Akureyri

Akureyri

Well we did see and made a decision, because the forecast was good for two days to make it all the way round to Akureyri in one go.  We left Olafsvik at 1000 hours on Friday and motored out into a stiff breeze, forecast to moderate.  Well it didn't until about 2000 hours.when it reduced to about ten knots.  or the next two days as we turned North, then North East then East and finally South the wind wind veered at each turn so it was always within 20 degrees of our heading.  We tried motor sailing a couple of times with very little success.   The first ten hours were the worst with the wind dead ahead and gusting to 30 knots plus an adverse current we were, at times making three knots.  After the wind moderated it stayed reasonable but with quite a big sea running.  At 1700 on Saturday the fog closed in an Icelandic Coast Guard cutter passed us in the opposite direction - we picked him up on radar but no AIS signal.  At midnight the Icelandic Coast Guard called us on channel 16 wanting to know our position, destination and ETA.  They also wanted us to call them every 6 hours which we did until we arrived.  They expect you to identify yourself with boat name and call sign.

At 0100 on Sunday as we started to enter the Eyjafjordur (the longest fjord in Iceland with Akureyri at its head) the fog started to lift giving a fabulous view of the mountains all around in the half light.  It is about 5 hours up the fjord and was uneventful except about an hour before we arrived we ran right into a dense fog bank and could see very little.  We did arrive at 0620 about two minutes ahead of a 450 foot Holland America cruise ship we could not see but could hear.  Our fog horn sounds very puny against the deep blast he put out every two minutes.  The charts for Akureyri are not very helpful and neither is the cruising guide so we arrived in thick fog with no clue where the best place to tie up would be.  After cruising around for a bit we found an opening in the breakwater with masts on the other side.  We entered through the gap and - mirabile dictu - there was a pontoon with 60 feet of clear space on it that we tied up to.  It turned out to be right in the middle of town and the harbor master was OK with our staying there as long as we wanted.  

We stayed in Akureyri for two nights.  It is the largest town in Northern Iceland and is a delightful place after the cruise ships leave.  They have a very fine botanical garden outside of which is a most arresting statue in bronze entitled "The Outlaw" .  I tried taking pictures of it but it is very hard to capture its power so I have included a link to photographs on the web that do a much better job than I did.  I think this link works and it gives you several views:

Link: 

" The OUTLAW"

Outlawing people was a common punishment in the time of the original Norse settlement and seems to have come about because there was no civil authority to enforce the laws - although they had a very active and well developed legal system.  Once someone was outlawed he was supposed to leave his home and no one was allowed to provide shelter or help him in any way.  In my opinion a lot of that comes through in the sculpture.

While we were in Akureyri  Sue and I took a full day tour of some of the more interesting sites in northern Iceland. They included a very active part of the mid Atlantic ridge with similarities to parts of Yellowstone, the Dettifoss waterfall - the largest and most powerful in Iceland, Lake Myvatn which is rich in aquatic and bird life and the Asbyrgi  Canyon, a spectacular ring of cliffs said to have been formed when Odin's eight legged horse Sleipnir touched the ground with one of his hooves.  We also stopped at Huvasik, whale watching center of Iceland - more on that later.  Our tour guide was a young native of Akuyeri with great affection for his town.  Utterly scornful of all things Reykjavik including the people.  There are three hockey teams in Iceland, one from Akureyri and two from Reykjavik.  The Akureyri team is in first place (of course).

We departed Akureyri on Tuesday (August 11th) at 0900 bound initially for Seydisfjordur.   We were supposed to get strong winds from the West moderating later in the afternoon.  In fact we did have two hours of a good reach up the fjord before the wind came around to the North (of course).  Later that morning one of the sheaves on our mainsail sheet tackle disintegrated and we decided to put into Husavik for the night.  This decision was also influenced by the weather.  There is a large low pressure system to the South of Iceland that is forecast to  move North and remain fairly stationary over Iceland.  That is producing fairly strong South East winds between Iceland and Faroe that are likely to persist for at least a week and maybe longer.  Our eventual departure from Seydisfjordur will have to wait until we have winds with a northerly component so we might as well be tourists as we cruise around the rest of this coast. 

The rest of the trip to Husavik was uneventful except the wind was on the nose the whole way;  we arrived at 1800 yesterday.  We are tied up alongside the fish wharf and because the tidal range is less than 6 feet here it is quite comfortable.  The whale watching boats go in and out sll the time - we have not seen any whales since we left Reykjavik. 

We intend to leave here for Raufarhofn, the northern most town in Iceland within the next day or so.  Their culinary specialty there is lake tout cooked over sheep manure.  By reputation it is delicious and I intend to find out.