Headed a little further north this morning to the town of Husavik, the capital of whale watching.
And back to Lake Myvatn to finish touring the area this afternoon.
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| Great morning for a drive- nothing but blue skies |
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| Ready to board the RIB boat- touted that it is "faster than the wind"! |
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| Husavik harbor view from the boat |
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| Before we spot any "gentle giants", the boat takes us to Lundey Island where over 200,000 puffins have made their nests |
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| Puffins mate for life & the male bird comes to this island ahead of his mate to make a burrow in the grassy area of the cliff |
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| Happy couple swimming along- taking a break from fishing |
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| Now on to something a bigger!! |
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| A Humpback Whale! |
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| The Humpback whale comes to these icy waters to feed and build up their blubber before they make the trek back southward for breeding |
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| We learned that the markings on the whale's tail or fluke are like fingerprints, each tail unique |
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| Pretty exciting even with the wet & the wind |
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| So graceful- |
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| And another one- |
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| They were all around us- |
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| The church of Husavik |
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| No one lost overboard- all safely back to shore |
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| Wanted more facts about these amazing animals... |
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| An actual skeleton- *what looks like fur are the bristly baleen plates* |
On our drive back to Lake Myvatn, a group of three horses galloped past us on the highway:
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| Of course we stopped to watch them go by... |
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| FREEDOM! |
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| Cannot get enough of the cuteness of these little lambs |
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| Our wish for the horses |
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| A view of the lake |
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| Grjotagja Cave- a natural hot spring & filming site for an episode of "Game of Thrones" |
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| This is what a volcano can do to the earth- |
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| Hverbrand ("lava bread")- made with rye and molasses and cooked underground with geothermal heat Only 1 out of the 4 of us gave it the thumbs up- |
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| Dimmuborgir - means the "Dark Castles" an area of unusually shaped lava rock formations that look more like ruins of an ancient city than natural formations |
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| This one is called Kirkjur- "the church"- You can see the arched openings on both sides & on the inside one end looked like an altar with a balcony and rock pews at the opposite end...I am not making this up |
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| Skutustadagigar Pseudocrater- formed when the hot magma runs into wetlands & the steam "bubbles" |
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| There were pseudo craters dotted all over this area of the lake's edge |
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| Yes, those are flies on the building, or midges... Lake Myvatn means "lake of the flies" Thankfully we were not visiting in high season and they weren't really bothersome |
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| We ate dinner at a cow shed- |
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| At Vogafjos Restaurant, you could watch the cows and the milking process and order fresh milk to go with dinner |
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| Hverfall Crater- It looks like a big sand pit but it is actually 1 kilometer in diameter and 140 meters deep |
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| View from the top of Hverfall at close to 10pm (We were the only car in the parking lot!- Matt likes to make the most of the long days!) |
