11th September
Its an early start this morning (08:30) and with a tender as well, we have to meet 30 minutes before we're due at the coaches. Slowly we make our way to the Broadway lounge where we will be collected together ready to disembark when we're called.
I'm on a 3 hour trip, so all in all that's a nice length. It gives me time to have a leisurely stroll after lunch, having had time to get up to the buffet and have a quiet meal near the end of the serving.
There aren't that many of us going on this trip and we fit into two small power boat ferries, each carrying about 24 people.We don't get on a coach, we walk round the harbour and get on one of the ferries waiting for us. This is what I call a lovely start to a day. Just wish it would stop raining.
Its such a beautiful place being marred by wet, cold weather which keeps most guests on the ship and suggests warmth, dryness and a seat in one of the many bars is preferrable to the soaking you will get, when out and about.
Last time I was here it was 28℃, and I was paddling in the waters; this time its 4℃ with a wind chill factor making it feel more like 1℃.
Hey, ho, I'm dry and warm and sitting in the back of the ferry enjoying the journey to Vigur island.
The trip took us out of the Isafjordur and further along the coast to the next fjord where the island of Vigur sat.
Sadly for us, the weather had closed in, and our views were confined somewhat. On the map below, the heart shows Vigur island and the yellow star, Isafjord.
The journey there was about 30 minutes and by the look of the wake we made, we were travelling at full throttle. I spoke to the captain when we came back on board and he told me this was his only journey today but he was hoping the weather would be better tomorrow as he had 5 trips to take and bring back.
The stern of our ferry was very low in the water, whilst the bow was high so it may have been called a ferry, but acted more like a speed boat. I suspected he just wanted to get home and I don't blame him.
As you can see, the cloud base was low, but as the day developed we had just a little more visibility and could make out where it was, that the sheep would be sent to over-winter. The picture shows our ferry. Later, a second one arrived and the other group came onto the island. That swelled the entire population to 44, including the two ferrymen.
Privately owned, the family (there are now only the 2 of them) make their money from tourism and eider down they collect each year from their breeding birds. I'd seen a programme on this, I think it was from the Hebrides or the Orkneys, where they would go to each nest and take a small amount of the eider down and then work it ready for sale. My mind drifted to these images as she told us the ducks are always the same ones on the same nests, and just sat there allowing the people to take what they will and then leave her to rear her chicks. Once the chicks left the nest, the remaining down was collected and added to the pile. We felt a bundle of the down after it had been through the process of cleaning etc, and it felt like I always imagined clouds to feel as a child....and it was so warm, too.
Gathered, washed, carded clean, it is exported to places such as China and Sweden. There it tends to be mixed with other feather and down because the price of the eider is so high.
A good living for the islander family I imagine and with successful breeding this year they are hoping for more breeding pairs next year.
She was lovely, and, I might add, a wonderful cook!!!! But more on that later.
The island has two buildings and you can see them in the distance, here. One is their home and the other the hall where tourists are given hospitality. I looked around, I could live here. Even in this weather, with the rain coming down and the temperature
only just above freezing, I could live here. As we walked along a trackway cut into the grassland, I spotted seals playing in the waters, divers bobbing up and down and eider ducks washing and preening. The puffins and the Arctic tern had gone to other grounds to feed and get ready to return next year, but even this was enough. A bleak, stark beauty and well worth the visit if you are ever in the area.
So, to the hospitality hall.... cakes and coffee, a traditional Icelandic welcome, and I could get used to it.
Its an early start this morning (08:30) and with a tender as well, we have to meet 30 minutes before we're due at the coaches. Slowly we make our way to the Broadway lounge where we will be collected together ready to disembark when we're called.
I'm on a 3 hour trip, so all in all that's a nice length. It gives me time to have a leisurely stroll after lunch, having had time to get up to the buffet and have a quiet meal near the end of the serving.
