ÉG ást Ísland (Part 5 - Húsavík, Mývatn, Dettifoss, Storu Tjarnir)

We finally made it to Northern Iceland! YAY! Of course, the number one thing on our agenda was whale watching! Good thing we were in Húsavík. Húsavík was a small town in the north of Iceland on the shores of Skjálfandi bay. Húsavík has become a center of whale watching in the north due to whales of different species the frequently enter the bay. When we arrived at the whale watching tours (Gentle Giants), we were disappointed to find out that all tours were cancelled due to wind and choppy water. The guides told us to hang around for a couple hours to see if the wind died down. We were on a tight schedule that day and decided that we are only going to be able to do this once and decided to stay. Good call because about an hour later (after food and a nap), they re opened and we were ready to sail! We were excited to see whales, dolphins and puffins up close. The guide told us that we might smell a minke whale before we see one (Stinky Minke!) Sure enough, Ryan was the one who smelled the whale and spotted it! Go Ry!! We also saw several dolphins and puffins! What an exciting day!








After whale watching in Húsavík, we got back on Highway 1...headed towards our next stop, Mývatn. Mývatn is a shallow eutrophic lake situated in an area of active volcanism in the north of Iceland. The lake and its surrounding wetlands have a ton of beautiful birds and flowers. The ake was created by a large basaltic lava eruption 2300 years ago. The name of the lake, Mývatn, means (Icelanic Mý ("midge") and vatn ("lake"); the lake of midges) comes from the huge number of flies (midges) to be found there in the summer. OMG were there flies!! We stopped to walk a couple trails and were immediately put off by the number of swarming flied. After sitting in the car and discussing how we could hike, site see and get back to the car as quick as possible, we decided to go for it! We put up our hoods, put on sunglasses and started to run! We made it all the way around the little park in about 10 minutes - fighting flies the entire time! The flies seemed so determined to get into our eyes, mouth and up our noses. Gross.






Next stop, Storu Tjarnir (our last stop before heading back to Reykjavik) was very peaceful and in the middle of no where! On our way to our housing, we stopped at Europe's mightiest waterfall, Dettifoss. It was absolutely amazing! I have never seen anything like it before in my life! Dettifoss is actually a part of the Jökulsárgljúfur National Park (We visited it several parts earlier in our trip) and is situated on the Jökulsá á Fjöllum river, which flows from the Vatnajökull glacier and collects water from a large area in Northeast Iceland. It is the largest waterfall in Europe in terms of volume.







After all the activities and sites we saw, we were ready to relax! As we pulled into our housing, we were completely shocked at our surroundings. All we could see was our housing, mountains, lakes, flowers and waterfalls. AMAZING! Storu Tjarnir was in the middle of no where!





To continued...