Morning in the small town of Isafjördur. The sky was gray, but it was not raining. This was good, as today was a day of many options: a bike ride, a hike, a bus tour with several stops including a garden, and a walk about town that ended at a brew pub. This was the morning. After lunch, we cruised the whale-rich waters of Isafjarðardjún in the West Fjords. Well, of course, we found some whales, and what a show these humpbacks provided. One individual repeatedly breached for over an hour. I’ve never seen that before!
8/23/2024
Read
National Geographic Explorer
Reykjavík, Iceland
After a cracking morning out at sea with some truly impressive waves, we were called up to the lounge by Expedition Leader Leah Eaton, who briefed us on a volcanic eruption that had just started on the Reykjanes peninsula. As the briefing concluded, we could already see the volcanic plume through which we would later sail on our way around the Reykjanes peninsula. We finally reached Reykjavík in the afternoon, where we had our final lounge briefing with our guest slideshow, a presentation on our final volcano plan, and a farewell speech from Captain Peik Aalto. After an early dinner, we mounted a trio of busses that carried us out onto the Reykjanes peninsula to an abandoned airstrip. From there we could already see the spectacular eruption very clearly, but to get a better look, we made our way onto some of the old storage bunkers which lined the airstrip. This gave us a view of the eruption in all its glory, with smoke billowing into the sky from the two-kilometer-long fissure, and also a number of smaller fires. It was a truly wonderous ending to an already incredible expedition.