There aren't that many of us going on this trip and we fit into two small power boat ferries, each carrying about 24 people.We don't get on a coach, we walk round the harbour and get on one of the ferries waiting for us. This is what I call a lovely start to a day. Just wish it would stop raining.Its such a beautiful place being marred by wet, cold weather which keeps most guests on the ship and suggests warmth, dryness and a seat in one of the many bars is preferrable to the soaking you will get, when out and about.
Last time I was here it was 28℃, and I was paddling in the waters; this time its 4℃ with a wind chill factor making it feel more like 1℃.
Hey, ho, I'm dry and warm and sitting in the back of the ferry enjoying the journey to Vigur island.
The trip took us out of the Isafjordur and further along the coast to the next fjord where the island of Vigur sat.
Sadly for us, the weather had closed in, and our views were confined somewhat. On the map below, the heart shows Vigur island and the yellow star, Isafjord.
The journey there was about 30 minutes and by the look of the wake we made, we were travelling at full throttle. I spoke to the captain when we came back on board and he told me this was his only journey today but he was hoping the weather would be better tomorrow as he had 5 trips to take and bring back.
The stern of our ferry was very low in the water, whilst the bow was high so it may have been called a ferry, but acted more like a speed boat. I suspected he just wanted to get home and I don't blame him.
As you can see, the cloud base was low, but as the day developed we had just a little more visibility and could make out where it was, that the sheep would be sent to over-winter. The picture shows our ferry. Later, a second one arrived and the other group came onto the island. That swelled the entire population to 44, including the two ferrymen.
Privately owned, the family (there are now only the 2 of them) make their money from tourism and eider down they collect each year from their breeding birds. I'd seen a programme on this, I think it was from the Hebrides or the Orkneys, where they would go to each nest and take a small amount of the eider down and then work it ready for sale. My mind drifted to these images as she told us the ducks are always the same ones on the same nests, and just sat there allowing the people to take what they will and then leave her to rear her chicks. Once the chicks left the nest, the remaining down was collected and added to the pile. We felt a bundle of the down after it had been through the process of cleaning etc, and it felt like I always imagined clouds to feel as a child....and it was so warm, too.
Gathered, washed, carded clean, it is exported to places such as China and Sweden. There it tends to be mixed with other feather and down because the price of the eider is so high.
A good living for the islander family I imagine and with successful breeding this year they are hoping for more breeding pairs next year.
She was lovely, and, I might add, a wonderful cook!!!! But more on that later.
The lady of the house had put on a sizeable spread of some of the nicest coffee I think I have tasted and cakes which somehow conjoured memories of South Wales and my childhood.
Dark chocolate filled with blueberries and salt melted in my mouth as did the almond and lingonberry tart....divine. Then there was the marriage cake... heaven had been reached and I retired outside so as to take my eyes, mouth, taste buds and stomach away from such a delicious collection of scrumptiousness.
As a final part of our tour we went into the small processing shed were they treated the eider down. I never realised it was such a long process and that coupled with the amount you got from each nest each year, its not surprising its so expensive.
Back to the ship then and a leisurely lunch. Those who had gone on some of the full day trips hadn't returned, so the ship itself was quite quiet and the lunch room almost empty when I went up for something. It was so nice to be warm, dry and out of the wind, but I was determined to go for a walk into the 'town' (more like a hamlet built around the harbour) and take a second look at parts I hadnt found last time.
View from my table as I ate lunch. Those colours have come out true to life; the red is one type of plant giving these long gashes of colour amid the autumnal green of the grasses as they die back for winter.
We were due to leave at 18:30pm but with the shorter days it was becoming dark quite early. I knew I had a couple of hours to stretch my legs so, taking my pass and not much else, I went into the town and went for a stroll around. I must admit it was getting colder and the thermometer must have been dipping below freezing with the wind chill, so after about an hour I decide it was time to come back on board and retire somewhere warm.
I found a sheltered area on deck 11 and watched as we prepared to leave. I will be back again, and this time it will be warmer. I really do want to see puffins so it will be back to Vigur Island, but, shhh, don't tell anyone.
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