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Published: June 25th 2017
Geo: 63.4349, -20.2711
Iceland was one of those many countries that we had hoped to see if the opportunity ever presented itself. Some years ago we were at a travel show in Toronto with Dave and Deb B, and the good folks of Iceland were offering up a special 4 day stop that was surprisingly affordable. Deeper digging suggested that most of the 4 day 'adventure' would be spent neck-deep in the warm waters of the Blue Lagoon trying for that ever-elusive dewy soft skin. When Dave B found out that a manicure/pedicure was also on the menu he seemed pretty keen but after a much needed booster shot of testosterone, he also decided to put it on the back burner. As our faithful readers will know, the very rare things I actually say no to suddenly become a top priority ("if you really loved me..."😉 for the Princess (and with Deb B, it becomes a club that is repeatedly used against Dave's forehead). For a recent birthday Deb B (with DH's enthusiastic support) renewed a request for an Icelandic adventure (in much the same way a rampaging Viking might 'request' a meal and place to stay). While visiting us in Mexico,
Dave B conspired with me under the 'cone of silence' to surprise her with just such a trip but was only able to hold in his excitement for a couple of days before blurting out the details.
With the cat out of the bag, I suggested in the most sensitive manner possible (Amanda M!!) that everyone needed to spend a little time in the fitness centre since we would be doing a little more than just thermal baths in this raw land of Viking adventure. Back in Toronto, Deb B put her gym membership funds together... and promptly went out and bought some new adventure clothing ("I may not be able to climb the glacier but I'm going to look good when I pass out"😉. She also dropped in on the local tattoo shop- presumably she thought that being tatted up would intimidate any nefarious Viking types. Seemed a bit of an overreaction although one has to remember that the country was settled by Vikings so cantankerous they were chased out of Norway by other Vikings who were alarmed by them. Dave has always been our only tattooed intimidator- although his tats are mostly a series of numbers (we
just assumed that, given his advancing years, he had just permanently inked his gym locker numbers on his arm so he wouldn't forget them).
We were coming from I
reland to Iceland and would meet the B's in Reykjavik (it's not often that you can just change one letter and get an entirely different country). We got there first and spent the day wandering- first impressions included the very obvious one that Iceland is a very cold place even in May (even a Canadian expects to put away the thermal underwear in May), and, wow, was everything expensive!!!
We collected both the Killer B's and our trusty rental vehicle the next morning- the Grey Geezer had seen better days, had some rust showing, and not everything worked properly but he seemed to be ready to go (the rental car was a bit old and creaky as well). We didn't build in much time for hanging around (did I mention how expensive Iceland is?), so we cranked up the Grey Geezer and headed out on the Golden Circle in order to see the Geyser. Apparently, for about 90%!o(MISSING)f all visitors, a trip to Iceland starts and finishes with the Golden Circle, and it is spectacular (although the rest of the country has a lot to offer).
The Gulfoss Waterfall and the Geyser were pretty impressive even to a couple of somewhat jaded waterfall travelers like DH and myself, but the stop that impressed me most on this first day was the time we spent standing in the area between the North American and European geological plates that are separating from one another at a rate of 2 cm/year (since that is roughly the same speed DH is dragging her leg these days, she had a hard time staying ahead of the separation process and North America seemed to be catching up with her). This unique global position is the major reason for the many earthquakes and volcanoes that Iceland is famous for.
The next day saw us looking for our first Icelandic Puffin. Outside of birdwatcher fanatics who want to see everything that flies, puffins, with their colourful beaks, are one of those rare birds that make the must-see list for the rest of us. There are a number of colonies all around Iceland but one of the bigger ones is supposed to be on Westman Island (which
required jumping on a car ferry) but the puffins dig winding burrows into the grass on the top of sheer cliffs (which required jumping on a zodiac after the ferry), so you can imagine the disappointment after an hour of jetting around the island waters without a single puffin sighting (there's supposed to be 1.6 million puffins living here). Just when we were about to give up we spotted a few of them floating in a secluded bay which led to a second round of disappointment- the puffin is a relatively small bird and, while not quite hummingbird sized, they are not competing with the Andean Condor for space in the sky. This was a huge letdown for both DH and the Killer B's who were expecting a gigantic Fruit Loops-type bird so I'm not sure they were overly thrilled with this limited sighting of a few skittish, small birds (although they are colourful) given the effort to get here.
To cheer him up, Dave and I signed up for a round of golf while on the island (Dave fancies himself as a slightly older version of Tiger Woods). Golf in a country bordering the Arctic Circle?? Believe it or
not Iceland has more golf courses per capita than any other country in the world. The island has 65 golf courses for a mere 325,000 inhabitants, of whom roughly 60,000 are at least occasional golfers. The golf season in Iceland is short- May through September- but during summer, many courses are open for play 24 hours a day. On the course we played on, the fairways were open but the rough consisted mostly of lava rock so you really had to keep an eye on your ball. Given the amount of time I spent in the lava rock you might guess that my round wasn't particularly memorable. The scenic oceanside holes were, however, very memorable even if we had to rush the last couple of holes in order to catch the last ferry back to the mainland.
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Marlene S.
non-member comment
WOW....That tops boring. I hope its at least clean and comfortable.