Thursday, July 31, 2025

Whale Watching in Akureyri, Iceland (July 31)

Thursday, July 31, 2025  ,  No comments

Thursday, July 31, 2025

Starting: Hótel Edda Akureyri, Iceland
Ending: Hótel Laugarbakki, Iceland

Highlights: Whale Watching (humpback whales) on Lilja, Fish Stew at Gisli Eirikur Helgi Kaffihûs Bakkabrædra, Kolugljúfur Canyon

After waking up at 06:30, I took a shower, shaved, and dressed. We had to be ready by 08:20 to load the mini-bus, as we had an 08:30 Whale Watching tour scheduled.

At around 07:30, we walked to the Hótel Edda Akureyri's dining room, where the breakfast buffet was being served. The dining room was large and packed with people. We managed to find a table and grabbed a variety of breakfast items, including Greek yogurt, boiled eggs, cheese, pastries, crackers, and drip coffee. It was not a bad breakfast buffet. I especially liked the drip coffee, which was especially delicious.

At 08:15, we returned to our room to retrieve our luggage, dropped off our room's key at the hotel reception, and loaded our luggage into the parked mini-bus. In about 5 minutes, we were brought to the nearby pier, where we waited to step aboard Lilja, the whale-watching boat we were assigned.

I had put on waterproof pants and a rain jacket, which were not really needed, as the day's weather stayed excellent. Lilja also had foul-weather gear in cases of stormy weather (which we did not need to use).

Once onboard, we initially sat in the rear of the boat (to minimize the boat's motion), but then came out on the top deck. We had a very nice whale spotting guide, Philippine, who helped to identify the whales and to take photos. She had an excellent Canon DSLR camera with a large zoom lens and managed to capture excellent photos of whales. I had my Nikon P900 ready to take photos, but Philippine's photos were much better.

We were extremely lucky with the weather, as the seas were calm and visibility was excellent. We managed to spot and get close to several humpback whales, which we photographed (and Inna managed to video too with her iPhone).) It was one of the most successful whale watching tours, and Philippine also remarked on how lucky we were.

Aboard Lilja, when we got cold, we stopped by a small cafe/bar on a lower deck, where we purchased some hot English breakfast tea.

After we returned to Akureyri, we loaded on the mini-bus and started our drive to the Western part of Iceland. Our guide, Bjorn, talked about the famous Netflix Trapped series, which takes place in Iceland. We need to try watching it when we return to the U.S.A.

Our first stop was Dalvik for lunch, where (according to Bjorn) the best fish stew in Iceland was served. We stopped into a small, unassuming restaurant, Gisli Eirikur Helgi Kaffihûs Bakkabrædra.

We found a small table for two and ordered the famous fish stew, salad, and coffee. The stew was fantastic - the best I've ever tasted. We also tried a couple of the freshly baked cakes, including Happy Marriage Rhubarb Cake and Apple Cake, and they were scrumptious. 

After lunch, we had a quick rest stop at Siglufjordur, a small fishing village. The weather was quite drizzly, and there was not much to do there. We explored the small waterfront and stopped by Harbour House Cafe for cappuccinos. There are many colorful houses (red, yellow, etc.) here (probably to help lighten the mood from the drizzly weather).

We continued our drive further west and southwest, stopping briefly at an N1 service station in Hofsos for bathrooms and snacks.

As we continued our drive, Bjorn pointed out the oldest Church in Iceland - Grafarkirkja - but we did not stop to take photos.

The main industry in this region used to be herring fishing, but it collapsed in the 1960s when herring were overfished. Herring fishing is starting to recover now.  There is a large company based here in Hofsós - The Skagafjörður Cooperative Society (Kaupfélag Skagfirðinga) in Sauðárkrókur - that does a lot of good for the community. In general, Western fjords are a great place to visit in Iceland.

We stopped by for a short hike in Hrutey to get some exercise after lunch. There were some small bridges to cross and some beautiful views all around. Inna and I also found many mushrooms growing throughout.

Around this area of Iceland, fly fishing is very popular, and Bjorn mentioned that Eric Clapton fishes on the Asum River for salmon (on occasion).

This is also the place where the last execution (by beheading) had occurred in Iceland. 

On January 12, 1830, two farm workers—Agnes Magnúsdóttir (33) and Friðrik Sigurdsson (19)—were beheaded at Vatnsdalshólar (also referred to as Þrístapar), in Húnavatnssýsla, northern Iceland. They had been convicted of murdering two men—Natan Ketilsson and Pétur Jónsson—on March 14, 1828 at the Illugastaðir farm. After a lengthy trial that culminated in confirmation by the Supreme Court in Copenhagen, the sentence was carried out by beheading.

The execution was the final one carried out on Icelandic soil. The original execution axe is now housed in the National Museum of Iceland in Reykjavík. 

At 18:26, we noticed that the drizzly weather started to clear u, and we were looking forward to hiking without rain gear.

As we kept driving, Bjorn pointed out a large circular structure (Sheep Sorting Coral) that had been used for generations to sort sheep between multiple farmers. It's not needed anymore due to electronic tracking.

Bjorn got a call from our hotel, informing him of a power outage. The hotel did not know when it would be restored and asked to delay our group's arrival to allow more time for dinner preparations.

Our next major stop was the Kolugljúfur Canyon. It's an amazing canyon with waterfalls and beautiful overlooks everywhere. It's a dangerous place, and Bjorn warned us to be extra careful. We walked around taking hundreds of photos. We hoped for a bit more time, as it was truly spectacular.

We continued our drive to Hótel Laugarbakki, arriving at 19:44. Thankfully, power had been restored, and we checked in, dropped off our luggage, and returned to the main dining room for our group dinner. The chef prepared a special meal for our large group, and we enjoyed it a lot.

After dinner, we strolled a bit around the area (there were mostly farms around and not much else).
Inna checked out the hot tubs (that close at 23:00) but was not excited (so we decided to skip them).

Wifi worked very well (pw=skeggiagata), and I was able to back up all my iPhone photos in the cloud.

Day Review (July 31)

Highlights

Lowlights


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