Farewell to Iceland

(Excerpts from Ship's Librarian, Mr. Richard Delbango)
We left Reykjavik harbor this morning about 9:00, saying goodbye to that beautiful country and heading north to cross the Arctic circle. All of Iceland is slightly below the circle, so for the crew to join the "Order of the Bluenose", we have to take a northern detour to get to our next destination; Belfast, Northern Ireland. We have plenty of time because our original itinerary called for us to go to Kiel, Germany on the Baltic coast. Belfast is much closer so the Captain plans to steam around the Norwegian and North Seas, past the Faroe, Ornkey, Shetland and Hebrides islands and the coast of Norway. It is the journey that is important for these cadets, not the destinations.
The last destination though, was spectacular. On Monday, I went on the 8 hour "Golden Circle" tour to the east of Reykjavik. This guided tour took us out to the stark countryside to see some of the natural wonders of this country. We drove through treeless, rocky plains that streched on forever to distant walls of soaring mountains. Our first stop was a gorge that is actually the splitting point of the American and European tectonic plates. Near the gorge was the Parlimentary Plain, where the ancient Icelandic tribes met to form a nation. Heading further east, we stopped at the Goldfloss waterfall, not as big as Niagra, but impressive just the same. Our final stop was the town of Geyser and guess what they had there? GEYSERS, and a great lunch..The only thing I'm sorry I didn't get to see was a glacier upclose, although I did see one in the distance.
Tuesday was white water rafting day. It was cold and windy and everyone got wet, some more than others. I didn't realize that the guides' goal was not to keep us in the rafts, but to get everyone in the water at somepoint. Brrrr. At least they gave us hot soup and coffee to warm us up when done.
Captain Smith decided to stay in Reykjevik an extra day that will be deducted from our next port. It was a good decision because the 17th was their Independence Day and it was quite a party. They closed off the whole town to cars and there were thousands of people in the streets. There were booths and rides and music. They started after midnight the night before and were still going strong when I left at 10:30 PM. Bjork was a no-show, but it seemed that every other Icelander was there. The only thing missing in their Independence Day from ours was fireworks. They wouldn't have been any good since there was no darkness. They save their firework displays for New Years when it is dark all day.
It's back to work today until we dock in Belfast next Thursday.