Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Part One. The Kayak.
Our first steps onto Iceland. Isafjordur is home to one of the largest fisheries in Iceland, even though it is in a very remote local and is a small town. The oldest house in Iceland is located in this town, built in 1734 using timber frame construction. Just beautiful entering the fjord to where we would dock.
The kayak excursion was a short walk from where we docked. There were 8 of us - so 4, 2-man kayaks. We had one guide - a nice “young to me” blond man named Signar (or course). It took us an hour to get equipped for this excursion!! Outside over jackets, kayak skirts (yes they are the kayaks that you get down into - I have never done those 🙄), life jackets, etc. Then group by group the person controlling the rudder would get in the back and Signar had to adjust the blocks for each person. And then fasten the skirt to keep the water out. Same for the person in front.
And finally he explained the “oh crap” tab - yes that’s on the front of the skirt and if you roll over underwater, you need to grab onto the tab, pulling it out and up to release the skirt and allow you to get out of the kayak, and your life jacket would help bring you to the surface - great, just great. And then he would help you get back in your kayak. Right! Spoiler alert: no one turned over, thank goodness.
Finally we were given paddles and he pushed each of us out into the water and off we went. Of course our rudder blocks kept falling off (he said this happens) and finally we just went without the rudder - which made it harder to steer - especially on the ride back, when the wind picked up. And as you can imagine there was some lively conversation between Betsy and Ed 😬
Really saw no wildlife (he did show us a jellyfish - and some saw a harbor seal - I missed that!). His main information given to us was about the different kinds of avalanche stops they put on the mountains to slow down the snow so as not to bury the town. A little disappointing although he was a nice enough guy,.
And remember the wind??? Well, as we headed back, he had to put a tow line on our kayak as we could not fight the wind and steer a straight course. But strong Signar paddled us in as well as himself. Oh to be young… 🙃
Not a good choice of excursion. The kayak excursion after ours got canceled because of the wind. We have no pictures - which is probably a good thing.
End of Kayak adventure…
Betsy
PS - our legs are still sore a bit, mainly inner thighs as you have to push out to the sides of the kayak; it helps with stability. I think those are muscles I nevered use 😬
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