WHALE WATCHING IN HúSAVíK, ICELAND

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Day 10: HÚSAVÍK - KAFLA: Crater of the Viti - HÚSAVÍK: Whale Watching - GODAFOSS - AKUREYRI

Today we get up at 6.30 in the morning and just look out the window we see a sky with fog and rain announcement, precisely today that we have the whale watching in Húsavík at 8.30 with North Sailing.
We had breakfast at the Húsavík Cape Hotel, less than we really would have liked, but being aware of what might happen next on the ship, we preferred not to go over and thus not to carry a stomach too full.
A few minutes after 8 in the morning we take the car with our bags loaded and park right in front of the port of Húsavík, Front of North Sailing ticket booth.

As soon as we get out of the car we see that in this parking lot we can only be 90 minutes, so we have to go down the street parallel to the port to find another parking lot and take a run in the rain that has just begun to fall to arrive on time to our appointment with him whale watching in Húsavík.
Once at the ticket office they tell us that we will leave at 9 in the morning to go with a bigger ship since the weather is not too calm, so we take the time to have another coffee in its facilities for 390 ISK.
There are 10 minutes to 9 and when we go to the box office the staff tells us that the ship is going to leave at the scheduled time but they warn us that the weather conditions are quite bad and that the ship will move a lot. They tell us that they want to be honest with us and do not recommend us to have the experience if we are "newbies".
As an alternative they offer us to take the whale watching tour in Húsavík from 3 in the afternoon, since the weather forecast for that time is very good.
We do a quick mental review of the planning of the trip to Iceland that we have for today and accept "octopus as a pet".
After the experience flying over the Nazca Lines in Peru and more telling us how they have done, we prefer not to have a bad time.
So we return to the rental car in Iceland and decide that it is best to go to the area of Kafla about 50 kilometers from Húsavík and thus make the most important visit of the day, which we had scheduled to do in the afternoon and thus take advantage of the morning.
As the minutes go by on Highway 85, it seems that the sun is rising and that makes us give Iceland a big smile, especially when in the rearview of the car we see an image that we will never forget and that will already be forever linked to this trip A complete rainbow in the background that reminds us how amazing nature is.

Amazing Iceland

This trip is giving us images that we will never forget.
After a few minutes on Highway 85 we change to Highway 87 that will take us to the Visitors Center of Lake Mývatn, where we were before yesterday to start the tour to Askja and yesterday to make the whole area of Lake Mývatn known.
Once here we continue on Highway 1 until we reach the turnoff of 863 that leads directly to Kafla.
We arrived at 10 in the morning and the first thing we do is leave the car in the parking lot and then go on one of Iceland's most incredible landscapes.

Kafla area in Iceland

Technically Kafla is the name of a mountain, but its name is used to name the entire area as well as the geothermal power plant.
Mount Kafla is a system of fissures arranged from north to south on a large magma chamber.

Kafla

The main attraction of this area is the Leirhnjúkur crater from where you can see, from the edge of its crater, the Kafla boiler.
Today we will travel the path that crosses the area, surrounded by incredible phenomena.

Views of Leirhnjúkur. Kafla

Here the earth's crust is very thin and in some places the soil is really hot. The steam vents of the mountain of rhyolite, to the west, are the last vestiges of a series of explosions of 1975, when the small crater filled with grass on the west slope of the mountain erupted.

Leirhnjúkur

Between lava fields in Kafla

If you want to dedicate enough time to this area of Iceland, count on an hour and a half minimum to travel the entire path that runs through incredible lava fields.

After this spectacular visit, we take the car again and continue a few hundred meters until we reach the famous crater of the Viti, another of the most spectacular points of the trip and that is not always highlighted in the travel guides.

After leaving the car in an enabled place, we begin to ascend around it and the more we ascend, the more impressive the views are and the more difficult the road becomes due to the height (especially if you have vertigo), added to the mud that invades the road .

Crater of the Viti

The 320-meter-wide Viti crater was created in 1724 during the destructive Myvatnseldar and is just one of many ducts next to the central Kafla volcano.
Behind the crater are the twin lakes, sources of boiling mud. Today it is considered that the Viti is inactive.

Impressive Crater of the Viti

We circled the crater of the Viti in about 45 minutes, increasingly impressed with what we are having the luck to meet in this incredible trip to Iceland.
At the moment despite the cloudy day, with some interval of sun, the weather is respecting us a lot and it seems that it only rains when we ride in the car.
It's almost 12.30 in the morning and we have to decide what we do. For the various setbacks we have had, we have jumped 3 places that we had written down to know today: Detifoss from the 862 road, yesterday we saw it from the 864, Asbyrgi, a canyon between wooded areas and Vesturdalur, a place where they say there are some Awesome basalt formations.
But with what time it is and seeing how the weather is, we decided that it is best to return to Húsavík, eat there and do the whale watching tour at 3pm as we had this morning.

More practical information to prepare your trip to Iceland
- 10 essential tips for traveling to Iceland
- 50 things to see and do in Iceland

When we finish, according to the weather, we will decide if we go to Akureyri, going backwards to make these points, even if it is a dash of extra kilometers.
You can not always do everything you have planned and after the great gift this trip to Iceland is we don't think we can complain.
We arrive in Húsavík after a few minutes of 1 noon and after a walk around the port we go directly to Gamli Baukur, a well-known restaurant where we order a plate of cod and a plate of Artic Charr, a typical fish of the area , more water for 6500 ISK and a couple of coffee for 900 ISK more.

