FRIDAY 13th 2012.
The captain advised today that we have reached the half way point of
the cruise and the point of no return. We have sailed 17,872 nautical miles
from Sydney and the ship is still going strong.
After two days of sailing through the North Sea in calm seas we reached
the most northernest capital city in the world, of Reykjavik in Iceland. No
icebergs were encounted on the way and the day was cold and about eight
degrees. However other than that it turned out to be a beautiful and sunn y day,
but partly cloudy day of a max eleven degrees.
What is there to say, Iceland is a very unique and special place. Words
just don’t do it justice. It is a beautiful country, with high mountain and
snow capped ranges and volcanoes, deep valleys and flat grassed and green
lowlands, moorlands and lava flows, with a different landscape appearing
continuously as you drive through the countryside.
We had a full day journey arranged to visit Iceland’s major attractions
in the Golden Circle which included visits to Thingvellir National Park, the
rift valley of the Reykjanes Ridge where the Eurasion and North American
tutanic plates meet and erupt above ground, the explosive geysers of Strokkur
and the magnificent Gulfoss waterfall. A visit was also to be made to the
geothermal power station at Hellisheidi and a quick tour of Reykjavik.
Iceland is a smokeless country with all heating, power, electricity and
hot water generated by underground geothermal and volcanic forces. Thus Iceland
is an extremely clean place with no pollution. Also most of their cars are
hybrids which run on hydrogen.
The day tour was exceptional and so unreal to see how volcanoes and
earthquakes have formed the landscape and countyside, particularly the thermal
geysers and the rift valley. The waterfall
and its three tiered cascade was also great to see.
Reykjavik is a well spread out and modern city built around the bay,
clean and easy to get around. It was different not having to visit castles, churches
and ruins.
This was a fantastic and unforgettable day and Iceland is a must for
anyone’s “Bucket List”.
We now have three relaxing sea days before e reach Halifax in Nova
Scotia.
No comments:
Post a Comment