Well firstly it was so nice to set the alarm for 8.30am instead of 5 & 6am as I usually do on every Disney trip (although don’t get me wrong I LOVE the early Disney park days) Anyway’s we started our day with a cute little breakfast In the hotel restaurant – I mean cute really does sum it up seeing as the they have these little fairytale bowls and a huge pot of porridge which basically gives me instant Goldilocks vibes! And porridge is a great way to set you up for a really really bitterly cold day!
After a decent breakfast we headed into reykjavik where we firstly did the fly over Iceland experience (think Epcot soarin’ with less scents pumped into it, and this time you fly over Iceland instead of California and the world) But we absolutely loved it, Luke said it was better than Soarin’ I don’t quite agree with that but it was good.
Next it was the Whale watching tour which I was so so excited for, this had been a huge bucket list wish for a very long time, so I couldn’t wait to get out on the albeit slightly choppy water. Firstly the boat was much bigger than I expected, I saw Jane McDonald do this in one of her cruising shows and her boat was much smaller and faster, ours in comparison was pretty big – but I wasn’t here for the boat, I was here to see some whales.
So before we went out we all got told the sea was pretty rough (don’t worry I did a quick scan for the life boats) and informed Luke that the waters were way too cold for sharks so should we capsize the worst thing we are going to get is hyperthermia, and not eaten at least. I love to give some reassurance. To be honest I didn’t find the sea that rough, I love boats, the motion makes me chilled and sleepy. However the cold was on another level, it was beyond freezing! My face was frozen and I could barely talk, my fingers I’m sure got frost bite and that was with thermal gloves on. It really was unbearable. BUT it was so so SO worth it, when we saw the humpback whales just doing their thing, I mean what an experience, it’s one I will never forget. I mean I can say that now but at the time when I was getting frost bitten I wasn’t so enthusiastic! Once we started to head back to the docks I found a small window of opportunity to sleep, I think I had a sweet little 15 minutes, the motion of boats, planes and cars makes me so sleepy, so I grabbed a cheeky cat nap (I wasn’t the only one!)
Before dinner we managed to go and see the lava experience which was pretty interesting, and only took about an hour, it’s all indoors and when they actually release some lava the whole room you sit in turns really really warm (something I am totally here for)
For dinner we headed to Le Kock, I did struggle slightly with the menus as I think Icelandic people just love to eat meat, the veggie/vegan options are limited. Still I did have a lovely tomato salad at the le kock so I can definitely recommend!
This cold cold weather had me CRAVING a hot chocolate so Luke found a little gelato place so I could order a pistachio hot chocolate (with whipped cream, living dangerously in Iceland!) and sit in the warm and enjoy it.
It was so cold, it was unreal, the cold consumes you as soon as you step outside, so anytime I could go in somewhere and get warm, I was grabbing that opportunity!
On a side note there was a lot of activity with one volcano not too far away! Another larger earthquake – this time measuring magnitude 3.6 – was recorded on November 6th on the Reykjanes peninsula. The tremor follows a series of earthquakes in the area (who knew!) as magma continues to collect beneath Mt. Þorbjörn.
The siesmic activity is located near the town of Grindavík, the Svartsengi power plant and the Blue Lagoon. We definitely needed to keep an eye on this.
Total Steps – 9897
Miles walked – 4
I officially love Iceland!
Watch the vlog here
