So long Snaefellsnes

This morning we woke up early and drove to Stykkisholmur for the ferry to the Westfjords with a stop in Flatey for a few hours. You drive your car on the ferry, get off at Flatey an leave your keys for the ferry crew to leave your car at the end. Then you catch the next ferry to the Westfjords and your car is there waiting for you. It was so cool that they do this and we could spend some time on Flatey.

When we left Stykkishólmur it was super clear, but by the time we arrived on Flatey we were in a cloud of fog. I was standing on the sun deck (not catching any sun) hanging around for the boat to stop and let us off. The fog was so thick that you couldn’t see the other side of the boat. I didn’t know where the ramp was to walk off, since we drove on. Steve and Sage were off exploring. I didn’t think we were actually docked when I got a message from Steve “where are you?” followed by “we are off the boat”. I immediately was in a panic. Where was the ramp? I didn’t see it on deck. Noone was moving around or in any kind of hurry. Probably because they weren’t getting off the boat. I walked up and down the stairs in my stairwell and couldn’t see an exit. Finally I went to the snack bar because I figured someone from the boat would be there. There was a woman there.

Me: Hi, How do I get off the boat?

Ferry woman:???

Me: I don’t know where to go to get off the boat.

Ferry woman: I don’t understand.

Me: there’s land there. I am here, but I want to be there. Can you help?

Ferry woman : No, you dont want to get off the boat now. We are leaving.

Me: But my family is off the boat. I do want to be off the boat.

Ferry woman starts to hurry me towards the ramp.

… which was in a different stairwell, but also just on the other side of where I was. I wound have easily seen it if there wasn’t thick fog. It was only Steve and Sage and the ferry crew left waiting for me. Oops! We laughed as we went off to explore and the boat left.

Flatey is a tiny island with a population of 5 in the winter. On the island there is a harbor, an occasionally-open gift shop and then the “old village” which has a few houses, one hotel/restaurant/bar, a church and a library. There are tons of migratory birds flying, swimming and nesting among the rock. Much of the island is a bird sanctuary that was actually closed to people until July 15 for the bird’s nesting season. We wandered around looking at the birds and boats. Lunch was delicious, soup and bread for me. Sage played in the grass and eventually fell asleep.

After a day on Flatey we meet the ferry on its second trip to the westfjords and took it to Brjanslaekar in the Westfjords. In addition to a fun day, this trip also saves us a lot of driving to get to the westfjords from Snaefellsnes. Sage met two dogs on the ferry and loved laying next to them.

We drove from the ferry 15 minutes to a hot spring. There is just a parking lot beside the road at what looks like a cliff down to the tidal beach. But after parking you see you can walk down the hill and there’s a pool and hot spring there to shower off and swim in. It was gorgeous. The pool and hot spring we both super warm and perfect. Sage loved swimming and playing with a toy triceratops.

From there we drove 45 more minutes along and up and down the fjords to our campsite on Raudissandur beach, which means red sand. This is one of the only beaches in Iceland without black sand. Tomorrow we will explore.