Arctic Traverse: Ísafjörður, Valagil, and Súðavik

On September 18th, 2022, the Endurance approached the northwestern tip of Iceland, known as the Westfjords, and the bay  Ísafjarðardjúp. (Click on the images to enlarge.)

Joan and I awoke to the sunrise.

Humpback whales favor this area, and as the Endurance slipped into the bay, we all scanned for whale spouts.

There they blow!

Often we saw pairs, mom and calf.

The pectoral fins can be close to the surface as the cetaceans cruise and feed.

The patterns on the underside of the tail are unique fingerprints used to identify individual whales.

After our whale-watching time expired, an Icelandic pilot came aboard the Endurance to guide us into the harbor at Ísafjörður.

Centimeter by centimeter, we edged up to the dock.

Lindblad offered four options for today's activity: 1) a bus tour of the terrain and exploring the town of Flateyri, 2) a hike in the Valagil canyon, with a destination waterfall, plus the village of Súðavik, 3) a walking tour of Ísafjörður, or 4) a bicycle tour on a road that climbs 359 meters (1,177 feet) and is closed to vehicles because of avalanches and rock slides. Joan and I had covered some of these Westfjords during our 2019 land-based tour of Iceland, documented in this blog here and also here, so it was easy for us to choose option #2.

 

First, we were bussed to the Valagil Canyon and waterfall. Enough of us signed up for option #2 that we needed two buses.

Waterproof footwear was handy as we negotiated the deep canyon route.

Further on, the waterfall began to appear.

Approaching the lower cascade of this multi-stage waterfall.

Looking up, with others on ahead.

The rushing water made a steady roar. When Joan and I climbed higher, we could look down on those who chose not to tackle the sketchy slope.

A brief clip of the noise this cascade made ...

After our return hike, our bus took the group to the village of Súðavik,

where we visited the Arctic Fox Center. Two foxes were living there, either permanently or for rehab. (Two is the most the center can take.) You can bet they were photogenic.

A closer look at the blue, or darker, morph, which is usually found in coastal areas.

The other fox, a white morph, was beginning to shift from its summer coat to the white winter coat. White foxes are generally found inland.

The museum itself offers exhibits and videos about the Arctic fox, its physiology, history, and past persecution. Lindblad had also arranged for hot drinks and snacks for our group!

Then, it was time to return to the ship. The kitchen offered a special Filipino buffet for dinner, and then the staff and crew staged a fabulous show for us.

What a variety they presented: songs, traditional dances, drag queens. Half the attendees got up and danced when the band gave a rousing rendition of the Eagles' "Hotel California." It made for a late night as we sailed on towards the island of Flatey.

Iceland: Foxes, Whales, and Birds

Saturday, 7/27/2019, was the next to last day of this Natural Habitat Adventures Iceland expedition. Our group first walked down to the dock for a body suit fitting, preparation for whale watching later in the day. This "rib boat" would be our vessel.

The suit fitting session.

After we'd picked and adjusted our suits we clambered out of them and boarded a small bus to ride to Súðavik. Along the way we passed three cruise ships departing Ísafjörður.

These ships clearly carried several times more people than the population of the town!

Súðavik, population ~170, was engulfed in an avalanche in January of 1995, killing twelve, and the town site was moved to a safer location.

The old town now contains a few summer houses and a children's playground, a project begun by a Súðavik resident, Vilborg Arnarsdóttir, whose son died in a car crash in 2001. Click on the image to enlarge.

 The playground covers a wide expanse of land,

and is now supported by multiple entities. One section hosts a miniature zipline,

which most of our group tried at least once. Then we exited through the entrance.

From here it was just a one kilometer walk down to the Arctic Fox Center.

The center focuses on fox biology, distribution, and history, plus the strained relationship between foxes and humans.

Arctic foxes come in two color morphs, "white" and "blue." Prowling the shores and open (not snow covered) ground for food, foxes in Iceland are much more likely to be blue morphs than their cousins in the rest of the Arctic.

The center also hosts an orphan male fox, Móri, whose parents were killed in a hunt in 2015. He was rescued along with his sister, who didn't survive. Móri now serves as an ambassador fox. He's a blue morph.

The foxes can be aged post-mortem through their teeth. A 3, 5, or 7 year lifespan is typical in the wild, but a few individuals per 1,000 have lived up to 12 years.

Outside the center was a pair of stilts. Our guides gave them a try.

Another short walk took us to the town dock. There our body suits and the rib boat were waiting for us. I popped a meclazine to be safe.

This was the view from my seat in the boat.

The folks up front catch most of the spray.

We were on the lookout for spouts as the rib boat zoomed. The whale watching started out sparse, but then the humpbacks began to put on a show. I could flood you with whale photos,

but instead I've put together sequences that convey, weakly, the majesty of the flukes as the whale dives to feed.

And ... click on the image to enlarge ...

The pattern of light and dark is different on every whale, just like a fingerprint, and identifying individuals enables researchers to follow the whales' feeding habits, ranges, and so forth.

Floating rafts of puffins, however, paid no attention to the whales.

Then it was time for the rib boat to deposit us on Vigur Island, a privately owned bird sanctuary and popular tourist stop.

 After depositing our body suits we were issued flags on long poles, to ward off dive-bombing arctic terns and other avians offended by human proximity to their nests.

We preceded and were followed by other groups; the organizers must have scheduled visitation slots.

This puffin, fish in beak, was waiting us out, not wanting to reveal the location of his burrow.

Arctic tern and chick.

We took a longer loop avoided by the cruise ship groups, going onto a rugged path and stepping up and down the rocky bluffs for more sightings, including this solitary chick,

and this rock formation that looks like a face.

Now we were on the windward side, and waves crashed into the rocks.

Sometimes we had an audience.

After the walk we enjoyed a snack at the cafe on the south side of the island. Joan and I checked out the display about traditional down processing; first, a sample of the "raw" down of eider ducks collected from nests.

The equipment for cleaning and combing the down.

One more time we had to wriggle into the body suits, and bounced through the swells as the rib boat roared back to Ísafjörður. Joan and I landed both giddy and tired. The next day would be our last full day in Iceland, a land-based tour of remotest spots in the Westfjords.