Sunday 26 th
of July 2014
and if Iceland is a part of the Arctic I woke up to my second Arctic hangover. I poured myself a glass of Choco milk first thing. I have both Choco milk and fish as Istopped at the Supermarket to buy a “hangover kit” I bought smoked salmon and smoked halibut plus a pack of gravlax
I had everything I needed and there was no need for me to meet any people until 2 thirty when I left my room. A taxi and down to the harbour for my Puffin watching tour at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. And I need to get a ticket, I have a voucher and I need to change it for a ticket in the office. By the time I was on the street outside the hotel it was almost quarter to 3.
Sunday on Iceland and everything is closed, and no sign of any taxi and I had prepared myself fora walk down to Elding in the harbour. But as it was quarter to 3 I was in a wee bit of a hurry to get down to the harbour in time.
I walked and walked and I started to walk very quickly as the time passed very quickly. So I was very relieved when I saw taxis along the road at a taxi stand. I jumped in to the first taxi and I told the Driver to take me to Elding's office in the harbour. I had 10 minutes before departure and I went to Elding's cafe/ souvenir shop/ whale exhibition and I bought a bottle of water as my hangover required some water. I asked them to find some t-shirts for my nephews while I was on the Puffin tour and I would come to pick them up when I was back.
I also left my jacket with Elding's staff as I needed this for y evening whale watching tour. It was OK with my Icelandic sweater for the afternoon trip.
We were back in Reykjavik quarter past 4 after a beautiful Puffin tour and I went to buy a ticketfor the whale watching tour departing at 5 o'clock. I stopped at Veitingahúsið Höfnin – The Harbour Restaurant. One of many restaurants in Reykjavik harbour, but the only one open. And was I lucky or what?
The fish stew was excellent and the chocolate cake was not bad, actually it was one of th best chocolate cakes I have ever had. Typical that I found this place the last day, well,hmm, maybe I was lucky. If I had knew about this place maybe I had been eating myself out of my trousers.
I had one of the best meals on Iceland, Veitingahúsið Höfnin – The Harbour Restaurant and the Sjavarbarinn Sea foodare the two winners here in Reykjavik if you're looking for good food.
I paid for my food and I walked down to Elding's boat and we were soon on our way out on the Faxaflói to look for whales. It was the Swedish Guide I had have on the first whale watching tour with Elding when I arrived to Reykjavik for the first time. And he could almost guarantee that we would see a Humpback whale today. That sounds great!
WHALE WHATCHING
TOUR DESCRIPTION
A guide will meet you in the Whale Watching Centre, which is facilitated on board an old fishing vessel permanently placed bythe pier. Before or after the tour you can enjoy the on board multimedia show that includes images, videos and facts about the whales and marine life.
Summer season is great for whale watching, as the wildlife in the bay is at its highest peak.
This is the time when the Minke whales are at their most abundant, along with the white-beaked dolphins, harbour porpoises and humpback whales, giving us the chance to enjoy and understand them in their natural environment.
You can check previous sightings through our online Whale Diary before your tour.
Our sighting success on previous tours is 91.40% however the cetacean abundance is unpredictable and varies with the food availability of our shores.
The most common cetacean in the area are the minke whales, white-beaked dolphins and harbour porpoises and occasionally we see other species including the humpback whales, killer whales/orcas and even fin whales.
If no whales or dolphins are seen on your tour we will offer you a complimentary ticket valid for two years.
TOUR AREA
Our whale watching tours are focused mainly on the southern part of Faxaflói, just off Reykjavík. Each day we scan the area for signs of whales as we never know for sure where we might find them. Sometimes we have to go far while at other times the whales are quite close to shore. In rare occasions we head to other areas and/or depart from nearby harbours e.g. Hafnarfjörður (Zone 1), Keflavík (Zone 2), Sandgerðir (Zone 3) or Grindavík (Zone 4). This is the case when weather conditions or chances of seeing the whales are greater there than in our normal area.
My last whale watching on Iceland came to an end. I stopped at Ramen Momo for a noodle soup before I took a taxi to Hotel Klettur to pick up my transformer for the laptop. The guy fromVogur Hotel where I had forgotten the transformer had been in Reykjavik to deliver my transformer. Good service, as no surprise because I think Vogur was the hotel with best service on Iceland.
I had got an confirmation e-mail from Hotel Klettur that they had my transformer, but today was the second time I was there to ask for my transformer but they could not find it.
A taxi back to Hotel Fron and I had a sleeping pill and I went to bed as they will wake me up at 05:00 and at 5 thirty they will pick me up for transportation to the airport. Yeah, to wake up at 5 and I need to go to bed early evening and it will be impossibleto fall asleep without a little help.
Last whale watching for a while and I will put two pictures here from our whale watching in Eyjafjörður, Akureyri with Ambassador Whale Watching. My new friend from New Zealand sent me the pictures and I think the pictures was mostly about the Polar Bear.
Time to go back to Sweden for four nights in Helsingborg before flying home to Bangkok. Of course, there will be some Swedish spring rolls at Österns Pärla
I will also call to Laxbutiken, yes, you read Laxbutiken even though I have given up on Laxbutiken and they have turned the place in to a self-service styled restaurant. But I will call to see if they still have their salmon summer buffet. This buffet and the buffet at Marriott in Bangkok are the only two buffets I eat. Well, OK, we ca add the buffet at Sjavarbarinn Sea food in Reykjavik to this list.
Anyway, to see how it turns out with Laxbutiken you just have to click HERE
and you willhopefully be in the middle of a salmon buffet at Laxbutiken. Over and out from Iceland!
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