Isafjordur, Iceland by ship

There's a better road now, so that you can now get there by bus, fly in on a really scary flight, or be fortunate--as I was--and arrive by small ship. Feeling rather Viking all the way. A sweet village on a sunny summer day, we had a picnic. Something seldom done in this place which normally has nasty weather.

Icelanders-- these are the people who can read BEOWULF without benefit of translation. This is the land of volcanos and geologic curiosities, icebergs, glaciers and furious seas. All that and the highest literacy rate in the world. Very impressive and I love it!

Quick Tips:

The Maritime Museum, which traces the life and history of this settlement. Fascinating array of fishing gear and variety of boats. We were greeter with Aqua Vit at 8 am!

Best Way To Get Around:

Once you get there, you can walk.For general information Iceland

Iceland is an island in the middle of the big Atlantic Ocean. Everything that's imported is darn expensive: however local items can be wonderful. We bought (and consumed) quantities of ice cream & cookies. Of the things we didn't eat, we bought books, post cards, small handmade craft items such as a unique cookie cutter & hand printed greeting cards and cups of hot coffee (which is a subsidized product and as such isn't too high.) The famous Icelandic sweaters were running over $900.

Can you imagine a long fjord off the North Atlantic Ocean, the sides steep with high mountains that in July still have a bit of snow? Can you imagine swans swimming free on the ocean? I can. I can remember what I saw in this amazing place. Not just amazing because Mother Nature created it, but amazing because people manage to live there 12 months a year. Very lightly populated until this century, and now just a village; the place is so clean, so untouched by civil destruction. A road, yes. Even an airstrip. I watched planes land and take off again. No thank you, I'd rather walk out of town if the choice was that or fly. But the airport connects the villages along the fjord to the rest of Iceland as the sea seldom could. The sea was too harsh for any kind of easy travel.

Now I understand that the road has been made a little safer by a 3 part tunnel, but it's still a long drive out. The mountains are so rounded by millions of years of wind and weather. They're not the wild mountains of Alaska. They look almost easy to climb--they're not. They're higher than they look. In winter the often send down avalanches of snow that sometimes kill people in the own houses.

and..... no trees.....not any along this coastline. Mountains, wind, water and now and then a tiny village.

Added November 24, 2007. Sad to report that the M/S Explorer sank in Antarctic waters after hitting ice. All on board were rescued, but the Little Red Ship is gone. We will miss her very much!

The M/S Explorer is the very first of the Expedition Class ships. The very first ship to take passengers to Antarctica. At around 2,398 grt, she's not a luxury ship, but certainly is a good goer in rough waters. Since 1969 she has had over 150 voyages to Antarctica. Designed by Lars-Eric Lindblad, her ice-strengthened hull gives you a feeling of confidence in polar waters. Our tiny but comfortable room and even smaller bathroom likely prevented falling in rough seas. I think a fall in that room was impossible! We'd been advised to take a clothes line along, and we used it to dry our clothing, jackets, and gloves. I'm telling you the truth when I say that they slung ropes across the already narrow hallways so that we always had one hand on something when moving about. I'll take a small, darn good ship over a big luxury model when things get rough.

Limited to no more than 100 passengers, you really have a chance to talk to officers, crew and expert guides. Called the 'little red ship' by those who love her, I would travel again on this ship whenever possible.

We fetched Iceland at Hofn. Isafjordur is about 1/2 way around on the north west side of Iceland. The meals served on the M.V. Explorer were excellent; however there were times when many of the passengers couldn't enjoy food. We had a wonderful captain, officers and crew. An international bunch, many of whom had spent years going here and there in the Atlantic Ocean. The dining room was large enough so that we could all eat together and thus take our time. The bar was tiny, but did a brisk business. The rumor was going about that single malt Scotch was a remedy for seasickness. If you ever have the chance to travel on this ship--do it! Abercrombie and Kent.

In an old, very old merchant's warehouse, this museum has a little bit of all the sorts of things used at sea to fish and travel. The museum has the history of the town and area. We were greeted at the door by the museum's director who served us Aqua Vit (very strong alcohol) and very old shark -- it was 8 am!

This museum is one of the few wooden buildings of any age in this part of Iceland as wood is very rare and doesn't last long. I loved to see how the building was built. I also enjoyed looking at the fishing boats, all of wood and as beautiful as any work of art, that sat outside the museum building. Actually, I loved everything after the Aqua Vit!

On the strand across the fjord from Isafjordur is this museum, which is a recreation of the type of house where fishermen lived during the fishing seasons of generations past. It is a wonderful, fascinating place. There were wild swans swimming in the ocean. The house was for the crews of 2 boats, one woman lived with each crew to cook, repair clothing & nets and salt the fish. Each crew slept all in a bed. If the men of a crew failed to come home from the sea, the woman had to ask the other crew to share food. If times were rough, sometimes they barely could. In this place, so beautiful on a rare sunny summer day, the wind and weather could be as awful as anything we can imagine. The house was earth sheltered, mostly built into the ground, had a sod roof and tiny window and door. This sort of house was used as recently as 1890. When the seas were rough Osvor was a better landing place than further into the fjord as the strand was present even at high tide.

The museum guide, a very old fisherman, dressed in oilskins, had not a word of English. Our mini-bus driver explained the place in the proper British English all young Icelanders learn in school. The 'gift shop' was an honor box with a few cards on sale. By chance in the gloom of the house, I selected one with English text. Is it possible all the cards had English text?

