Remote Langanes, Iceland’s “long peninsula,” stabs northeastward in cold Icelandic waters toward the Norwegian Sea. This morning we cruise along the north shore of Langanes, looking for a safe Zodiac landing on the rocky shore. Rounding Fontur headland and lighthouse, we turn southwest toward Skálar and the ruins of a tiny fishing village. Residents abandoned this harsh and isolated region more than 50 years ago and only a few sheep graze here during the long Arctic days. The beach is too rocky for a landing, but Zodiac cruising is just right along these precipitous cliffs of layered basalt flows.
We follow the coastline and find a weather-beaten shore with boulders rounded by the crashing surf that eats away at the Iceland coast. Atlantic puffins fly to and fro from the sea to their burrows high on the cliffs. The song of a winter wren is heard and the lively little bird is spotted hopping among the rocks. Ruddy turnstones, purple sandpipers, and oystercatchers forage among the seaweed on the rocks below high tide line. Black-legged kittiwakes and black guillemots tend their young on the cliff face and in the crevices in the rocks. Harlequin ducks navigate the surf among the rocks.
Back on National Geographic Explorer, it is time for the polar plunge. Some thirty brave guests participate by leaping from a shipside platform into the cold sea while expedition team members stand by to help them back on board. Certain participants find this experience so invigorating that they go in for a second refreshing dip while other more reticent guests cheer them on from the deck above.
In the afternoon, National Geographic photographer Dan Westergren informs us in his presentation “Photographing when it Hurts,” about the perils of Arctic and alpine photography. This is followed by a special “tea-time” that includes a sampling of beer, Swedish flat-bread, and cod—freshly caught by the crew—on the sun deck; the weather is balmy and the sea is smooth. To finish our afternoon at sea, David Barnes, our historian, gives a fascinating presentation on the world of the Vikings.
