Skip to main content

Day 7: We saw where John Snow got Nekked

By

The big plan for the day was a whale watching tour! It was an hour and a half away, with a quick stop in between. We woke up, had a quick breakfast, looked for a novelty coffee mug, and we were on the road again.

Our first stop was another waterfall. We're not sticking with the rivers and the lakes that we're used to. Suck it TLC! The place was called the fall of the old gods. Apparently some historic person threw all of the old idols down the falls to get his village to convert to Christianity. Neat, but we had humpbacks to see.

It was another 40 minute drive into a harbor surrounded by snow capped peaks. We listened to Asgier while we drove. There's something about listening to Icelandic music while driving in Iceland. It just works well. We checked in for our whale watching tour, and the guy told us to put on some warm clothes and meet back in an hour or so. We asked if we needed gloves. "Yes. If you have anything to keep you warm, you should wear it!" We took his suggestion, and changed into full thermal gear. We had jackets on jackets. When we got on to the boat, they gave us a big one onesie to put on top. Here was our boat:

Just kidding. This was our boat:

The first boat would have been way cooler! Actually, we were supposed to go on a much smaller rib boat, but after being stuck in Boston for 2 days, this was the only other whale watching we could book. At any rate, we put on the onesie and made our way out into the bay.


We had a perfect spot at the front of the boat. The guide started off with some brief safety information, and a quick warning about sea sickness. The first mention of throwing up off the side of the boat started an unavoidable chain reaction in Aaron's head. "Don't get sea sick. Don't get sea sick." It was inevitable, but keeping our eyes peeled for whales and the cold wind were decent enough distractions. 

We saw a few puffins floating on the water. We saw some porpoises, but they were pretty far out, and they were fast. We saw another small whale, but again it was a pretty far out, and if you weren't looking precisely where it popped up, you would miss it. "Don't get sea sick." 

About 20 minutes into it we saw a large whale on the horizon. The boat made a b line for it, and the next thing you know, we're right on top of a group of 5 humpback whales! It was amazing! They were right next to the boat, and we were spinning around in circles so that everyone could get a view. "Don't get sea sick!" They were on the left of the boat, then the right of the boat, then just in front of us. The waves were going up, then down. "Ok. You're sea sick". Aaron had to go sit down at the back of the boat.

He managed not to throw up, but it is interesting how quickly someone can turn green. At any rate, Kaylea managed to get some good pictures and video while Aaron focused on the mountains, the horizon, and anything that wasn't moving. We had some hot coco and cinnamon rolls as we pulled back into the dock, and Aaron started to get some of his color back.


Whale.Whale.Whale.

We ate some crepes for lunch, and mapped our way to our next stop. A cave that was in Game of Thrones! Not just any cave. It was John Snow and Ygritte's cave. You know the cave. It was roughly 40 minutes away so we hit the road. Again, bathrooms are a big problem here. There are none and, due to the lack of trees, there is nowhere to stop on the side of the road. Kaylea got an app called Flush which shows bathrooms in the nearby area and includes notes, such as if the a fee is required.  It's been working pretty well, but it can still be two hours in between bathroom options so that's been fun. 

We arrived at what appeared to be 2 large dark holes in the ground with a sign that said no bathing. We worked our way down, and Kaylea dipper her feet in the water. That doesn't count as bathing. The water was super hot, and bright blue. The whole cave seemed to be held up by boulders that were precariously balanced on top of each other. It was probably pretty dangerous, but it was really cool looking. 






We took some pictures and once again, we were off! It was another 40 minute drive to our next stop, Dettifoss! It's a gigantic waterfall! It also happens to be in the intro of the movie Prometheus. It took some planning to figure out the right route. Marc (you remember Marc) had visited the waterfall a few days earlier, and had to deal with some road closures and illegal dirt roads. Kaylea found a paved one that led us straight to the parking lot for the hike to the waterfall. It was super easy. Thanks for the heads up Marc! 

