Sailing the Westfjords

For our introduction to Coastal and Marine Management in Iceland, we were taken on a sailing trip around the Westfjords. The captain of our boat, The Aurora, was Siggi, an Ísafjörður native who often sails from Iceland to Greenland during the summers and who generously agreed to take us on this trip. Our weekend started on Friday afternoon with a lesson on sailing safety, lifejacket use, what to do if someone fell overboard... you know, the usual. Since I was recovering from Scarlet Fever (in case you didn't know, Scarlet Fever is not just something that pirates from the 16th century contracted... it still exists) I was feeling a little under the weather. Despite this, I was one of the few people that did not get sea sick.

As my friends were barfing in the bathroom below deck as well as over the side of the boat, I was enjoying the sights of the beautiful landscape that surrounds my new home. We sailed for about 4 hours until we reached the nature reserve which is at about 66° 21' 35" N. Almost the arctic circle! Our captain Siggi made us a delicious dinner on the sailboat while a lot of drinking and story telling ensued. We made it to bed around 2:00 AM and woke up the next morning around 6:00.

Watching the sun rise was amazing. It turned out to be a beautiful day with little wind and no clouds. After being brought to shore in the dingy, myself and my classmates spent the day hiking and exploring the uninhabited and prestine landscape. The pictures I took can only begin to show just how breathtaking it was.

Upon return to the boat, we sailed for another 5 hours to Vigur (I wrote a previous blog about this island). Siggi made us another delicious dinner before we had to sail back to Ísafjörður. Our trip was cut a little short because of bad weather forcasts for Sunday however, sailing back to town under a sky of stars in one of the most remote regions of the world was an added bonus!
I hope you enjoy the pictures and feel free to email me if you want to hear more about my trip!

Looking back to where the sailboat was anchored:

Taken at 6:00 AM while watching the sun rise over the fjord: Sarah (one of the students from Canada) and I on the back of the Aurora:

Holt

Our first day of class was a field trip to Holt, a local beach about 25 minutes from town. We walked in the water barefoot (it was 45 degrees out and the water felt warm compared to the air!), ate rotting shark meat, and drank Icelandic schnapps. Quite the introduction I must say! There were some beautiful rainbows accompanied by hurricane speed winds. The sand at Holt is actually the only white sand beach in the Westfjords. (Almost every beach in Iceland is black sand due to the volcanic activity that created the island) The sand at Holt is white because it is actually made of crushed sea shells. The currents and location of the shoreline allows for this natural phenomenon.