May 25 - Húsavík, Skjalfandi Bay, Ásbyrji Canyon, Dettifoss, and Selfoss

We all split up this morning.  Paul headed out on an all day tour and Jessica headed out for a half day tour to the Ásbyrji Canyon hike and some bird cliffs.  Mary stayed at the ship for the morning. 

PAUL'S TOUR
Paul's all day tour included a considerable amount of driving around the beautiful and varied Icelandic countryside.  

The first stop was some thermal hot springs where the water was a brilliant blue/green with steam rising all around.  

The nearby Namafjall Boiling Mud Pots area featured many steam vents and surreal landscapes.  

They also passed a plant with lots of steam coming out of it and the ground nearby.  It was a bread baking factory. 

While driving the countryside they would often see small cairns or rock piles that wee originally used as road marker for riders and walkers.  

The next stop was a highlight that included two major waterfalls.  The first, Dettifoss, was within an easy walk of the parking lot. 

A short walk up the canyon rim took him to the next major waterfall, Selfoss. 

His next stop was at Ásbyrji Canyon.  The horseshoe-shaped canyon was created when Odin's (Thor's) eight-legged horse, Sleipnir, touched one of its hooves to the ground, making the horseshoe shape.  The alternative story (not as interesting) was that it was most likely created by catastrophic glacial flooding of the river, Jӧkulsá á Fjӧllum, after the last Ice Age. Either way it is a pretty canyon. 

At the far end of the canyon, tucked against the tall canyon walls, was a small green pond. 

The final stop of Paul's all day tour was the Tjornes Peninsula and the bird colonies there. 

Puffins floating on the water

JESSICA'S TOUR
Jessica's tour also took her through more countryside where she also got some good photos. 

Jessica's tour also stopped at Ásbyrji  Canyon.  The tour included a hike along the top of one of the canyon walls.  Jessica said that the hike was pretty easy.  

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More photos of Ásbyrji Canyon
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She was back in time for lunch, after which Jessica, Tara and Mary walked over to the quaint little Harbor...

and suited up...

for our whale watching trip on inflatable boats.  

Our first stop was near Puffin Island.  The puffins, and other sea birds, were out in force. 

After enjoying the birds for a while we headed out to find whales.  There were three boats in our group (plus a number of other boats from other whale watching groups.  The boats spread out to try to find the whales.  They were all in radio contact so if one spotted whales then everyone knew where they were.


Then it was off to find the whales.  We spotted one pretty quickly and we got a very rare treat.  Our first whale was a hybrid.  A cross between a blue whale and a fin whale.  Very amazing.  The fact that it was a hybrid has been confirmed by DNA testing.  

We quickly also found humpback whales.  We got fairly close.  

At one point some dolphins (too fast to capture on film) were swimming around the humpbacks, teasing them.  The sounds of the humpbacks changed noticeably...apparently they were very irritated with the dolphins.  

It was pretty cold out on the water because of the wind but once back in Húsavík port it wasn't too bad.

Later in the day we attended a lecture on our next port and another one on the Icelandic language.  Not a particularly easy language.  Lots of accents on the vowels.