Trip to Reykjavik, Iceland from 29 june 2012 untill 2 july 2012

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Hi, my big passion is wild animals and for as long as I remember, I'm passionated by nature. However, there is one type of animals I like above all: whales, and especially the humpback whale and the blue whale. Therefore, I decided in the winter of 2012 to finally go and search whales for myself. In the spring of 2012 , I therefore booked a short trip to Reykjavik Iceland, from the 29 june 2012 untill the 2 july 2012. Both of my parents wanted to come with me and so be it. Friday 29 june 2012, after my last exam in my second year at the Catholic University of Leuven, our plane ( a boeiing 757) took off to Kevlakik, Iceland's international airport. There's a different timezone in Iceland compared to Belgium,and so we landed at 00.15 on Icelandic soil. This was a very strange experience altogether, because we took of in Brussels in complete darkness, but because of the midnight sun, we landed in bright sunshine. I dare to say that Keflavik is a rather small airport, but it has beautifull shops and a very well organised infrastructure. Although it was around 1 'o clock in th morning before we had our luggage, the airport was full of people who wanted to take a bus to a certain location in Iceland. We also had tickets for a special shuttle bus to Reykjavik, which was still a one hour drive away. The bus drivers in Iceland, in any case the ones that I met, all were fluently in English and they were friendly too.



The drive to Reyjkavik was awesome: it was 2 o clock in the morning, the sun was shining and the volcanic landscape was cool. When we arrived at our hotel ( Reyjavik Natura) we were pretty exhausted from the trip. I didn't expect this, because it was only a 3 hour flight. But then I started saying to myself: Dries, this is normal, think about it. I woke up pretty early that friday and had a long day. Then, finally at 6 pm we took the train to Brussels airport, where we had to wait for 3 hours. Then finally we could board the plain for a 3 hour flight. After this, we had to get our luggage and take the bus for 1 hour to our hotel. In our hotel, however, it was not yet over. The guy from the hotel gave us a wrong room key for 2 times in a row, so finally, at around 3 am I could go to bed. This was, however, a bit of a problem, because our curtains where not very good and the midnight sun shined into my room.

I fell asleep anyway and after only 3 and a half hour sleep, I woke up. Not because of the sun ( which was shining as always) but because of the tension that grew inside my body. Today was the big day. I, a self proclaimed nature lover, would finally travel to the Antlantic Ocean to search for the animals I love. When I woke up at half past 6 in the morning I was, of course, not entirely sure wheiter I would see whales. You can't control nature and that's in my opinion the beauty of it. However, me and my parents took a quick breakfast and at 8 am we stood ready outside the hotel for the whale watch company shuttle service that would pick us up and bring us to the harbour. It arrived slightly too late, but at a quarter to 9 we were at the harbour. The whale watching boat was full of people, I estimate around 60 in total and at 9 o' clock we left the harbour in search of whales. The tour would last 3 hours and although the sun was shining, it was pretty cold at sea and the wind was blowing like hell: the temperature didn't climb above 10 degrees celcius.

For the first half hour, we didn't saw marine mammals although the guide said she saw Harbour porpoises in the distance. I saw nothing but I like to believe the guide, she knew what she was talking about. We did, however, see Puffins, Puffin Island and other sea birds. The sea was calm and everywhere you could see birds on the water, a sign that the ocean is rich of fish. This means, quoting our guide, that whales and dolphins could be nearby. After approximately 40 minutes, however, our guide thought she saw something. We set course to the direction she thought the whales would be, and 10 minutes later, I saw my first Minke whale ever. It really was a breathteaking experience. What stroke me the most, was the absolute silience on the boat before the whale came up again to bread. Nobody spoke a word, the guide was silent and there were we: floating 10 kilometers from the Icelandic coastline with big mountains in the sunshine, waiting for a giant animal to appear. And when it finally did, everybody was like ' ooooh and aaaah' and you could hear camera's clicking. The coolest thing was the sound of the animal taking a deep breath, a big majestic sound that seemed to come from earth itself.

