee, although one of our intrepid duo was disappointed that we didn't get a cuppa.

Onward to the President's home.  This is out on peninsula, and is next door to a very tidy Lutheran church.  There was no apparent security around the home, and we were cautioned to stay only around the church and cemetery in order to respect the President's privacy. Very civil.

As the rain started, we loaded back onto the coach for a drive around pointing out various buildings, and eventually back to the ship around 12:30 PM.  We dropped our things and ventured to the Raffles Bistro on the upper deck for lunch.  Pizza and pasta, with a very nice buffet.  We will stop up here again.  Down to our cabin to decide what to do with the balance of our day.  It appears, napping and reading in our cabin was a great way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon - so we did.

For dinner we chose fish, and dined alone, as one of our table mates was not feeling well and was in the infirmary.  We then attended a short concert on the main stage by the violin/pianist duo that we had been listening to in our favorite lounge.  Very impressive, although evidently neither speaks much English; an emcee announced each piece.  We were in bed at 11:00 and slept the balance of the day away.

North Atlantic, Saturday, April 30, 2016

This day breaks cloudy, and we are now into the harbor that is Isafjordour.  In Icelandic, the name means Ice Fjord, as it used to freeze over in the early 900 era when it was first discovered by the Vikings.  We have good news and bad news all morning.  Good news, the Captain was able to edge the ship to the dock so we do not have to tender on and off the ship via small boats.

Bad news, the weather is such that a number of shore excursions have to be cancelled. Good news, our excursion to Vigur Island is a go.  Bad news, they add two additional departures to Vigur Island to accommodate those passengers that were cancelled from other excursions. Good news, we can get on the first departure to the island.  Bad news, we walk to the small boat along the dock in sleet and rain, with the wind whipping at us.

Good news, the boat we are taking on the 45 minute trip to the island is enclosed.  Bad news, as we motor out from the harbor to the fjord, the seas kick up and it is a fairly rough ride.  Good news, we reach the island and the sun comes out. 

Vigur Island is a small island in the middle of the fjord.  It is owned and occupied by a couple who raise some sheep and handle a little tourist business.  It is the smallest post office known to exist, only two people.  It is also home to nearly 100,000 puffins nesting this time of year, also Arctic terns and eider duck.  There are no trees, so the puffins dig small little holes in the ground in which to lay their eggs and hatch the young.

In addition to the puffin population, there is a seal colony off the island and they are very curious to watch the humans, especially those with colorful jackets.  They slip into the water from the rocks, and their heads pop up off shore to look at us, then dip back down.

The Island is lovely and we hike around, spotting puffins, and admiring the views back to the mainland.  Then we enter a small meeting hall and are served coffee, tea and homemade cakes.  Very enjoyable.  We also learn about the eider down business, how it is collected and cleaned.  We are shown a handful of compressed eider down, that, when released from the hand, expands into a ball a foot in diameter.  The entire thing weighs less than an ounce.  Amazing.

After a few hours, we are back in our boat to head back to town and the ship.  The sea is a little calmer, or maybe we are getting better at this seafaring stuff!  We return to the ship in the early afternoon, have a quick lunch and then sit in one of the lounges reading and relaxing.  We eventually are able to buy additional Internet time, which is why you probably received two letters from us today.

Dinner this evening was Scandinavian themed, with Norwegian salmon, Swedish meatballs and the like on the menu.  The food was some of the best of the trip.  Early to bed as we depart for Reykjavik for a two day stay.

North Atlantic - Friday, April 29, 2016

Arrive this morning in Akureyri, Iceland, a city of 17,000 population known as the "northern capital" of Iceland.  The city sits at the end of a 37 mile long fjord and is picturesque from the harbor.  We breakfast and are out on board coaches this morning by 9:30. It snowed overnight and there is a wonderful white on everything. Our excursion today is a full 8 hours as we head overland first to the Godafoss "Waterfall of the Gods."  This is a picturesque large waterfall in this northern reach of Iceland. Next, we pass by Lake Myvatn, one of the largest lakes in Iceland.  This is home to over 40 species of birds.

As the day continues the sun comes out and melts most of the snow, at least on the roads and fields.  This turns into a very beautiful day, weather-wise.

We stop to walk, in the snow, along paths to view the pseudo craters, so called because they are craters formed by gas escaping during a lava flow rather than an actual explosion.  We view the largest single explosion crater in Europe from some 15,000 years ago and also cross the mid-Atlantic rift zone, where the North American and European continental plates are separating, causing Iceland to expand at the rate of 2 centimeters per year.

We stop at the boiling mud pits and sulfur scented steam vents that underlie the entire area.  We enjoy a wonderful lunch at a small hotel, consisting of Arctic Char fish, caught in the nearby lake, together with some wonderful cream of mushroom soup. 

As we pull back in to Akureyri, we get a tour of this town from our tour guide - an older Danish merchant established town based upon fishing and sulfur mining.  We arrive around 6:00 PM at the ship, just in time for a dinner of beef bourginon, accompanied by salad and vol-au-vent, ending with a Raspberry Pavlova dessert or whiskey cream over chocolate fudge cake.  Another nightcap in the lounge listening to the piano and violin duo and thence to bed.  An enjoyable day after our previous day stuck on board ship.