Outside, just above the strand, a wooden fishing boat such as the ones we had just seen at the Maritime Museum in Isafjordur, single masted, was rigged to demonstrate sail rigging. An actual ocean-going fishing boat not much bigger than what we would call a dory. Oh my, here in the home country of 'Perfect Storms'. If you ever get to this part of the world--come to this place. Perhaps the old man will still be there. I don't think he goes fishing any more.

We had a beautiful bright sunny day when we sailed in the West Fjords area called Isafjordardup--that is the fjord of Isafjordur! This long, beautiful, wild fjord is the most remarkable I've ever seen. I've seen many, many. Here, so far north that the day of the Midnight Sun in June is so long there is no night and the longest night in December of each year has no daylight. So far north that the Polar Ice sometimes comes in with the tide, sometimes bringing with it a hungry bear! But on this beautiful sunny day, our ship sat easy in this fjord only yards from recent evidence of a freighter that had not only gone aground, but had literally gone ashore. What a place was for that moment home for our trustworthy M.V. Explorer. The cooks made us a picnic lunch and we all sat on whatever we could and ate in the sun on the warm deck. Had this happened before? Had there ever been a picnic in Isafjordardup? The dining room manager told us that this was the first time that it had ever been done on M.V. Explorer. Usually the weather was wet and unpleasant.

I took my hair pins out and let my long hair enjoy the sun. The sun added gold to it and the gold stayed a long time. A few folks from the town were still around the dock area. Most had gone out fishing or out into the mountains to camp & party. Never waste a sunny day in Iceland! So we were watched. Perhaps we taught them how to have a picnic. I think about that picnic when December comes and I can only imagine what Isafjordardup looks like. As if you could see it in the dark. Cold, miserable and lonely. Do the people there remember the day that the people on the ship had a picnic? Few ships come to Isafjordardup. Passenger ships almost never. We were among the few people to get to do so. Now the route of the M.V. Exployer has changed. She still goes to Iceland, but runs along the southern coast, fetches Reykjavik and runs back to Scotland, fetching Kirkwall.

I 'have' about ten words in Icelandic that are words I've carried around with me from the Norwegian I learned in Nebraska as a child. I know the words for bear, boat, fish, coffee, tea, morning, ship, night, thank you, and mother. Actually you can do fairly well with such a short list, but worry not. Iceland is the most literate country in the world. Literate in Icelandic, Danish and English. Many folks also speak German and can do fairly well in Norwegian as it shares ancient roots with Icelandic. Don't be concerned about going to Iceland and having a language problem.

As my appearance is very northern European, as a rule in Iceland I was often spoken to first in Norwegian, then they would try German and finally settle on English--all this in a transaction to get an ice cream for my husband and a cup of coffee for myself. Don't worry about having a language problem in Iceland. At the furthest end of the road or trail, signs were clear usually in several languages. Icelandic grammar is beyond me, but I carried on in my own way hanging nouns and verbs together in ways that likely were new and different. When you're happy in a place, it is remarkably easy to communicate.

Nearly every Icelandic home is connected to the Internet. Thousands of Icelanders have there own WEB sites-- in English. A newspaper, 'The Daily News From Iceland' is available over the Internet. It's fascinating, especially the weather reports. Daily News From Iceland.

Iceland is not entirely ice covered all year long, but the weather is variable to say the lease. Based on personal experience and the warnings given in every guide book I've seen, do not begin a hike or a drive in remote places if the weather is the least bit questionable.

Iceland is an island in the middle of the North Atlantic ocean. Although it is a large island, it is strongly affected by weather changes that come by sea. The Internet has improved the ability of weather forcasters to get the latest word out to even very remote areas of Iceland, but it is no joke that the weather broadcasts are some of the longest in the world.

Incredible banks of fog can roll in. Apparently clear skies can turn rainy. Rain to sleet and sleet to snow very quickly. Never leave your shelter on foot or even by car without taking along a jacket, high energy foods, water and a radio. If you are on the 'right' side of the mountain, the radio might even work.

You can have avalanches, rock slides, volcanos, violent storms and many other situations that will convince you that you are not in Florida. From our Alaska experiences, we always have jackets with pockets full of gloves, hats, candy bars, matches, a first aid kit and much more. This gives us the appearance of being penguin-shaped. I'm not ashamed to admit this, but I do feel better prepared for circumstances.

We did carry detailed maps, but often without roads or the presence of other obvious landmarks, they were much help. After a while one mountain starts to look amazingly like another. You wonder if you are on a trail meant for people or one left behind by animals. Then, when you least expect it, the trail peters out......what next?

Be smart, be safe, be careful!

I've traveled a great deal around the northern Atlantic Ocean. Both to the east in Norway and Scotland and there about and to the west in Nova Scotia and Iceland. (which I think of as more west than east). I feel very much at home in this part of the world. The sky looks 'right' to me in the land of my ancestors. It doesn't take me long once off the airplane to pick up the accents of the northern latitudes. I love the North!

But to travel in the northern waters by ship, especially a small one is a distinct experience. In Iceland at every port stop we were always greeted on the dock. Icelanders just like the people of Norway, always greet people who arrive by sea. You see them standing there as the ship is tied to the dock and the gangway set. They stand very quietly, politely. They aren't like those folks in the Caribbean who are eager to sell you something on the spot.

No these people of the North greet you with a look of longing. Perhaps they are remembering all those folks who went away by ship either for immigration or fishing and never returned. They shake your hand, perhaps give you a card with their name on it, but they are so quiet. They greet you! It's something that you never, ever forget.

When you sail away, look, someone is standing on the dock, watching, waiting. No ship should ever leave without someone to wave good-bye. It pulls at your heart and you vow to come back, to be the one who returns. Sometimes you do. But then if you are like me....you leave again.