adventure, beaches, Champagne Bucket trips, Iceland

Our first Icelandic adventure: Icebergs, sneaker waves, Star Wars, auto wrecks, and diamond beaches… (part six)

After several hours of rest, I decided to rise from my sick bed and do some more writing. I might as well, since no one is here to entertain me. 😉 Poor Bill also has COVID, but he’s on a business trip and is supposed to be working overnights. It sucks to be him. He’s going to need another vacation to recover from Iceland and his business trip!

Anyway… back to Iceland.

Ivar arrived promptly at nine o’clock to take us on our Sunday adventure. I was sorry to say goodbye to the horses, although I would see many more of them during our travels. Icelandic horses are all over the place, based on what I saw during our trip. I saw many more horses than dogs!

One thing I was very happy to see was that Ivar had borrowed a step stool from his father-in-law. That stool made a huge difference in easing the task of getting in and out of the Land Cruiser. Even Ivar, who is a bit taller and much fitter, said that as much as he loves driving the Land Cruiser, it’s not easy for him to get in and out of the vehicle. I was pretty glad that in spite of my leisurely lifestyle, my body is still fairly healthy. I have friends my age who would have had a lot of trouble getting in and out of the Land Cruiser, even with the stool. I even felt a flash of gratitude for my body, even though I usually hate it.

Our plans on Sunday involved visiting a couple of sites near the hotel, as well as the South Coast, the Jokusarlon Glacier Lagoon, and icebergs, courtesy of the Fjallsarlon Boat Tour. I’ll be honest. I really had very few expectations whatsoever, as I didn’t even know what most of the plans were. Bill handled booking the trip through Iceland Luxury Tours, and they sent him all of the information. I think I glanced at it once or twice before we left Germany, so I was blissfully unaware of what we would be seeing.

Bill did warn me about “sneaker waves”, which is a phenomenon involving giant waves that suddenly sweep unsuspecting people out to sea, often drowning them. We went to Reynisfjara, a “black beach”– black because the sand was mixed with volcanic ash– and there was a big sign warning of the sneaker waves. I made sure to stay well away from the water.

A short video showing how loud and powerful the surf was during our visit. I got quite a few of these snippets. The first part of the video was actually from Saturday.

Unfortunately, the weather on Sunday was as inclement as it was on Saturday, and I was destined to get pretty wet over the course of the day. But I did get some interesting photos, including some in a cave that had the look of Yoda, which we found at a place called Viking Park, near the town of Vik… I’ve never actually seen Star Wars, which astonished Ivar, but Bill saw it right away. He’s a big Star Wars fan.

*This was at Viking Park, which is near the Reynisfjara Beach.*

Our visit to Viking Park was short, although it was probably one of the nicer stops of the day, because the weather was relatively temperate in the sense that there was not much rain or wind. Like I said… I was blissfully unaware of the “cool” attractions awaiting us later.

We took advantage of convenience store in Vik to use the facilities, and then were on our way east, with a planned stop at the Instagram famous “Diamond Beach”. I do have an Instagram account, but I rarely use it, and I sure don’t hang out much on it. I had not heard of this beach or its icy black environs. Apparently, many people come to Iceland with cameras just to record a glimpse of its icy, glittery shore.

On our way to the famous beach, Bill and I chatted easily with Ivar, probably oversharing way too much. I later told him that I spend a lot of time alone, which means I have a tendency to run my mouth. Fortunately, he seemed to be a very patient and easy going man and took my constant yammering in stride. 😉

At one point, we were passing an unusually shaped mountain. I might have wanted to take a picture of it, but was distracted by some unlucky people who had pulled their rental car off the side of the road and parked too close to a river. Their car went into the river, and was about half submerged as we passed. I saw them looking forlorn in the rain, standing next to their suitcases, which they’d managed to rescue from the back of the car before it slid further into the water. Nobody was hurt. I did manage to capture a photo.

