Our first day began with briefings and introductions and all the preparations we needed for an afternoon on Flatey, a small, beautiful island that combines an agricultural landscape with sweet, little summer homes.

We saw our first puffins and visited a unique church designed by one of Iceland’s most famous architects. Its interior is covered in extraordinary murals by the Catalonian artist, Baltasar Samper, who married an Icelandic woman and raised his family here.

We enjoyed meeting Captain Yuriy Tupikov at his welcome reception, and we cruised an enormous span of bird cliffs before bed.