I did the 3 hours whale watching trip 2 times in a row that day, and I saw approximately 25 minke whales, white beaked dolphins ( which came playing by our boat) and harbour porpoises in the distance. It really was awesome. After this, we visited Reykjavik city, which is a nice city but pretty small and a bit like any other small city. It was nice, but maybe a bit ordinary. After this we went back to the hotel, where we just relaxed for the rest of the day. This was maybe not the best idea, because we had limited time and so we could have used our time better. Anyway, I fell asleep pretty soon, which is like is said before not that easy because of the midnight sun.

The next morning, we took the shuttle bus to the famous Blue Lagoon, where we would relax for some hours. The Blue Lagoon entry is pretty cool, in the middle of volcanic soil and it's location is remote. Therefore, I had the feeling to be in the middle of nature and that was fun. The Blue Lagoon itself is big and the water is very hot. There were a lot of people arriving at the Lagoon with luggage. I for myself read on the internet how lots of people who travel from Europe to America and the other way around do a pitstop in Iceland and visit the Blue Lagoon for relaxation. We stayed in the water for some hours and then we took some pictures in the immediate surroundings of the Lagoon. As i said, the landscape looked pretty unique and the colour of the water is very special, so the pictures are in my opinion pretty cool too. After this, we took the bus back to our hotel in Reykjavik and there we waited for the evening to arrive. We had a fine meal in the Hotel's Restaurant and we prepared for the ' Midnight Golden Circle Excursion'. This excursion would lead us to the tourist hot spots in Iceland in just a 5 hours drive with a guide in a minivan. We met the guide and the other passengers at Reykjavik Harbour around half past 6 pm and at 7.15 pm we took off.

The guide was awesome, he speaked English very fluently and he really knew a lot about Iceland. Of course, this is to be expected from an Icelandic guide. It was fun too to know he lived in Luxemburg and visited Belgium a couple of times. Such things always give a connection and he said he liked the Dutch and Belgian football. We were lucky because there were only like 13 people or so on board the minivan. Therefore the guide had the time to answer our questions one by one, which he did very professional and friendly. Our first stop, so he told us, would be the Mid Atlantic Ridge. We arrived there after a drive through the remote Icelandic Landscape. It was cool to see and geologically speaking, we were on American Soil. Our guide told us you could literally drive around in Iceland for 3 days without seeing someone. You start to think about it when you hear that there are more horses in Iceland than people.
After the MAR, we drived to the Gulfoss Waterfall. I swear: that thing really is astonishing. It is the biggest waterfall I have ever seen and it lies so remote in the landscape that it gave me the shills. The fact that there were only the people from our minivan visiting the waterfall at that time ( it was because of the unusual hour: around 9.30 pm) really added to the strange atmosphere. The thing is big, very big and the sound is earsplitting. You can go and stand right next to the waterfall and if you do, the wind blows the cold water right in to your face. It's necessary to be carefull, because the rocks are slippery as hell and it's of course very easy to make a mistake. If you do, you're likely to die in an insant, as our guide warned us. the strangest thing was however that, suddenly, two riders appeared at the horizon, and they escorted around 100 horses over the hills. It was cool: the midnight sun, a roaring waterfall and two lonely riders with a lot of horses in a very desolate location. After this, we drove to the Geysir area. The Geysir at Geysir area is THE Geysir which gave it's name to allt he other Geysirs in the world. We saw the thing gushing water every 5 minutes or so. The water was at boiling point and there were numerous places where the smoke came arising from the earth. It was as like the soil was on fire. After this, we drove back to our hotel in the beautifull midnight sun and exhausted, we arrived there at around midnight.

The next day ( monday 2 july 2012), we visited Reykjavik one more time and after this, it was time to take the bus to Keflavik Airport. We visited the airport shops and at 4pm local time the plain took off to Brussels. We landed at 9 pm Belgium time, after a 3 hour flight and so our trip came to an end. For me, it was an absolute succes. I saw whales and I also visited some highlights of the country and I had been in Reykjavik. And all of this in just a couple of days.

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Photos

The Whale watching company with which we sailed
A good whale watching company with enthousiastic guides and nice boats. They also know how to find the whales, as I saw during my 2 tours with them.

A typical Icelandic Whale Watching boat
Not the company we used, but still a nice boat.