North Atlantic - Thursday, April 28, 2016

A time change this morning, so although we slept in until 7:00 AM body time, it was 6:00 shipboard time.  It is still rough and snowing this morning.  We are to arrive at our first Iceland port, Seyoisfjorour this morning around 9:00, but Captain informs us we are running 30 minutes behind schedule due to his decision to slow the vessel to save wear and tear and also to create a less rough sailing experience.

We breakfast as normal and then return to our cabin to await the call for our 3 hour coach tour of the Skalanes Nature Reserve.  However, a ship wide announcement tells us that the coaches cannot make it over the mountain passes to the port, due to the amount of snow and ice on the roads.  Therefore all excursions are cancelled for today and passengers who had booked these will be credited for the cost.  We are told that we will, however, be allowed to disembark into town as soon as we are cleared. Much encouragement to wear appropriate clothing as it is blowing snow and the temperature is a 0 C with a windchill of -6 C.

The next problem is that the port cannot make their gangway equipment work to get it up to the level of our ship.  No gangway means no disembarkation.  Finally, around 11:00 they are able to cobble together a makeshift gangway for those that want to go in to town.  We make the decision to stay and watch the showing of Specter - the James Bond film in the main lounge.

We finally find a spot at a restaurant as we didn't finish the film until 1:30 PM.  Not very good planning on the part of the crew, but this entire day has been a problem for them, not of their making.  People who did disembark came back very chilled and cold.  Although we had some guilt at not making an attempt, we were warm and cozy in our cabin listening to music and reading our novels. We did venture to the reception desk to purchase additional internet time as we had already burned through our first 4 hours. Unfortunately, the Internet was down and they can't sell us additional time until it is back up.

At 4:30 the crew prepared for departure and on to our next stop.  However, it took the dock crew a good one-half hour to deconstruct the jerry-rigged gangplank assembly they had created, utilizing two large fork lifts, a flat bed truck and 10 men.  A comedy to watch, but no one was injured, other than pride.  I am guessing that the automated gangway will be repaired prior to the next cruise ship arrival. We finally departed at 5:00 PM, headed to our next stop on the north side of Iceland, Akureyri. Large snowflake started to drop heralding our departure - looks like another snowy evening.

Onward to dinner.  Our table mates also stayed onboard all day. As dinner service was beginning, the Captain announced that we would encounter additional very rough seas and wind gusts to 50 knots on our overnight trip.  Consequently we would have an hour's delay tomorrow in the start of all excursions.  We dined on veal saltimbocca and pan-seared swordfish.  The theme of the dinner was Italian and all the waiters were ensconced in tri-color aprons; their attempts a pronunciation of the Italian names of the dishes were hilarious. The profiteroles for dessert were very good.

After dinner, we took in a singer in the main lounge and then finished with a night cap in our favorite bar, listening to the violin and piano stylings of two lovely young ladies.  The combination of rough seas and a few cocktails made for a comic return down the halls at evening's end. 

North Atlantic - Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Awake this morning at 5:30 - Something different, we are in calm waters and it is snowing!  We coast into port at the Faroe Islands, the capital city of Torshavn, holding about 50% of the 49,000 population of this Danish protectorate.  As we enter the port, the town is spread across the hillside, multiple colored houses, mostly of wooden construction, and some with traditional sod roofs.

As we dock, the light snow stops falling, and the entire area is blanketed with white.  Already, it is beginning to melt, but temperatures are hovering around 2C.  We disembark at 9:00 and join our coach for a tour of the island of Streymoy. Once away from the town, we are over and around and through the hills and mountains along a winding highway - some moderate traffic but having to stop occasionally for the common sheep in the road.  There are approximately twice as many sheep as people in the Faroe Islands - big business.  We are told that the name Faroes means "sheep islands." 

As we journey over the hills, the scenery is stunning, never more than a few miles from the ocean and nary a tree in site.  Sheep clinging improbably to these high, steep hillsides. After an hour, we arrive in the village of Vestmanna for our tour of the Vestmanna Sea Cliffs.  We board a large boat holding our 22 passengers, plus a few individual tourists and head out to visit the cliffs.  We pass salmon farms, the largest industry in the Faroes, and eventually arrive at the steep cliffs and grottos along this coast.  Lots of seabirds nesting on these cliffs, including guillemots, fulmars, razorbills and kittiwakes.  Unfortunately too early for the puffin population. The birds are here to breed, otherwise spending their lives on the sea - the land is for nesting only.  Some of these cliffs reach to 2,000 feet and are spectacular.  

We return to the Vestmanna village and onto our coach for a return to the ship, arriving around 1:30.  We grab a quick lunch and then repair to our cabin for rest and reading.

We depart the Faroe Islands at 2:00 and back out into the North Atlantic, headed for Iceland, our destination tomorrow.  Seas are again predicted to be rough and it snows occasionally during the afternoon.  We dine this evening on Ling Cod or chicken and fettuccine.  After a night cap in the Sinatra Lounge. (Piano but no singing.)  We are into bed by 11:00.  However a note on our bed indicates that we set clocks back in the night by an hour as we are arriving into a different time zone the next morning.