Day 11. Húsavik

Today, I drove back to the northeast of Iceland. I wanted to go to Húsavik. My plan was to go on a whale-watching tour. The bay in front of Húsavik is said to have the highest probability of sightings. I'm actually torn about such tours. On the one hand, the animals here are chased by motorized boats, sometimes even speedboats, which causes unnecessary stress for the marine mammals. On the other hand, you do want to see such animals up close. So I did some research on the internet to see what is offered there. I found a provider who offers these tours with a sailboat.

They also advertise that these ships are quieter. The tour is supposed to last four hours. I chose 14:30 as the departure time. The journey to Húsavik takes a little over an hour, changing clothes upon arrival, having breakfast in the morning. So the afternoon should work. The journey to Húsavik went quickly, the weather was actually very nice, light sunshine, no idea why there was rain again within three kilometers.

At 10:00 am, I stood in front of the provider's office. By the way, if you book online like me, you pay an equivalent of 10 euros more. Tough luck.

The curious thing is that all the parking spaces have a maximum parking duration of 90 minutes, but the shortest tour offered lasts two hours. So I parked Suzi in a side street, stuffed my jacket, pants, and boots into the side cases, and went to check in. I had another pair of pants underneath, so no one would think I was walking around Húsavik in my underwear.

Here I get my boarding pass and the instruction to meet at 2:15 pm at the pier by the containers with the overalls provided for the trip.

Now I have some time left. I'm heading to the museum in Húsavik. Here you can find all kinds of interesting things about life and activities in the past century and before.

Since I still had time afterwards, I also visited the local whale museum. There, skeletons of various whale species are exhibited and accompanied by explanations. Additional information about the animals is also provided.

In a café at the location, I treated myself to a hot chocolate and used the free WiFi to enter some notes for my travel diary.

At quarter past two, I am at the containers. I had already looked here before. According to the signage, there are overalls in sizes Children to XXXL. That should work, I thought. Unfortunately, XXXL was out. "I've seen it, I know, but I don't know where," the young girl told me. "Ok, I'll try double X."

What can I say, my diet of 5-minute noodles, fruit, and sausages of the past few days had an effect. I am thin, ...... I think. I fit into the overall and it even closes.

Then we can start. In a procession, all participants wobble across the street to the dock. Before we can board the two-master, at least for me, there is another hurdle. "Your Ticket, please!" I had hidden it well in the leg pocket of my hiking pants. I didn't become that thin. After five more passengers had shown their tickets, I, too, finally managed to get mine, with shoulder pain. As soon as we were on board, we set off. With the help of motor power, we first went out into the fjord. It turned out to be more watching than whale watching.

We saw a humpback whale twice. But it was still impressive.

If you think we were sailing with wind power, you're wrong. The auxiliary diesel worked hard. So much for quiet movement. Only on the way back, the sails were set for an hour. The announcement that we could also observe puffins, as the puffins are called here, along the way, was only partially true.

If you were equipped with binoculars or a good telephoto lens like me, you could see these cute little creatures. Taking photos was not possible in this rocking motion.

All in all, it was a beautiful day. Petrus did a good job, and at 6:45 pm, I had solid ground under my feet again. I started the journey back to Akureyri.

Actually, I wanted to buy some food. No problem in Hamburg at this time, but on Iceland, even in the second largest city Akureyri, it is. Next to the gas station not far from the campsite, there is a burger grill. Something local, not one of the fast food chains found worldwide. Bacon burger with fries to go, three minutes to my tent.

The food should still be warm there. Quickly drove through the bumpy meadow onto the pitch, stopped just before the tent. Took my short leg off the footrest and threw the whole load into the soft grass. It's an adventure enduro, it can handle it.

Now food was more important. Quickly called the Best Wife of All, looked at photos, finished the blog, and that was it for today again.