Then we stopped at another convenience store/restaurant for a potty break. The restaurant was positively overrun with a large bus group of Asian tourists who were all there for lunch. Ivar had suggested the place for lunch, but it looked like they really had their hands full, so we decided to wait and have lunch at the Frost Restaurant, a little place next to where we were having a “boat tour”. I had been picturing a somewhat civilized tour, maybe like one I’d seen on La Lido Loca, a YouTube channel I watch sometimes. Tony, the guy who runs that channel, recently went on an Iceland/Greenland cruise and he and his companion viewed icebergs. But their tour was NOT at all like the one Bill and I went on…

After a quick lunch at the no frills Frost Restaurant, we were booked on a private zodiac tour at Fjallsarlon Lake, where there are many small icebergs. However, unlike Tony and his buddy, for our tour, we had to put on heavy rain gear provided by the tour guide. I have to admit, I kind of dislike any attractions where I have to put on special clothes. It’s kind of mortifying for me. I was also already a bit wet, which I’ll admit is my fault. Ivar could see the doubt on my face, but he assured me I would enjoy the tour. He was right. It all turned out okay, and in the end, I was glad I did it, even though I did get cold, and walking to the zodiac was challenging in the heavy outerwear. I was sure glad I had the rain gear/outerwear, though… because Brrrrr.

Our guide was a very friendly and charming young Frenchman named Tomas, who insisted on taking photos of us. He took about twenty pictures on my iPhone! I got many more photos of the icebergs as I buried myself under the hood of the jacket. I wished I had worn a beanie, like Bill did.

This company does group tours, but it also has some more extensive offerings that probably would excite athletic, adventure seeking types. If I were younger, thinner, fitter, and less lazy, maybe I would have enjoyed one of the more involved tours. But, alas, I am just a fatass housewife whose sweet bird of youth has flown away. 🙂

After we did the boat tour, we visited another area where there were more icebergs, as well as a couple of seals. By the time we got there, the rain was coming down harder and there was more wind. I was pretty wet and my mood was starting to take a turn south. I did get some pictures, though, carefully avoiding the extremely excited people who were posing in front of the icebergs.

*No drones, and no swimming! You’d have to be nuts to swim!*

After we stopped to see the icebergs, we moved on to “Diamond Beach”, which was just beyond the bridge at the Jokusarlon Lagoon. Ivar told us that the beach actually has an official name, but thanks to Instagram, everyone calls it “Diamond Beach”. The rain was pretty much sideways by the time we got there, and I was getting a little grumpy. But, given that we were on vacation, I plucked up enough gumption to get out of the Land Cruiser again and head to the famous beach. I’m glad I did, because even in shitty weather, it was well worth seeing. One woman came there wearing boots and nothing else on her legs. That’s hardcore!

We then got back on the road heading west to our hotel, stopping once again at the convenience store/restaurant that had been crowded with bus tours on the way out. Bill took awhile in the bathroom and Ivar asked me if I thought maybe he’d fallen in, or something. I said, matter-of-factly, “I think he’s having some prostate issues.” Bill later confirmed it, and said there was other business he needed to attend to. I didn’t mind. It gave me time to take a couple of photos of Icelandic horses grazing near the parking lot. I took more photos on the way to the hotel, which included some very picturesque scenes.

*Ivar says this is the highest cliff in Iceland, and he’s climbed it.*

Finally, we arrived at our destination for Sunday night, Hotel Klaustur. I will continue the story with checking in there in my next post.

Champagne Bucket trips, Regent Seven Seas Cruise Lines, tours

Many critters were born free in Bornholm, Denmark…

Our final day of the cruise was in Rønne, a town in Bornholm, Denmark. We had a late excursion, which took place at 4:00 PM. To be honest, I was kind of tempted to skip the last bus tour, as I was a bit “toured out” by Thursday, June 29th. But that would have been a big mistake, because I ended up liking Bornholm the most of all the tours during our week on Regent Splendor.

