Reykjavik whales and geocache trails

---

I have another free day before I fly off to Akureyri in the north of Iceland so I have a leisurely start to the day with a lovely porridge and raisin breakfast and a bit of a catch up on my blog. I realise I'm not going to be able to keep up with it all this holiday as there's just so much interesting stuff to do so I decide to do dribs and drabs and leave the rest until I get home. My trusty note book is always with me. I wonder if I sometimes make the tour guides nervous thinking I'm a 'mystery shopper'. On a coffee tour in Costa Rica someone actually asked me if I was a reporter because of my note book! No, I just have a really terrible memory and want to remember all the amazing information you guys are telling me!

Eventually I head off towards the harbour area to see if any of the museums over that way have opened since yesterday's Easter holiday closures. Since there's been a little rain overnight a lot of the snow that was lying on the ground has gone so I also figure I might be able to see the Aurora geocache now and go to check it out. I'm not the only one looking for this cache today. I meet the G.O. CATS from Oregan in the US and we take a photo together after finding the cache easily this time now it's not covered in snow. It's not often I've met other geocachers when out caching so it's lovely to meet some in Iceland.

Whales of Iceland Exhibition

I see the Maritime Museum is STILL shut and I don't really want to go and see the Aurora Visitor Centre unless it's definite I won't be seeing the real thing myself. So I head towards the new Whales of Iceland exhibition that only opened last year and yay it's actually open. Basically it's a massive warehouse building with life size models of all the different species of whales and loads of interesting information about them. Since I'm booked on a whale watching tour in Husavik in a couple of days time I feel I should at least know a little bit before embarking on my trip. There are touch screen information panels that I try not to hog, but when I really get into finding out stuff I love it and sometimes don't notice the little kid wanting to have a go. Usually they lose interest pretty quickly so I let a few in front of me and then take up where I've left off. It's great being on my own in these kind of places as I don't feel I have to rush to keep pace with other people I'm with or get bored waiting around if I'm the quickest. Solo travel is great in this respect. So what do I learn about whales?

Killer whales or Orcas are known as the 'wolves of the sea' and are the largest of the dolphin family!

Baluga or White Whales - yes they are white - are known as the 'canaries of the sea' as their song can even be heard ABOVE water.

Hump back whales' tails are all different and you can distinguish between individuals by the marks and patterns on them - just like finger prints.

Hump back whales have a really strange feeding technique trapping fish in a ringed wall of bubbles produced by either a single whale or a group working together.

Whale calves don't suckle on teats but drink the thick yoghurt-like consistency milk that seeps from teat slits in the mother whale.

When whales dive the oxygen is diverted to only the organs that need it the most.

There are toothed whales and baleen whales. Baleen whales have weird filters with hairs on their bottom jaw that they capture their food in (zooplankton and krill). Basically they scoop up huge amounts of water containing their food and filter it through their baleens. Toothed whales can take larger food as they can rip off bits with their teeth and then swallow it whole - no chewing!

Whales sleep floating in the water. Mother whales support their young until they've learnt to do this unaided.

Whales use circular breathing for making their songs - pretty cool technique - if you play a wind instrument you'll understand 😉

Grey whales migrate the furthest distance - 20,000km a year!

Bow headed whales live the longest some living over 200 years!

Blue whales are the largest mammal on earth at 110 feet long. Their calves are 3 tonnes when born and gain 220 pounds a day!

Pretty impressive facts but only remembered because of my trusty note-book 😉

Geocaching

Whales of Iceland done I head off to see if I can find any more geocaches. There's one nearby at this odd circular building near a garage by the water's edge. I look around in the rocks but then realise maybe I'll need to climb up to find them. Jeez the things us geocachers end up doing. I find the cache - a coffee jar - hidden behind a tube at the top of the mound of rocks on the building's ledge. I get a funny look from a woman walking her dog below on the path I'd climbed up from. She must be wondering what the crazy woman is doing up there. I log my find and then go for a stroll around this new area of Reykjavik for me. I find quite a bit of interesting street art on the gable ends of buildings. I wonder who does it all. It's really quite good. On the way back to my hostel I spot a triangular scrolling style message board thing. It's telling me to 'Work Work Work' 'Now get to work' and then 'Bi**ch* Not sure if I'm allowed to put swear words on here. It's pretty funny and totally random.

Hostel buddies

Back at the hostel I meet a new dorm room girl, Lowra from Germany (guessing that's our equivalent of Laura). She is here on a really long trip of 4 months starting today. She is going to be working on a farm near Akureyri as a volunteer and then having a month's holiday at the end in July. That's the third person I've met since I've been here who's doing the farm volunteer thing. The first was another German girl who'd done it the year before, but hers was a horse stables volunteer position, taking out tourists for horse riding treks. She'd brought back her mum and sister to show them Iceland this yeara. Then I'd also met a French guy in the kitchen who I chatted to over breakfast. He'd also done the farm volunteer thing working on a dairy farm - he'd had zero prior experience but just wanted a break from his job in Paris and to do something completely different whilst learning about another country. How have I never heard about this amazing opportunity? Sounds really interesting. Not that I can do it myself but I'll definitely be passing this on to people I know who might be interested.

As I'm leaving for Akureyri the next day I decide to settle in for a lazy early evening at the hostel and sort out my luggage ready for just taking a cabin bag only with me on my flight up to the north. I'm leaving my main bag behind at the hostel so that basically just leaves my daysack as I don't have anything bigger with me. Luckily I manage to fit just about enough into it. It's going to be a pain lugging this very full bag around with me all morning but at least I won't have to drag my main bag around with me.

---