Hays Family in Iceland: Day 192-whale-watching around Húsavík

Spencer and a narwhale skeleton.

July 14-Today dawned cloudy, but the wind was thankfully gone. We put up the tent to save our camping site and then drove a short distance to the town of Húsavík. Once known for its whaling industry, Húsavík now boasts some of the most successful whale-viewing operations in Iceland, so we signed up for a boat leaving in the early afternoon and then headed over to the whale museum. The museum was very informative and included a large number of whale skeletons procured mostly from whales that have beached on Iceland’s shores in the past.

Everyone enjoyed the ensuing whale-watching excursion. We were very lucky that the wind remained calm, since the strong winds the previous day had made the morning excursions very unpleasant and caused all of the afternoon sailings to be cancelled. Sally was particularly happy, since she gets seasick rather easily. We ended up seeing numerous minke and humpback whales.

A hanging valley on the western shore of Skjálfandi, across the bay from Húsavík.

The captain stopped briefly at Lundey (puffin island), where 20,000 puffins were nesting in the cliffs.

We also sailed by thousands of puffins floating on the ocean and diving for fish.

Sally and the kids finally satisfied their puffin-cravings!

The kids stand in line for the complimentary cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate.

The Haukur once was the fishing ship of the father of our friend, Magga. The whale-watching business bought it from the family, stripped off the fishing gear, and added the sails. Magga thinks that it looks great.

Húsavík.

Cliffs of Ásbyrgi.

We had dinner when we returned to the dock and then drove north out of Húsavík. On the drive around the Tjörnes peninsula, we reached 66^o12’ north latitude, meaning that we were only about 22’, or 25 miles, south of the Arctic circle. We visited Ásbyrgi near the mouth of the Jökulsá. The Norse settlers claimed that this nearly circular canyon wall was formed when Odin’s stead stepped here in the distant past. We now know it formed in a couple massive glacial floods that swept down from Vatnajökull along the course of the Jökulsá 3000 and 10,000 years ago. This catastrophic flood is roughly analogous to the flooding of Washington and Oregon 13,000 to 15,000 years ago when Lake Missoula drained west when its glacial dam failed. Ásbyrgi formed as the floods churned rocks and other debris at the base of the cliff, causing it to fall away, eating its way south. The Jökulsá flood also swept away all vegetation and topsoil, leaving the barren wasteland around Dettifoss that we drove across part of the previous day. We hiked around Ásbyrgi, visited the visitor’s center, and then drove back to our campsite.