Cruising Iceland

I reckon that the key to the attractiveness of Iceland is in the name of the place. It is like Scotland on steroids, cold, wet, windy and likely smelling of fish.
 
birdseye said:
I reckon that the key to the attractiveness of Iceland is in the name of the place. It is like Scotland on steroids, cold, wet, windy and likely smelling of fish.
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I always like the story of the naming of Greenland. Old Erik the Red went back to Norway after finding Greenland, and the king asked about the name. So Erik said words to the effect of "Well, Iceland was given a truthful name, and no-one wants to go there. So I thought Greenland might do better!"

Actually the bits of Greenland Erik settled are pretty green in Summer. However, the fact that there's not much grows more than a metre high is a bit worrying, and I don't suppose that Erik realized that the interior is solid, wall-to-wall ice!
 
birdseye said:
I reckon that the key to the attractiveness of Iceland is in the name of the place. It is like Scotland on steroids, cold, wet, windy and likely smelling of fish.
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I love the place

I'm keen to go for longer and explore further afield by 4wd

Never thought of sailing it though
 
I have circumnavigated Iceland. It was a marvellous experience: can you put a price on sitting on the top of a hill at midnight, overlooking your yacht on a remote bay, surrounded by arctic foxes? I was lucky in that Iceland had its best summer for thirty years. I think it could be a miserable cruise in a bad summer. It is a serious place to cruise as the distances between safe harbours are usually long and deep depressions can move in quickly from Greenland (two 40ft plus yachts were lost while I was there). Please send me a pm if you wish to chat about Iceland.
 
Sadlermike said:
I have circumnavigated Iceland. It was a marvellous experience: can you put a price on sitting on the top of a hill at midnight, overlooking your yacht on a remote bay, surrounded by arctic foxes? I was lucky in that Iceland had its best summer for thirty years. I think it could be a miserable cruise in a bad summer. It is a serious place to cruise as the distances between safe harbours are usually long and deep depressions can move in quickly from Greenland (two 40ft plus yachts were lost while I was there). Please send me a pm if you wish to chat about Iceland.
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I know how you feel. We had a picnic in the cone of a volcano at midnight on Mid summer's Day. A few years later it erupted and took out a third of the town. In geological terms we missed it by the skin of our teeth.

Otoh we could see Surtsey which was still erupting and had only appeared a few months earlier.
 
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snooks said:
I'm off there next week - not sailing though - but I'll see what I can find out if I get some spare time.
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Let us know how you found it.I'd like to go there with my kid but don't really want to be stuck indoors for the whole time because of some horrible weather .
 
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