Day 3 – Rockall
After traveling for over 300 kilometers west of St Kilda, we finally arrived at Rockall at 6am and were welcomed with a surprisingly pleasant day. It brightened the faces of guests who had known this rock as a name in a shipping forecast area. It’s also notorious for being a miserable rock or islet in the middle of the ocean constantly battered by large waves under threatening clouds parallel to the commotion around its ownership.
The fin looking peak, 17 meters high, sticks out of what is a vast continent under the Atlantic Ocean. For a number of reasons, a few adventurers and activists occupied this slippery guano covered rock for over 40 days of which some ended their visit by reaching out for rescue.
The UK claimed the rock in 1955 to prevent others from snooping on its missile tests and controlling the natural resources below. However, this claim has now expanded into a fishing dispute with Ireland, Iceland and Denmark who don’t agree to UK’s claim to ownership. As for us, it did not affect our captain’s ability to steer the ship right up the rock’s face so we could make a thousand photographs of all sides and get close ups of the present inhabitants; guillemots, gannets and other birds.
The weather was great for wildlife spotting. We scanned the vast sea for fins, beaks and splashes. A guest spotted a minke whale on the bow that did not resurface after he called it out, a few people saw an elusive fin whale, some couldn’t agree what kind of beaked whale they saw but we ALL saw a few humpback whales slapping their tails right by the ship as we continued sailing up north.
Day 4 – At sea & Surtsey
Another calm day at sea as we cruised towards the southern coast of Iceland, Vestmannaeyjar (Westman) archipelago. As a result of a massive volcanic eruption underneath the sea which started in 1963, a large uninhabited rock called Surtsey rose from the water officially becoming an island. The tremors stopped in 1967 which helped confirm the island’s final dimensions; 1sq mile in size and an elevation at 155m above sea level.
We spent the whole day looking out for wildlife. Milli second sightings of Northern Bottle nose whales from far away generated a buzz, while a fin whale surfaced and dove a few times. After several hours of being on alert and bird calling the usual birds found at sea, Orcas were spotted off Surstey Island.
They gradually came closer and right to the bow and the side of the boat. Fun and games for a couple of hours while gannets were dive bombing all around and feeding on cod or herring. It’s one of those moments where I wish I could freeze time. As usual, I made the best of it knowing that an encounter like this can be so unpredictable, it could be the last time I see Orcas this close again. Shearwaters, fulmars, terns, a variation of gulls depending on the color of their feet and heads and storm petrels were circling around the ship. Some people spotted puffins on the island, it was so far away I gave up. Minke, humpbacks, grey seal, white beaked dolphin of which I had not seen were also spotted.
As the Orca feeding frenzy died down, we docked into the port at Heimaey later in the evening. Some of us went into town to stretch our legs and check out the night scene while preparations were underway for a local fishing festival that occurs every first weekend of June central to Iceland’s history and culture.
The island has a population of around 4,500 people whom I guess either work at the airport or play golf as those two cover a large portion of the island. It’s also home to 8 million puffins of which I have not seen yet and where Keiko the Orca (from Free Willy) was being reintroduced into the wild. The ending was heart breaking.
CRAYSCAPE 