1st July, 2026
It seems like I neglected to post two days worth of photos and activities, so now that I’m almost over the crummy chest cold I brought home from Iceland, I’m finally getting around to post them.
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Our last full day of the trip was all about whales, usually one of my favorite activities but after the crummy tour I had in Reykjavik my first day here, I was not overly thrilled about the prospect of 3 hours riding around in the cold, with nothing much to see. But as usual with this trip, my low expectations were greatly exceeded.
We left the Hotel Kea in Akureyri early in the AM, and headed up the coast to Husavik, a bustling harbor village which is a center for whale watching tours. Before heading out on a boat, we first made a stop at the local whale museum – this small building housed one of the most informative and interesting exhibits on whales and whaling that I’ve ever seen. Really. The tour guide was an interesting character, who has worked on whale tour boats before, and was a literal fountain of knowledge on whales and the whale hunting history and politics. He spent a great deal of time discussing the recent issues related to the start of hunting again in Iceland, a very controversial topic which I won’t get into, but you can if you want here. The tour moved up to the second floor of the museum to view a kind of spooky but incredible collection of complete whale skeletons, including a blue, sperm and humpback. The blue whale had died, likely of old age, and washed up on shore in 2010 – the story behind processing the carcass for the bones was interesting and a sort of humorous (not humerus) – think of the effort to cut up a Thanksgiving turkey, and then try and imagine one 85 feet long, weighing 150 tons. Yuck.
On the bus ride in, our trip leader (I usually do not include names of real people in my blogs) told us about a rather unbelievable, but true story, about Husavik. Apparently, the town competed in a European song contest (I’m not sure if they won), and Netflix filmed a movie with Will Ferrel, about the effort. I still don’t fully understand it. But the town has an exhibition at the main hotel to commemorate the effort and the movie. I’m not making this up – you can find the movie on Netflix. I’ll pass – I’m not a Will Ferrel fan.
The whale watch tour was scheduled after an interesting lecture from a researcher at the Whale Institute and of course, we had to have lunch. We never missed a meal on this trip. It’s going to take me a while to work off the weight I’ve gained on this trip – way too many desserts. Back to the whale watch…this one was much more pleasant, and a bit more successful that the one in Reykjavik. Our boat was quite a bit different from what I’m used to – no cabin. Just a pilot house, and a lot of seating. Plus an entrance to a bathroom below the deck. One other big difference – you had to wear a protective, waterproof overall. Not a bad idea given how cold the water is, assuming you might wind up overboard. The suits were nice protection from the wind and rain as well. The scenery was stunning as we cruised across the bay. – tall, snow capped peaks, with a lot of streams and waterfalls. A nice backdrop if we had a few breaching whales.
I did not get that particular shot, but we did have a few humpbacks blowing and diving near the shore, and one whale did breach but it was too far off even for my 400mm lens. But, I did get a couple of good fluke shots, and some nice scenery images as well. No complaints – it was a nice way to spend the afternoon.
The coast we were sailing along was along a mountain range, with no obvious access other than by boat. No docks along there. But there was this nice looking house, all by itself. A place to get away from it all.
The tour lasted about 3 hours, including the slow ride back to the harbor. We were given the option of another geothermal bath soak on the way back to the hotel, but I opted out in favor of a search for a t-shirt to wear on the way home. Shopping. Not my favorite thing to do, but I just did not feel like going through the hot tub ritual again.
I did find a shop that sold t-shirts, but more importantly, had an entire room dedicated to one of my peculiar obsessions – gnomes. They were not the type you put in gardens, but I had branched out quite some time ago to include the indoor variety, and I was like a kid in a toy store. Complete gnome overload.
Eventually, I found one that was small enough to fill the limited open space in my luggage, and fit in with the rest of the indoor gnome population. I’m sure the others will welcome their foreign brethren. They probably all speak the same language. Gnomish. It’s sort of Scandinavian – lots of strange letters.
We had our farewell dinner that night at a surprise and welcome change in restaurants – a very high-end sushi house. We each were given a wonderful and large platter of assorted sushi, some of the best I’ve had. Plus a wine pairing, which I did not participate in (that darn heart thing). Not a bad way to end the really great trip.
Just one more night in a really uncomfortable hotel room (Hotel Kea), and I’ll be on the long way home.
Peace
The Traveling Widower 
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