Eating at Gamli Baukur in Húsavík

The truth is that having to go in a while to whale watching in Húsavík Maybe we shouldn't have eaten so much, but we could stomach and how good the dishes were.
We take advantage of the time we have left with the desktop coffee to connect to the restaurant's Wi-Fi and catch up on the news when we see one that leaves us ice cream: El Mundo reports that they have closed the port of Húsavík for risk of the possible eruption .
Before giving much more importance to the subject, knowing that from home our family is following the news, we call for them to remain calm before this information. What a facility they have to publish information without contrast.

** From here we have to say that the description of the events that happen next will not be entirely objective since this is written after the whale watching in Húsavík and after spending the worst 3 hours of my life. Under these circumstances I do not know if I can be very objective, but I will try, I promise 😉

It is 14.50 noon when we are already in the boarding area of North Sailing, boarding the boat that will take us to Whale watching in Húsavík.
A good option to make the best whale watching is to book this ecological boat excursion in advance or this one that in addition to the whales you can see puffins.

About to embark to see whales !!

Boat in which we will go to see whales in Húsavík

The first thing they give us when they enter the boat are monkeys, in the purest style Captain Pescanova The truth is that they are great to cover us a bit from the cold, although we are already well covered just in case: thermal clothing, a pair of polar, double sock ...
We start the navigation between nerves and not more than 5 minutes pass when I begin to notice the effect of having eaten just 15 minutes ago and on top of having a good coffee. Didn't they say it better not to eat before? Well, nothing since we had listened to this morning the rules and the ship did not leave, because this afternoon, why do it?
The rest you can imagine. 3 endless hours grabbing the ship's railing taking out the first skyr I took 10 days ago when we arrived in Iceland. I do not exaggerate if I say that it has been the worst experience of my life.
I have never looked so much at the clock waiting for the 180 minutes of the tour to pass soon. Figure that is said soon but I can assure you it took about 1 year to pass.
After a while seeing that neither vomiting, sitting nor standing improved, I just told Roger that he will enjoy the whales and leave me alone enjoying from my experience with the sea. Seeing that he was not very convinced I had to opt for the white lie telling him that after emptying my stomach for the tenth time, I was much better.
I think that because of the color of my face he has not been too convinced since every few minutes he returned to the corner where he had entrenched me with a face of suffering.

The poor man has only seen a few whales, although in a flash to be aware of me, so in the end I had to get serious and tell him to seize the moment, that I was not going to move from there. The truth is that even if I wanted to, that looks like I wanted it, I wouldn't have been able to.
I can say that I have seen a whale, well rather a tail and it has been because it has passed right in front of where I was sitting, that if I do not stay on top I want to see them.

Whale watching in Húsavík

In honor of me, I have to clarify that after the first hour and a half it was no longer I alone who was clinging to the railing. It seems that we have been cheering and pitying each other and all "Pescanova captains"We arrived at the ship with a smile in our mouth, we ended up at the back of the ship, fighting for a corner to get carried away overboard.
Now seen from a distance, the scene had to be funny to those who were well. You can imagine how we were the rest. Some of us, the first one, seemed to have an open pipe every time we opened our mouths.

Views of the ship at sea

Well this has been my experience neither more nor less and these are my conclusions. Would you recommend the tour? Yes you know that you do not get dizzy at sea, or doubt it.
If you don't know or doubt, consider it. And if you like whales very much, take a chance, but just in case, don't you think about eating.
At 6 o'clock in the afternoon, lucky that these Icelanders are punctual, because I would not have endured another minute in that damn boat, we were again in the port of Húsavík and I have to say that I had never been happier to set foot on the mainland. Although still on the mainland I have opened the pipe a couple of times unable to hold anything else inside my body.
Seeing that I had not just recovered, I have been lying in the car for a while, while Roger has taken the opportunity to take a walk around the town and enter his spectacular church.

Húsavík Church

A little more recovered we have to decide what we do now. Today we stay at Draflastadir Guesthouse, about 30 kilometers from Akureyri and Roger is excited to go before Godafoss, one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Iceland, although tomorrow we will return, since today the sky is quite overcast.
After the afternoon that I have given him, although I have not just been fully recovered, we deviate a little to be able to stop by.
We take 30 minutes to get from Húsavík to Godafoss and I, despite the passage of time, I still have a very messy body. Although I have to say that the minutes I am in front of Godafoss do not remember the discomfort at all.
It is the prettiest waterfall I've ever seen. It is not the largest, nor the tallest, nor the largest, but it is the most elegant.

Godafoss

And that with the bad weather that does not look anything, but without a doubt is impressive.
After a few minutes here and knowing that tomorrow we will return, we continue to our accommodation that is 30 kilometers from here.
We arrive at Draflastadir Guesthouse at almost 8 pm and after checking in and leaving our bags in the room we see something on the terrace that will allow us to forget about the bad time of the boat. A whirlpool bath that seems to be calling us screaming. And after the afternoon I've spent, who am I to refuse?

Awesome end of the day in Iceland

So here we spend the rest of the afternoon until it is time to make an impromptu dinner based on Bonus products and at 10 at night we are already in bed, resting and waiting for tomorrow to wake up sunny.