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Before we start on today's adventure, we need to provide an update on last night. We watched a movie called Avatar. It might be one that other folks had seen before, but it was the first time for us. However it was fairly late by the finish, yet it was still light outside. The ship must have been quite a way from Iceland in miles, however it was still within sight. David went out on the balcony to take a picture about midnight. Sadly it was blurry because of needing to use the zoom lens and not being able to hold the camera still enough. BUT, we also saw ice floating in the water. David was able to take some pictures of "ice dead ahead" before the ship slowly sailed through it. Not exactly icebergs, but it was interesting, and the pictures turned out alright for midnight.
Next we should acknowledge that today is friend Joan Siegner's birthday. Ordinarily she too would have gotten an card in the mail, but will have to settle for this world-wide birthday announcement. Happy Birthday Joan!
Akureyi is located at the end of a 60-kilometer fjord, which is the longest in Iceland. This
is a long flow of seawater stretching inland and affected by the tides like on the coast. We were told that the proper definition is that a fjord is longer than it is wide, while a bay is wider than it is deep. This one does not have such steep sides like we had seen in Fjordland in New Zealand. This fjord has more smoothly rounded mountains, although they do have snow on the top and next to no growth on their banks. It is located about 100 Km south of the Arctic Circle. Our captain announced that tonight we will cruise a little north of the circle for a couple of hours around midnight.
Akureyi was established in the 9th century but never grew to more than 100 people until Danish immigants started arriving in large numbers in the 18th century. Now the population is about 20,000, although they are now all Icelanders instead of Danes. The original industry over the centuries had been fishing and whaling, but in recent times tourism has taken over as a major industry here. There are cruises ships and airline flights coming these days - the approach to the airport is straight
down the fjord with landing on the runway after passing directly over the cruise terminal.
This morning we slept in as we did not have any excursions scheduled in Akureyi. This is a port where the ship was able to dock and not need the tenders, but all the excursions reflected considerable walking over uneven surfaces. This just didn't seem like something we would be able to manage, so we stayed in town.
We got up about 9:30 and soon afterwards the ship started performing "emergency action drills" for the crew. They were only TESTS of the crew to be able to put out a fire on deck 6 and evacuate all the passengers into rescue crafts, so they did not require any action by the passengers. But the bells, alarms, and announcements would have ended any hope of sleeping anyway. We went up to the Horizon Court and got a breakfast about 10:30. Fortunately the "all hands" drills did not include the cooks and servers in the buffet area - maybe they don't have any duties during a real evacuation.
Afterwards we went back to the cabin and then David walked to town to see what
kinds of shops were available. The weather today was sunny without any significant clouds in the sky. Also the temperature was around 50 degrees with only a slight wind. Hooray! This was a big improvement over the past couple of days. Mostly the "shops nearest the dock" were restaurants and pubs to provide meals to the tourists. It seems strange that people would come offf a cruise ship to pay to eat downtown, but then the ships doesn't serve any Iceland special delicacies either. Anyway, he walked around for a couple of miles and finished back at the ship with a few more pictures captured in his camera.
Janet wasn't hungry yet but David had worked up an appetite, so he went up on deck and got a chili dog. Sitting in the sun was quite comfortable although our balcony was in the shade and just a bit too cool. About 1:30 we both walked off the ship and prowled around the one souvenir shop near the ship. By then the tide had come in and the ramp which was previously fairly level was now kind of steep. We compare ramps to the 3rd floor ramp in our residence
to the dining room, and this had become much steeper. But we both managed alright. We returned about 2:30 and had some snacks in the Good Spirits bar on deck-5. Since this is a smaller ship, it does not have an International Cafe, so this bar has pastries/sandwiches as well as drinks.
Janet watched a movie this afternoon called "6 minutes til midnight" and worked some more on her stitching project. David started another book. So we were rested up again when it came time to go to dinner.
Tonight we both had the Veal Cordon Blue, after having linguini with lobster bisque. Each was delicious. For dessert Janet had Turtle cheesecake while David had Carrot Cake. This was a delicious dinner. Then we went back to the cabin for a restful evening. Tonight we watched the new remake of the "Life of Walter Middy". Then we will be off to bed for a good night sleep before tomorrow's port.
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