I mentioned that we stopped in Rønne, but actually, our bus tour (The Best of Bornholm) didn’t really go through the town that appeared closest to the pier. Instead, we basically had a tour of the Danish island of Bornholm, which is off the southern coast of Sweden. Once again, this was a place I knew absolutely nothing about before we went on this cruise. I ended up finding it a very charming place. Several British passengers on the tour with us mentioned that it reminded them very much of Cornwall.

There were other tours offered besides the one we went on, but they were mostly fully booked by the time we signed up for the cruise, back in late April. So “The Best of Bornholm” it was, and it was a good time, even though I was tired, and even though our guide didn’t have the best “stage presence”.

I was charmed by the rustic beauty of the island, even spotting a large wild hare and several deer cavorting in nature as our guide droned on, rather haltingly. At first, I was a little annoyed by the guide, but as I listened more closely, I realized that he really did know a lot about the island. I suspect that if he was giving us the tour in Danish, he’d be a lot more engaging to listen to, because I noticed that when he spoke Danish, he sounded a lot more animated. I have empathy for that issue, since I know firsthand that it isn’t easy to speak a language that isn’t your mother tongue, especially if you aren’t practiced. I don’t know how often our guide gives tours in English, though.

The first thing the guide pointed out were the huge parts of windmills that were being built. They are destined to be installed in the Baltic Sea, where they can generated power for people on dry land. I have seen the windmills all over Europe, but was never close enough to one to appreciate their massive size. Those things are HUGE!

We visited a really cool looking round church called Osterlars, which, besides looking really handsome in the Danish countryside, also had the added benefit of a clean public toilet. 😉 The guide pointed out the metal rings installed in the wall around the church. The rings were where the locals parked their horses and buggies on Sundays. Each family had its own “parking spot”.

Next, we stopped in an adorable town called Gudhjem, which was right next to a beach. The guide said that there used to be a lot of fishing there, but the fishing had stopped, mostly because the waters were depleted by overfishing and the many seals who had descended upon the place. There weren’t any seals visible when we visited, but the guide said it was a very normal thing to see them hanging around the beaches.

We stopped at Hammershus Fortress, vast medieval castle ruins that were partially demolished around 1750 and partially restored sometime around 1900. Our visit didn’t include actually going to the ruins, which were a stout walk from the parking area, but visiting a wooden overlook that gave us good views of the ruins, as well as a flock of sheep grazing nearby. It might have been fun to go to the ruins, but that would have taken a lot of time that we didn’t have. But… I did mention to Bill that I liked Bornholm enough that I wouldn’t mind coming back for a land based visit. If we ever do that, maybe we can visit the ruins properly.

As we continued on our journey, the guide explained some interesting history about Bornholm’s role in World War II and how it was not liberated at the same time the rest of Europe was. Even though Bornholm was part of Denmark, some people did not consider it a part of NATO, because former Soviet leaders determined that there would be no foreign military activity on the island. They decreed that any NATO military troops on Bornholm would be considered an act of aggression against the Soviet Union, and that Denmark should keep troops there to prevent any NATO military action from occurring. The Soviets were especially against any US troops having a presence there. Of course, now, no one doubts that as part of Denmark, Bornholm is also part of NATO.

At around this point in the tour, it was time for us to taste smoked fish. There are many fish smoking facilities on Bornholm, but only one place still uses an open fire to smoke fish, rather than more modern facilities. So, we stopped at that smokehouse, which was also deemed a “museum”, which made it possible for them to smoke fish the old fashioned way, and we tasted their product, washed down with cold, Danish, draft beer (or soda). This was included in the tour. The young, affable guy who spoke to us about the smoked fish said that he had to get the fish from other places, as there aren’t enough fish around Bornholm anymore.

*Good stuff, if you like fish, which I do.*

After we tasted the fish (which I found delicious, though I know not everyone likes fish), we headed back toward the ship, the guide talking the entire time about other unusual and interesting towns in Bornholm. It really does look like a nice place to spend a week or so. I’m sure they get their share of tourists, but it wasn’t nearly as busy as Visby was.

