Travels in Fire and Ice Day 5 - Husavik

There were two animals I hoped to see on this Iceland vacation: whales and puffins.  

First the puffin excursion was canceled because the ship was unable to sail to the port of Patreksfjordor on Day 2. Today we anchored in the fjord of the old whaling town of Husavik hoping to go on a whale watching cruise.  We were met with more wind and the roughest seas yet.  There would be no whale watching boats going out today.

I went on deck for photos and saw the ship’s tenders taking passengers to the port.  I am surprised they were even launching tenders today.  They were being tossed around like corks.

If we were going to get on one of these tenders, I hoped they would have a barf bucket for Kevin.

We scheduled a walking tour of the town for the afternoon.  That left the morning free to do laundry. This ship has free laundry rooms on every deck.  I assumed nobody would be using them because Silversea is a luxury cruise line and its passengers are all wealthy people who can afford to have the ship’s valets do the laundry for them.  I guess there are more poor people like me on the ship than I think.  I had to go all the way down to Deck 5 (I am on Deck 9) to find an open washing machine.

There are two ways I try to keep weight gain to a minimum on this cruise despite the rich food and endless cocktails. The first is I maintain my gym routine the same way I would at home. I hit the gym before breakfast as if it were any other day. The next is I almost never take the elevator between decks. I take the stairs.  I went up and down the stairs so much doing laundry this morning I probably didn’t need the gym!

Our turn came to board the tender and make our way to the Husavik pier for our tour.  We would be taking a short walking tour of the town. 

We met our guide at the pier and started with the standard lecture about the history of the town. Like most Icelandic towns, it began as a thriving fishing and whaling community until overfishing became a problem and it had to pivot to tourism. 

One of the first sights the guide pointed out where the old oak fishing boats, maintained for the preservation of culture as well as for tourists.  I might have been on one of these if water conditions were different.

Outside of whale watching, the town doesn’t have many sites. It has a small but pretty botanical garden.

Its main attraction outside of whale watching is the old wooden church.

Then there is the Whale Museum that claims to be the biggest museum in the world about whales. (If you say so.  How many museums about whales are there in the world?) The museum had mostly plaques and photos discussing evolution, contemporary biology, behavior, and whaling history and present day conservation efforts.  There were old photos of the whaling industry in Iceland and a wildlife photo gallery.  Different whale skeletons hung from the ceiling.

I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, so I was starving.  Kevin, Erik, and I found a restaurant near the pier to have a late lunch.  It was a charming spot. I was craving a hamburger, so that’s what I had. I had some hot chocolate too because the cold damp day made me crave that as well.

The ride to the pier didn’t feel too bad, but the ride back to the ship was awful. We were heading against the waves in this direction. The tender was bobbing around in the water in the same was I saw in the morning. I was beginning to regret the cheeseburger and was glad I hadn’t drunk any alcohol with lunch.

When we returned to the ship I took a yoga class. I have been neglecting my daily stretch session and found I needed some yoga to ease up some tightness.  Then I returned to the cabin and napped.  I needed to stop doing stuff for an hour or two.

The family convened for dinner at La Terrazza.  It is the ship’s buffet in the daytime and an Italian restaurant at night.  I wasn’t sure how up to eating I felt, but I gave it a shot.

Arugula salad, Rigatoni alla Gricia, eggplant involtini.

I didn’t stay for dessert and didn’t even finish my wine. My body had enough of the ship’s rocking.  I went to my cabin and ordered a movie. I tried to go to bed but the ocean was no longer rocking me to sleep.  It was tossing me and my stomach.  I finally had to ask Kevin for one of his seasickness pills.

The ship crossed the Arctic Circle at some point. It was supposed to blow the horn when that happened, but I never heard it. 

They wind has such a rainy sound, moaning through the town

The sea has such a windy sound

Will the ships go down, go down?

The apples in the orchard tumble from their a tree

Will the ships go down in the windy sea?