The area around Dettifoss was unreal. The drive up, and the area surrounding it was a giant primordial landscape. It was like Mars but with more water. Dettifoss itself was half frozen, which made it look even cooler. There were some parts of the trail that were closed off because the edge of the cliff was at risk of crumbling. We hiked around the park for about 2 hours. It was mostly hiking over large rocks half covered in snow. It was only a little treacherous. When we finally got back to the parking lot, we were the last car there. We had been hiking around, and nobody else was there. It was kind of spooky. It was 9pm, and it was still daylight outside. We were also 2 hours away from our next hotel.







The drive to the hotel was equally spooky. In the 2 hours it took us to get there, we saw maybe 5 or 6 cars. We were alone for miles. A lot of this trip has been pretty isolated, but this is the most alone we've ever felt. Just the 2 of us driving through desolate snowy mountains, jamming out to Sohn and making stupid jokes. It was a blast.

We arrived at the next town just before 11pm. There was no food open anywhere. Even the gas station was closed, and that was our last chance for food. We asked the guy at the front desk of the hotel if he had any suggestions, and he said "I think the gas station is open", so that was nice. There was a small shelf in the hotel with some snacks that we could buy. This was our dinner for the evening.

We never should have left that cave.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 39 Vatican City

By
We decided to wake up early this morning and make our way to the Vatican: Home to the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. Since it's famous for it's long lines and wait times, we wanted to make sure we got there super early. We planned on waking up around 7:30, getting ready, making some sandwiches, and riding the metro to the holy city. We managed to do all of that except wake up early. We woke up late, but we had read online that there was usually a lull around lunch time. So, we decided to hit up the Vatican shortly after 1. The metro ride was the most crowded either of us had ever experienced. We've never been touching that many people at the same time. Like everyone on that train, we felt a little violated, but it was good training for the swarms of people we were about to have to deal with. We arrived at the outer wall of the Vatican and saw the line. It looked massive, but we weren't too disappointed. We had mentally prepared for the lines, and on the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 9 : From Skye to Loch Ness

By
On a lot of these roads, there is no speed limit. It seems like people take that to mean, drive as fast as you can. Nobody seems to mind that there are no lines on the road, or the road is made of dirt, or you can barely fit one car on the road. There are plenty of signs saying “Blind Turns”, or “Slow”, or Aaron’s favorite “Oncoming vehicles in middle of road.” There might as well just be a bunch of signs saying “Fingers Crossed”. Well after another butt clenching drive, we made it to the Fairy Pools of Skye Island. It was probably our favorite hike so far. It had crystal clear ponds and waterfalls, and tons of rocks to climb on. There were plenty of people swimming in the pools, unfortunately, we didn’t have our swimsuits handy. But we climbed around. We took it all in. Eventually, we made our way out. On the way to our next stop was yet another castle. Eilean Donan Castle was a castle from the 13th century that had been destroyed, then rebuilt in the 1930’s as...
Post a Comment
Read more

Days 37 & 38: Ryanair sucks and When in Rome, its Hot has Hell

By
Ciao! We made it to Italy! But of course, not without incident. Remember our early morning train? Well it randomly stopped 6 stops too early. Then it shut down. We spent about two minutes panicking, 5 minutes looking for a connecting train, and 30 minutes waiting for it. Not to worry. We still made it to the airport extremely early. But Ryanair sucks, so we were 't relieved. The whole check in, baggage check, and re-check in process was disorganized and confusing. We made it though. After the longest bus ride ever (traffic here is asinine) and a hot subway ride, we made it to our hostel. We were not out of the woods yet. The hostel is okay, but the main receptionist is the worst. First we had to wait 20 minutes to check in while she printed flyers, then she refused to charge Kaylea's credit card stating "It would be better for us if you paid in cash". Aaron had to walk a few blocks in the heat to find an ATM. It was out of order. When he returned, the woman begrud...
Post a Comment
Read more