*Danish fish smoker explaining the process.*

Incidentally, I read today that the current Splendor cruise, which has been doing a ten day Baltic itinerary, had to skip Visby. They had 40 MPH winds that prevented them from docking!

Now, a word about the last day of food…

For lunch, we stopped by Prime 7, which was serving lunch that day. The speciality restaurants mostly serve dinner, but sometimes, they have a short lunch service. Thursday was the day for Prime 7, and that was the only day we visited a specialty restaurant for lunch.

Our waiter was a nice fellow, who was a little more familiar with us than I’m used to on cruises. He came up to us with a big smile (good thing) and immediately addressed as a William and Jennifer. I stifled a laugh and said, “No one ever calls us that. I ended up telling him that we go by Jenny and Bill.” He hit upon one of my many personal pet peeves.

It’s not that I need to be called Mrs. I just think being called Mr. and Mrs. is polite and businesslike. I dislike the American fake familiarity trend that has everyone assuming we should all go by our first names. In our case, no one who actually knows us, ever calls us by our first names. I personally hate being called “Jennifer”, because it reminds me of being yelled at by my mother. Also, it just doesn’t suit me. If he had called me Mrs. as a matter of course, it would have given me the chance to tell him which name I preferred. Besides, it’s just more professional.

So, after we told the waiter the preferred versions of our first names, and kind of cringed at the faux pas, he brought us our lunches. Bill had pork barbecue sliders. I had a burger. It wasn’t the way I would have fixed it for myself, but it was tasty enough. Afterwards, we had dessert. The waiter brought out a carousel of mini versions of Prime 7’s desserts for us. We each ate one, but I think the idea was to try them all. As if I need more encouragement to expand my backside. 😉

After our excursion on Bornholm, we had our last dinner in the Compass Rose restaurant. I didn’t see any specials that interested me, so I wound up having a steak for dinner. No wonder my heart rate has been elevated lately. We ran into the same waiter we had at lunch, who, to his credit, remembered our names. But then he called Bill “Mr. Bill”. I asked him if he knew about the old Saturday Night Live character, “Mr. Bill”. Naturally, he didn’t. So I had to explain… People have been calling Bill “Mr. Bill” forever, not just because his name is Bill, but also because he had a “Mr. Bill” moment when he was in high school. One of his buddies literally backed over him with a Subaru Brat (car)! Oh noooooo!

Poor Mr. Bill! Always having accidents.

Anyway, here are photos of the last supper on Splendor… We were allowed to dress casually for it, because everyone was packing their luggage for disembarkation day. I had a baked potato with my steak. It tasted like it was pre-baked and chilled, then heated up. I guess I can’t blame them for that, but it kind of spoiled the magic a little.

Although I thought we might visit the Meridian Lounge one more time, it wasn’t to be. We decided to go back to the room and rest up for the next day… when it would be time to leave behind Regent Splendor for more plain lodging.

Part 6… Magnificent Sanda Island and a cold seafood buffet!

These two shots were taken in 2012. I am including them in this post because they are pretty and I didn’t have a travel blog back then… Sadly, the Scottish flag is now gone.

I was really excited to get to visit Sanda Island on our cruise. In 2012, Bill and I paid our first visit to this tiny, uninhabited island not far from the Northern Irish coast. I remember not being that excited about it that first time because it was really cold outside and I didn’t feel like walking around. I was so glad Bill convinced me to get off the ship, since we were treated to an up close and personal visit with several seals. Plus, Sanda Island is just plain beautiful. We weren’t sure if we’d be able to get to the island, since sea conditions are not always cooperative. Fortunately, we were able to see Sanda Island again on our most recent trip.

