We spent the better part of two days on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula in Western
Iceland, which was amazing.
We stayed at a lovely cottage in Arnarstapi, at the foot of Snæfellsjökull (glacier), which had coastal as
well as mountain views (and full paneled windows which kept it warm and very
well lit. We all have to be wearing sleep masks here, as it’s light out almost
24 hours per day!).
We drove to the northern coast to Ólafsvík for whale watching, where we
took a three-hour ride with Láki Tours. It was definitely cold, but so enjoyable!
(Kelvin mocking my preparatory warm gear)
(Pretty soon we were all wearing jumpsuits)
We were able to see minke
whales, pilot whales, a pod of dolphins, and many killer whales, which are a
particular interest of the tour guide (she can identify hundreds of individual
whales by fin marks and spots and these were new individuals for her!).
Minke whales are solitary
Here are the pilot whales
I think these might be the dolphins, but I was confused with the pilot whales (I only found out at the end of the tour that we'd seen dolphins!)
We then spotted orcas with their characteristic tall dorsal fins, which we watched for about an hour! It was so special to see them in the wild (I think it was a first for me)!
Eddie got some amazing whale/glacier shots!
We had a delicious
lunch of seafood at Matarlist in town.
We then continued to Stykkishólmur, one of the peninsula's largest cities, where we started at the futuristic church.
Stykkishólmur is "the gateway to the islands" of
Breiðafjörður (a massive fjord), and we had great views of the water from the lighthouse
at Súgandisey above the harbor.
Ferryboat (including cars)
Puffin-spotting
We got some icelandic goodies at this old-school bakery.
Our first day ended with a coastal hike from our cottage in Arnarstapi to the fishing
village of Hellnar (which reminded me of Trinidad Head).
What a day! Stay tuned for Snæfellsnes, part 2!
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