Because the weather in our location in Iceland has been so wet and overcast, the Captain changed the plans, and we headed back south a bit to the Dynjandi Waterfall. We spent some time on the bridge, where the captain told us that no other ships had gone into some of the fjords we will go to, they were not even mapped until they did this a few years ago. He likened the coast of Greenland to Antarctica, with huge glaciers and immense icebergs everywhere, and said it would be so much more stunning than overcast rainy Iceland. He and the expedition leader, Lisle Gwynn, decided that the early departure made sense. The change of plans meant that we would sail for Greenland this evening instead of on Saturday, and have an extra day and a half in Greenland.
Meanwhile, we headed up yet another magnificent fjord, surrounded by mountains and green hills, and took the Zodiacs to the rocky beach. The huge waterfall was visible from a long ways away, it is immense and quite wide at the top, very different than the Yosemite waterfalls. It is also a major tourist attraction, and when we arrived there were tour buses pulling up every few minutes; by the time we left I counted 30 in the parking lot. People of all ages including young children were making the hike. It felt a bit like the Mist Trail in Yosemite on a busy day in summer, with some people in muck boots or hiking boots and others in thin sneakers. The rocks and gravel were wet so the footing was sometimes a bit tricky, and one steep section had very tall granite steps to navigate. The overall rise was about 300 feet. There were multiple viewing spots for photos and still some people would stop in the middle of the trail to take their photos. With a huge, loud waterfall like this one, it is tempting to only look up, but looking down to see how the immense amount of water is flowing toward the sea was equally impressive. On the way down, we had a chance to see some interesting plants and multicolored lichen on the granite rocks.
Back to the ship and we enjoyed the towering walls of the fjord on the way back to the sea.. This was the Captain’s welcome reception so he introduced all of his crew leadership, and the naturalists were all dressed up a bit, the women in nice troops and the men in sport coats, not something we’ve seen before. Most of our dinners have been with John, Reuben, and Jenny, as well as other folks who join us, this evening it was Anne (underwater diver from Sweden) and Carla (biologist from Colombia), who shared some wonderful stories. John and Reuben are incredibly fun people who attract other fun people, and after dinner we all go back up to the lounge to chat, sometimes joined by the naturalists who are always interesting. This is rocking and rolling a bit, but it should be nice to fall asleep to.
No comments:
Post a Comment