Sanda Island’s lighthouse from the top of a hill…

Sanda Island was recently sold, so there have been a few changes to the island. First off, there used to be a Scottish flag on the island. I noticed that it’s not there anymore. Also, there was a pile of discarded appliances that were supposed to be picked up by a vessel that had delivered a herd of deer to the island. Unfortunately, the appliances were left there. On the plus side, I did manage to spot the herd of deer as Bill and I hiked across the boggy island. I was really glad I’d brought my rubber LL Bean boots with me.

A natural bridge…

A seal was playing hide and seek with us…

Sanda Island is home to no one but sheep, deer, seals, birds, and whatever swims in the surrounding waters. I was very enchanted by our first encounter with seals in 2012 and hoped to see more on our most recent trip. I was not disappointed. I spotted the first seal when we reached the lighthouse, which is notable for its beauty as well as the adjacent natural bridge next to it. Four more seals appeared in another area nearby. They seemed to be as curious about us as we were about them, though they were terrible teases! They’d pop their heads out of the water, then do something interesting just as I put the camera down. I got a huge kick out of watching them.

Seals on the beach…

As we headed back to the ship, I looked over a cliffside and saw even more seals. They were lounging on the beach. I zoomed in as much as I could with my digital camera. As soon as I’m finished writing up this trip, I will make a video with the footage I shot of the seals. They really were fun to watch, especially since they were in their natural habitat.

No dogs allowed… 🙁

I never saw a bull. Wonder if this sign was bullshit?

At the end of our walk, there was a most welcome sight… The ship’s purser, Bobbie, had set up a table with cookies, coffee, tea, and whisky. Iain, the very handsome hotel manager from Islay who now lives in Mexico when he’s not working, handed me a cup of hot coffee spiked liberally with Bailey’s Irish Cream. It was so good after hiking in the cold, damp weather! Bill and I stood around chatting with a couple of other passengers about recent baby naming trends! Then we donned life vests, got in the tender, and went back to the Princess. On that particular day, the captain had allowed the ship’s speedboat to be used as a tender. I didn’t try it myself… Maybe if it had been warmer outside?

Taken in 2012, I saw them break out the picnic basket again for us in 2016…

On our first visit to Sanda Island, there was to be a hotel that appeared to be open seasonally. The building is still there, but I don’t think it operates anymore. I have a feeling the abandoned appliances next to the refreshment canopy came from the abandoned lodging.

Another shot from 2012. I think this sign has since been taken down.

Welcome refreshments…

Now, for this next bit, I have to confess I’m a little mixed up. I’m not sure what we had for lunch on Friday. It could have been fish and chips or it could have been the cold seafood buffet (based on my photos, I’m thinking we actually had the buffet on St. Patrick’s Day). I’m going to write about the seafood buffet, though it could be that we had it the day prior to our Sanda visit. It was one of the highlights for me.

A close up of the fresh salmon booty…

Very fresh salmon, smoked salmon, cous cous, salad, smoked trout, and a little prosciutto… We enjoyed this with a bottomless glass of wine.

Eton mess! This has become a favorite dessert of mine.

I love fresh fish. There was an abundance of fresh fish on Hebridean Princess. In fact, there was so much fresh fish that I actually got a little sick of eating fish! But the one meal that stands out to me was the day we had the cold seafood buffet. We ordered starters, which consisted of soup or salad, then lined up for fresh salmon, smoked salmon, smoked trout, shrimp and crab legs. There were also salads and breads. For me, it was such a treat to have fresh salmon for lunch, especially since it was very beautifully presented. Having done three cruises on Hebridean Princess, I can say that each time they’ve served the cold seafood buffet, the salmon has been presented differently, but still beautifully. This time, the two huge fish were decorated with either beets or cucumbers. I was amazed by the artistry of the chef and his staff!

A side view of the salmon…

This was the fresh salmon on one of our first cruises.

I probably took this in Rothesay or Campbeltown…

These photos were taken in November 2012. There were several baby seal pups on Sanda Island when we visited the first time. I didn’t see any babies on this latest visit, but wanted to include these photos for those who want to see a baby seal up close!