Arureyre Iceland

0615h Monday morning, July 26th. And the Maasdam is approaching the pier at

Akureyri Iceland. It appears to be a larger community, and though there was blue sky on arrival, the fog has crept in while we were at breakfast.

Dorothy had a great sleep last night me too, I did not feel like leaping out of bed so I stumbled out as our tour group is meeting at 0745h.

We learned today that Akureyri is the 2nd. Largest community in Iceland and called the capital of the north. Reykjavik being the largest and capital city. The total population of the country is aprox. 350,000, most communities lay around the coastline along fjords, the mountains rise up, some at very steep angles, creating severe avolanche problems. We sailed up the fjord to the town at it's far end, Akureyre. The climate is milder than Isafjordur, and a tee shirt was comfortable for most of the day. In it's hay day the town had a bustling fish factory industry, but since the advent of fish processing ships, it's all done at sea and the factories are idle or reinvented as other businesses. Because of the warmer summers it is much greener, dairy farms are dotted all over and we stopped at a 17th. Century sod roofed farm house kept as a museum giving an idea of how life was in days of yore, they were a hardy breed.

for sure.

The only vegetables grown are potatoes and two fruits, blueberries and blackberries, most goods are imported. They have strict quarantine laws, so strict that those cute Icelandic horses can never return home once they have left the country, keeping their bloodlines pure.

We visited the botanical gardens today and were most impressed. A wide variety of plants and flowers all outdoors. They have an ongoing tree planting program mostly birch and conifers, to help prevent soil erosion on the steep slopes along the glacial formed fjords. There were no trees when the first settlers arrived but through planting they are creating small forests.

Grrrrrrrrrrr. We lose another hour tonight putting us on British summer time. I'm not sure if there will be one more for either Denmark or Holland, then on our return we'll get them back one hour at a time, so much more civilized in my opinion.

There was a crossing of the Arctic circle ceremony after we set sail this evening, all officers some crew and a few passengers jumped into the pool in all sorts attire, it was bitter cold by this time and steam was rising from the water, I was not among the brave and foolhardy but I did take photos.. Santa Claus then anointed them with Arctic sea water as they left the pool shivering and grabbed blankets to keep warm.

Toodle loo till tomorrow.