For all GOT fans, the caves around Lake Myvatn are where the love scenes between Jon Snow and his wildling girlfriend were filmed but they are not open to the public.

Husavik was the whaling capitol of Iceland and we stopped to go whale watching with an outfit called Gentle Giants that has retrofitted old wooden fishing boats for the purpose. The boat was beautiful, the weather was awful. We got full length waterproof overalls to wear over our clothes and a long hooded vinyl slicker to put on top.

It was pouring and the seas were very rough. Fortunately, we had stopped for the Icelandic version of Dramamine which served us well. We did see a whale — (s)he was quite cooperative — feeding underwater and surfacing every ten minutes or so for air when (s)he could have stayed down much longer. (S)he was a humpback but probably a young one — seemed small compared to others I have seen and was not crusted with barnacles. We were about 24 miles south of the arctic circle and at times the rain was so pelting it felt like sleet — no weather for my camera so no whale pics although we did see a few nice tail flaps.

On to Akureyri, one of the larger cities in Iceland; the strong measures the government is taking to halt the delta variant were very apparent here. We had trouble finding a place for dinner because the restaurants were limiting seating per government directives. When we finally found a place to sit at the bar and have a burger and a beer we had to write down our names, ages, and phone numbers in case contact tracing is necessary. The hotel staggered its guests’ breakfast and when we checked in we had to give a time we would show up — they want to minimize the crowds.

Covid was not an issue here when I planned this trip — zero cases, a population that had reached herd immunity and only vaccinated people permitted to enter the country. But the country is mobilizing against the delta variant— we saw no masks at the beginning of our trip and now they are everywhere plus we see all of the other measures that have sprung up in the past couple of days. We do get antigen tests before leaving; if we flunk we go into quarantine. But although the country is mobilizing there are still not all the many cases and I am hoping that we don’t bump into any and/or our vaccines will be totally protective.

Our drive to the West today was spectacular, much of it along a winding coastline.

This is a trip of unusual museums. We stopped this afternoon at the Museum of Witchcraft and Sorcery in Humavik.

And even there, in their small cafe, we had to fill in the info for contact tracing. (This place had the most delicious fish soup ever). Apparently a number of men were accused of witchcraft in the late 1600’s and burned at the stake — one of the exhibits traced the genealogy of the accusers, judges, and condemned to the present since the Westfjords has a fairly stable population. The museum’s exhibits included some of the documents from the accusations and trials as well as recipes for potions.

The Westfjords are very different than the ones in the east. The fjords themselves are wider, more like bays and the sides are not as steep as the formations in the East. We will be driving around and checking out the area for the next few days. The town of Dragnes where we are staying tonight has a population of 100. There are public hot baths by the side of the road but we did not try them.