Iceland day 6: Herring, Whales, and Magic

Another breakfast at another bakery. It wasn’t exactly lox and bagel, but it sufficed.

Then we visited the award-winning Síldarminjasafnið á Siglufirði “Herring Era Museum” in Siglufjörður. For me the most interesting stuff was the old offices with their ancient calculating machines.

We decided to try a whale-watching trip from Dalvík on the east side of the peninsula, as long as we were already there, rather than from the more popular Húsavík, which would have required more driving later. It worked out OK; we saw a pod of porpoises twice, and caught a lone humpback and watched it dive several times.

humpback dive #1

We made it down to the small town of Hauganes (population 137) for dinner.

Carol had Arctic Char with salad and sweet potato fries.

I went for pork ribs with the same sides. The ribs were nearly boneless, and deep-fried so that they were crispy on the outside.

Three young women at the next table were getting pleasantly drunk and playing cards. After they finished their game, I asked if they wanted to see a magic trick. They said YES!, so I asked for their deck of cards and performed “You Probably Buy Me A Drink”. After I fooled them, I taught them how to do the very easy trick.

We finished the peninsula and camped in Akureyri.

Back from Baja

Back from a week in Baja, screen-free (no laptop, no iPad, no phone). Swam with whale sharks and sea lions, met the Adam’s Tree (a branchier version of Ocotillo), kayaked to snowy egrets, saw a pod of dolphins and a mob of mobulas, ate a lot of good food. Feeling really grounded. Pictures/movies in a few days.