Whales, Whales, Whales!

 Chuck and I slept in.  N & K were up and on the zodiac by 7 am.  They visited a rocky area cliff  on Flatley where hundreds of puffins lived.  Puffins always need soil and live in tunnels with one room for toileting and one room for all other activities.  N & K reported that the adventure was well worth the early rising. 

After lunch we docked at Husavik. Our group took a bus ride to Grenjaoarstaour where we visited a restored turf house.  The lack of wood in Iceland made for difficult construction.  The walls of the house were stacked lava rocks and the roof was covered with turf. The house was large (8500 square feet) and at one point housed 30 people.  It was inhabited until 1948 and restored in 1950.  The Lutheran ‘priest’ and his family (9 children by the first wife - she and 4 children died of small pox, and 6 children by the second wife).  From the outside the house looked like a series of small houses side by side. Next door was the Lutheran church which we visited.  It is still in use.  Lutheran is the state religion.  This area has fairly prosperous farms with larger buildings.  The fields are bouncing with ewes and their young.  

Back at the dock we got ready for whale watching.  Of course, we were dressed warmly.  We boarded a traditional wooden harbor boat.  Next we pulled on our whale-watching suits—rubberized outfits with a zipper down the front and down the outside of the legs.  The day was sunny but the weather choppy. We had no more started when a big splash came and covered us with cold sea water—water dripping off our noses, etc. Then we were handed heavy raincoats to go over all the rest of what we had on —we looked like the Michelin man! We went out for an hour —cold, windy, choppy water, seasick passengers, etc.  Finally we arrived at an area known to have whales and luckily they were there.  We watched two humpbacks for an hour as we circled and they did, too.  The uncomfortable trip was worth the reward of seeing the gentle giants at play.  When we got back, they had a outdoor buffet on deck.  A little cool, but a good conclusion to a busy day.