Or should I say Puff…as in Puffin. Today is our last day aboard Neptune, we disembark tomorrow and start the journey home. Today, we are on the southern coastline of a Iceland near the Westman Islands-an archipelago of 15 islands volcano formed (and still forming-Happy 60th Birthday Surtsey) islands. It has two active volcanos-Helgafell and Eldfel and only one inhabited town of Heimaey (translated “Home Island”). The rock islands have been carved by the pounding surf so the topography and pictures are like none other in the world. After a particularly rough night to get here, take to Bonine tablets and call me in the morning, rough, the sun came out and there were blue skies for the first time in 14 days. Our previously wet, damp and inhospitable balcony was bathed in sunshine and was perfect for photos and coffee.
Remember the sister Viking ship, Star that has flanked our sailing the entire time. Well, our Captain again lost the game of rock, paper, scissor, tender, dock. Neptune would be moored outside of the sheltered dock in Heimaey, and have to use those orange boats of death to set foot on the Islands. It is actually only the second stop we have made that had a streets to stroll, cafes and shops to shop. Star would live up to its name and park inside the harbor and the passengers would simply walk off their ship.
Why is this group of rock Island of such interest. Puffins. Atlantic Puffins, a stout,black
Diving bird that has a distinctive orange beak during mating season…and these islands are home to one of the largest colonies of Puffins in the Atlantic Ocean. Of course, there are other places but you better your odds in actually seeing them with orange beaks intact in these more remote inhabited regions. We were last in Iceland in May 2019-too early for Puffin season. It is August which is towards the end of mating season, but as the fishing is good, there are a few late arrivals and year around residents. My hopes were high on seeing these oh so cute and photogenic birds…orange beak or dull grey black. We had initially wanted to sign up for a boat trip with a local farmer, fisherman that owns a farm that apparently is a favorite of these birds…his boat is limited to 3 trips a day, 25 passengers each…math word problem. 75 of the passengers that could sign up early (all done according to your cabin classification)-leaving 905 people out of luck…or 980 if you figure out that the passengers on Star called dibs. The farm offering mysterious disappeared during our excursion window, which I thought was odd, not knowing about Star. So, we decided that a zodiac boat around the island with a promise to see puffins, terns, albatross, gulls, possible whales and seals was a pretty good bet. By the time our tickets were issued to our stateroom, the boat had been downgraded yet again to a “boat” more along the lines of a Caribbean boat to look at the sting ray. Queue grumpy Karen, but I am sure the Viking home office told them that there would be puffin sightings-even if they were stuffed animals. So,I reminded hopeful. Let’s recap. We did a drive by in Newfoundland-rough seas/tender issues. We Covided by Greenland’s two stops. (I will give allow a * by Greenland, like Antarctic-drive by only). Now, on our first sunshine, picture perfect stop…wait for it…the Captain pulled the plug on us tendering to the Island.
We were in the know first. The first tenders were due out at 9:00 and ours at around 1:30. As per usual, Eddie gets out of bed late. So, we had our coffee on the dry and sunny veranda. We grabbed and elevator to go up to the restaurant, but ended up going down to the A Deck were the tenders are launched from. The doors open and 4 sad, mature individually with expensive cameras and the impressive long bird lenses got on. I guess when you get to a certain age, cars are not as important in the toy category- enter expensive camera equipment. Do not get any ideas, Eddie…we have far too many toys. Well, our sad faces camera buffs knew the news before the rest of the ship. There will be no tendering to the islands today. They were awaiting the first tender when the advanced shipboard tender team arrived back on board…bloody and bruised…and those people are around 30, and live in a ship. Our four let us know that they saw the discussion in real time, and the decision to sail on to Reykjavik was being made. We all rode the elevator to the World Cafe. Sad, as there would be no puffin sightings by the passengers on Neptune, Star wins again. We ate on the fantail, as this is the first time you were not shrouded in misty or freezing. About 30 minutes later, the Captain made the official announcement that we would not be stopping today…followed by the Cruise Director Brian announcing that the would have a list of substitute entertainment to fill our day highlighted by a 2:00 showing of the Weird Al Yankovik starring Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter). Wow, now that is a come down…weird Al vs allusive mating orange beak puffins. I went back inside to select a late morning post breakfast pastry to drown my sorrows with. Imagine my surprise when there was a gray uprising in the inside dining area. Was there a food fight or dish banging, not exactly, but there was loud shouting on why Star got everything first and “Not Fair”…I almost thought there would be chanting of “Puffin, Puffin, Puffin”. One gentleman said this was his 10th Viking Journey and he was going to fill out his Guest Questionnaire with a complaint. Oh no, the dreaded complaint. I wonder if the cruise line will survive, perhaps you should sell your Viking stock now.
We returned to our cabin, and took our seats on the veranda with the thoughtfully provided binoculars and our iPhones and bird watched, imagining that the black winged flapping was our puffins without their colorful beaks. Puffin, Puffin, Puffin-poof
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