yesterday was an easy day in the respect of having only one scheduled activity; a guided boat tour of an abandoned, grassy high cliff island called Drangey. the island hosts one of the largest puffin colonies. a puffin is a bird that looks similar to a toucan. the sea captain has been featured in national geographic magazine for his tours. the boat leaves from the hot pools near a town called saudarkrokur.

on the way to saudarkrokur, we passed through the 2nd largest town in iceland with a population of 12k called akureyri. i think that many live on my block in NYC. i was surprised to see a cruise ship docked at the town. i was even more surprised to see a deloitte building.

after passing akureyri, our little punto had a hiccup. while driving down the road, the engine almost shut off and the temperature guage shot to extreme hot with a red light going off. i put it in neutral and let off the gas. then the temperature went back to normal. so strange. we pulled over to check the oil and coolant. all good. not sure what happened. course, everyone else was convinced the little car was tired of being pushed. as john suggested, it hadn’t gone through the rob test of driving at the labs. since then, the little punto has been behaving appropriately.

as usual, we were the first to arrive in saudarkrokur. it was a bit confusing on how to locate the dirt road to the dock, but the girl at the convenience store in town was helpful. while driving through the charming little town, i saw another deloitte building. i mean, wtf? is there one auditor/accountant sitting in there with his green visor and calculator? this is a village. it doesn’t even have a stoplight. very strange.

on the boat, i had a nice loungy seat at the back of the boat, which was great to enjoy the sun and views of the mountains as we cruised toward the island. however, after one blast of water on me, i relocated to a more strategic spot behind the cabin where the spray wasn’t as bad. some people were soaked by the end.

the boat arrived at a high cliff island where the cliffs were spotted with white. the color wasn’t due to a type of rock but from the thousands of birds that were nesting on the cliffs. we saw seagulls, some black unknown birds and of course the funny looking puffins.

let the adventure begin. trying to get off the boat was a challenge with the rough sea. the boat was rocking back and forth while we jumped onto the dock. the next part of the hike up the island involved scrampling up a rocky slope with a couple ladders and ropes nailed into rocks. i loved it, but not everyone was thrilled with the height factor. we climbed up to a midpoint where some remained while others continued on to the top of the island. the climb up was along a narrow path with a rope hanging on the rocks. the path wrapped around a corner, which looked scary but was easier than i thought. then up some steep stairs and then a tall ladder to reach the top of the island.

the top of the island was a huge meadow of tall grass and wildflowers. the guides come here to hunt puffin and had a little cabin at the top with sleep quarters that slept up to 12 people. the views from the top of the island were breathtaking of the surrounding mountains and ocean. the sun was bright and shining down on us. the guides told us of a story about an outlaw that lived on the island and was hunted by a bounty hunter. the outlaw jumped from a cliff to his death instead of being captured by the bounty hunter.

another side adventure was to visit the natural spring on the island. considering the island is surrounded by saltwater, a natural spring water well is intriguing. however, to reach it requires a bit of fearlessness. i am all about climbing but not when it is a foreign place and without any safety gear. however, the fearless went down to check it out. turns out it was a pipe coming out of the rock. kind of anticlimatic. anyways, the picture shows them on the cliff hanging out.

while the fearless were enjoying freshwater, i was enjoying the sun on my face as i laid down in the meadow and relaxed. once they returned, we headed back down the island. going down was easier and i got some much better pictures of puffins.

the sea had calmed down, which made boarding the boat much easier and the boat ride smoother. however, i was so tired from the hiking that my head started nodding off. even though there was railing and i was sitting down, i was forcing myself to stay awake cause i was afraid i would fall in the ocean. lydia had no issues. she is a professional napper.

we made it back and checked into the hotel. the hotel was such a cool place. it was loaded with character and each room was different. our room was huge cause we were three people. the hotel sported a hot tub, a bar and restaurant. the receptionist was a cute red head that allowed us to stay up until 1am ordering drinks.

i took a nap after dinner. when i woke up, i joined diane in the hot tub with a beer. it was so relaxing. nothing better than having a drink in a hot tub. we sat in there for a while. dave stopped by and told us about everyone being in the basement. sounded like a plan, so we jumped out, got dressed and headed to the basement. after a few drinks, jay stopped by and we decided to hang in the hot tub again.

the continuous sun is so weird. we were hanging in the hot tub until 2am and it was still light out. i love it so much. i hope to visit iceland every summer to celebrate midsummer with them and enjoy the continuous sun.