We saw fishing circles on the way in. We had also seen these also in Norway fjords. I googled it and learned they are for salmon breeding.
Arrived at Isafjordur, which means ice fjord. It is part of the Westfjords, which at sea level is the coldest it gets in Iceland. This morning it was a temperature 10 C (50 F).
There was a lot of driving on this excursion. We went through 2+ land tunnels and roads out and back, making it a FIVE fjord excursion.
First, from Isafjordur, upper right on the map, we took the tunnel west to the Onundarfjordur fjord. In these valleys eider, mink and other farms exist, and the town of Flateyri , a flat village on the shore.
We crossed over a bridge and crossed over a peninsula shaped finger, to the Dyrafjordur fjord. In this fjord is Thingeyri, meaning assembly, where people used to meet for various reasons. There is a Viking festival here every year. There were cirques and hanging valleys (click to enlarge) in this fjord on the way to the next tunnel. We took a road and bridge around into the end, then the tunnel, this one coming out at the small fork of Arnafjordur; we went around the end to Dynjandi. Beautiful scenery along the way.
We arrived at the fantastic Dynjandi falls.
Dynjandi means thunderous noise, and is actually a series of 8 falls, Dynjandi being the top one, then Fjallfoss, Hæstahjallafoss, Strompgljúfrafoss (Strompur), Göngumannafoss, Hrísvaðsfoss-Kvíslarfoss, Hundafoss and Bæjarfoss (Sjóarfoss). Read more here.
I climbed to the top. The path was rough the further you went up due to erosion. The views were astounding! My Legs and thighs were exhausted. Having two minor falls on way down, it took me more than a day to recover.
We tracked back to the first tunnel, which actually bifurcated and went to a fifth fjord: Súgandafjörður. Up in the tip almost out in the open seas, is the small fishing town of Sudureyri. We spent some time there. Sudureyri is the coldest sea level town in Iceland.
Sudureyri is where fishing is a home grown businesses. There are 290 residents.
The red shack is the original building of the 66° North clothing company, which was founded in Sudureyri.
We ate dried fish and veggies with sauce, fish cake that had potatoes and onions inside, and lastly dried fish, which was rather like jerky, only fish and no seasonings.
We returned to Sky Princess and warmed up in hot showers, then continued our normal schedule of beverages and chic chat followed by dinner.